France
So you’ve found some great talent in France, but maybe a little less sure how you’re supposed to go about hiring them? You’re in the right place. In the next few minutes, you’ll learn how to hire remote talent in France, quickly, without wading into months and thousands of dollars of legal red tape.
Country snapshot
CURRENCY
Euro (EUR)
EMPLOYER TAXES
51%
PAYROLL FREQUENCY
Monthly
OFFICIAL LANGUAGE
French
It’s the fastest way to hire globally
Hiring employees takes months, at the minimum. When you hire with Thera's locally-generated contracts, it’s a matter of days or weeks. This means you can hire the best talent, fast, without losing them to a hellish procession of paperwork.
It’s a lot cheaper
It costs just $0 to sign up for Thera, then $25 per month to hire your contractors with Thera. If you hired employees manually (or did contracting on your own), you’d likely be on the hook for thousands of dollars each month. Setting up an entity alone can cost tens of thousands of dollars.
It’s more flexible for you & your team
Can be less risky than hiring employees
Hiring employees is a bigger commitment, and can open you up to increased liabilities and regulations. When you hire contractors overseas, your biggest risk is misclassification—but laws surrounding contractor classification are often significantly more straightforward.
Some people want to be employees
The contractor life isn’t for everyone—some people want the security that being an employee often appears to provide. Though it’s rare, this does happen, and it’s one disadvantage of manage an all-contractor team.
You might not have as much control over your talent
Most countries’ contractor-employer relationship laws stipulate that the employer can’t set fixed working hours, among other things. These laws give contractors more freedom over how and when they do their work than an employee would have. In reality, however, most contractors are willing & able to work on the company’s schedule—it’s a matter of setting expectations beforehand.
Hiring abroad is notoriously difficult: New labor laws, entities, a lot of words you’d rather not hear again. But we’ve got good news—it doesn’t need to be that way. Below, we’ll break down your two main options for hiring in France (and the one we prefer).
Hire talent as contractors
Hire talent as employees
If you’ve read up until this point, you’ll know that it’s easier, cheaper, and more flexible to hire contractors in France than employees. Still, there are valid reasons why you might want to hire employees instead. The content below is for you—we’ll cover employer taxes and obligations in France.
Employer tax
Employer Contributions
- 51%
Paid Time Off (PTO)
After the first month of probation, employees are entitled to 5 weeks of annual leave.
Public Holidays
There are 11 public holidays.
Sick Days
An employee must put in at least 150 hours of work in the past 3 months or 90 days immediately before the leave or have contributed based on earnings of at least 1,015 times the legal hourly minimum wage in the last six calendar months.
A payment of 50% of the insured’s daily earnings is paid after a three-day waiting period.
Maternity Leave
- Single birth, bringing mothers number of children to one or two: 16 weeks (6 before birth, and 10 after)
- Single birth, bringing mothers number of children to three or more: 26 weeks (8 before birth, 18 after)
- Birth of twins: 34 weeks (12 weeks before, 22 weeks after) *
- Birth of triplets or more: 46 weeks (24 weeks before, 22 weeks after)
- If the mother suffers an illness during pregnancy, she is entitled to two additional weeks before birth, and four additional weeks after birth.
Paternity Leave
Paternity leave entitlement is 28 days, where at least 1 week is mandatory. This leave also covers same-sex (female and male) couples. Employers are responsible for paying 3 days of the leave, while social security covers the rest.
Parental Leave
Employees who have worked for at least one year before the date of their child’s birth, (or before welcoming a child no older than 16 years to their home with a view to adoption) can take parental leave or choose to work part-time.
This right extends until the child’s third birthday, (unless the child was aged between three and 16 on arrival, in which case the adoptive parent can take one year’s parental leave from the date of arrival).
If employees take parental leave, their employment contract is suspended and the employer does not have to pay compensation. However, the employees can receive certain indemnities from the social security system.
Parents can also benefit from additional leave when their child is sick, which usually amounts to between three and five days depending on the child’s age and the parent’s number of children.
However, if the child suffers from a serious illness or disability, or an accident, which requires continuous parental presence or constraining care, the parents can take a specific leave of 310 days over three years.
Other Leave
None.
Marriage Leave
None.
Bereavement Leave
None.
Termination Process
In France, it is not allowed to dismiss someone due to COVID-19.
Resignation: No specific labor code. Can be submitted verbally or written, however, it is advised to provide a written notice. A fixed duration of notice does not exist, but notice should always be given. Notice period is determined on contract, agreement, or practices by profession.
Mutual Termination: Employers and employees agree on termination conditions in permanent employment contracts.
Economic Dismissal: These are jobs cut due to economic or technological changes.
Individual Dismissal: A preliminary dismissal interview must be set up and take place. 2 days to a month after the meeting a letter of dismissal must be sent to the employee.
Notice Period
1 month for employment between 6 months and 2 years.
2 months for employment over 2 years.
3 months for executives.
Severance Pay
Calculations for severance pay depend on which payment provides the most favorable outcome.
Monthly average of last 12 months of employment;
Average monthly earnings of all months preceding dismissal;
1/3 of the last 3 months.
Probation Period
- 2 months for blue-collar employees and clerks.
- 3 months for technicians and supervisors.
- 4 months for managers.
Working Hours
A full-time workweek is 35 hours.
Overtime
Overtime is work done beyond the weekly 35 hours. With an established agreement overtime pay must be no less than 110% of the regular wages. If no agreement is in place, overtime pay is 125% of the regular pay for the first 8 hours of overtime and 150% for every hour after.
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