Guide to employing in France

France
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Capital City
Paris
Currency
Euro (EUR)
Population Size
65,497,874
Language Spoken
French
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Overview

XPANDIUM provides complete Employer of Record, Payroll and Benefits Management Services and solutions for companies wanting to hire employees compliantly and run a full payroll without establishing a legal entity in France.

Your selected candidates get hired by Xpandium’s own local PEO entity. We take care of the compliant onboarding, payroll, tax payments, benefits, so you can focus on what is important: managing your employees and growing your business

Small France map
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Salary Calculator

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Xpandium - Hire your employees in France

Hiring employees in France means that there are some important factors to consider. Firstly, France has strict rules around employment termination and not adhering to those can lead to legal issues and unforeseen costs. It is important to ensure that employers are fully aware of the termination process to avoid harsh repercussions and long legal cases.

Secondly, a few years ago France introduced a new law called the “right to disconnect.” The law requires organizations and companies with more than 50 employees to forbid employees from sending or replying to emails after work hours.

The French labor market is well regulated and governed by many laws which protect the employees’ rights. There are complex rules and procedures that must be followed in cases of onboarding, working times, day-offs, illness, termination.

France panorama

The following information is a basic guideline for employing in France and the salary calculator can also help you understand the basic costs.

Employment Contract

Employment contracts should be written in French.

Probation period

Probation period is optional and maximized at 3 months with a potential and mutual agreement between employer and employee on extending such period with an additional 2 months.

Working hours

In France the maximum working hours are dependent on the type of contract signed; Workers (salarie) or executive (cadre).

For workers, the work week means 35 hours working time. The working day may not exceed 10 hours. Employees may not work more than 4 and a half hours without a break.

The maximized working day may reach 12 hours but prior mutual agreement on terms required between employee and employer.Executive employees earning over a certain salary may work longer hours and can be compensated with additionally given resting days (holiday) rather than OT hours pay. Minimum resting hours between working days must be 11 hours. Minimum resting period in a week must be 35 hours including at least 1 day off every 7 days.

Remote employees

Remote employees receive a home working allowance of EUR 100 per month and to offset having to use part of the employee's home for professional purposes and the intrusion in their private life.

Minimum wage

The current minimum wage is €1,522 per month, or €10.03 per hour.

13th / 14th month salary

Not mandatory.

Payroll Cycle

Salaries are paid on a monthly basis and in general on the last working day of the calendar month.

Employer taxes

~31.3%

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Public Holidays

NAME

DATE

INFO

New Years Day

January 1

Good Friday

April 2

Region Alsace and Moselle

Easter Monday

April 5

Labour Day

May 1

Victory in Europe Day

May 8

Ascension Day

May 13

Whit Monday

May 24

Bastille Day

Jul 14

Assumption of Mary to Heaven

Aug 15

All Saints’ Day

November 1

Repentance Day

November 11

Christmas Day

December 25

Saint Stephen’s Day

December 26

Region Alsace and Moselle

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Popular benefits in France

There are no obligatory fringe-benefits that an Employer should offer, however a voluntary and custom plan can be set up for your employees. This means that in addition to salary, employees may receive one or more non-salary compensation.

Supplementary medical insurance  icon

Supplementary medical insurances (private or dental / vision)

Supplementary medical insurance  icon

Supplementary life insurance

pool iocn

Additional paid holidays

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Voluntary pension fund scheme

Benefit planning process includes

  • Decide on the Annual Benefit Amount - you may offer and divide it by 12 monthly installments of payroll.
  • Select the benefit items you would like to offer employees
  • Internal policy to be prepared, communicated and provided to monthly payroll.
  • Collect the Benefit statements from employees - on the employee selected elements and respective amounts; written and signed, provided to EOR payroll.

Offering individual benefits for one or a selected group of employees needs to be planned and advised to be signed with a side agreement along with an employment contract.

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Types of Leaves

Paid leave

Full-time employees in France are entitled to a statutory minimum of 25 days of paid holiday per year, plus the public holidays of 11 days. The minimum annual paid leave is 5 weeks.

Sick leave

Falling ill on a workday means that the worker must report to the employer and certify leave with medical documentation by a doctor.

Pregnancy and maternity leave

Maternity leave length depends on the number of children the mother has.

  • Single birth with mother having 1 or 2 children: 16 weeks, split into 6 weeks before child birth and 10 weeks after.
  • Single birth with mother having 3 or more children: 26 weeks, split into 8 weeks before childbirth and 18 weeks after.
  • Multiple birth (twins): 34 weeks, split into 12 weeks before child birth and 22 weeks after. For triplets 46 weeks with 24 weeks before childbirth and 22 weeks after.

Paternal leave

Three days of leave given to fathers when childbirth happens and up to 25 days (split into 4 days mandatory and 21 optional) Multiple births mean 32 days (4 days compulsory, 28 optional).

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Employment termination

Employers have the below options to terminate an employment contract in France:

Notice periods

Executive employees have a statutory notice period of 3 months. For workers, if the employment period exceeds 6 months to 2 years, the notice period is 1 month. If employment exceeds 2 years or for supervisors the notice period is statutory 2 months. For executive employees, the statutory notice period is 3 months.