Employer of Record in France

For a well-paid role, budget about 44-45% on top of gross salary: France has no single employer rate, but a composite of roughly a dozen URSSAF and AGIRC-ARRCO contributions. Below three times the minimum wage — about €65,600 a year in 2026 — a degressive relief cuts that materially, and close to the SMIC it very nearly cancels it. So a €150,000 hire costs about 45% more than gross while a €30,000 one costs far less than that, which is why a single flat percentage is misleading. We quote the exact, salary-specific figure per hire before you commit.

Employer charges are the sum of many separate contributions — health at 13%, old-age pension capped and uncapped, family allowances at 5.25%, unemployment and AGS, the workplace-accident levy set per establishment by claims history, and the AGIRC-ARRCO complementary pensions — several of them calculated against the social-security ceiling, which is €4,005 a month for 2026. On top of that a degressive relief is applied afterwards, based on the exact annual salary. The total therefore varies with pay level, sector and even the employer’s own accident record, which is why salary-specific costing matters.

The SMIC is €12.31 per hour, or €1,867.02 per month for the legal 35-hour week, since 1 June 2026 — up from €12.02 in January, because France’s indexation mechanism can trigger an automatic mid-year increase. Collective agreements may set higher sector minimums. One detail that catches employers out: the reference SMIC used to calculate employer relief is frozen at the January figure of €12.02 for the whole of 2026, so the June increase raised payroll cost without increasing the relief. We apply the current SMIC, any sector minimum and the correct relief automatically.

It was merged, from 1 January 2026, with the former reduced rates on health and family allowances into one degressive relief. Two things changed materially. The reduced rates are gone, so every employer now pays 13% health and 5.25% family allowances at every salary level. And the relief’s reach roughly doubled: it now tapers away at three times the SMIC, about €65,600 a year, rather than at 1.6 × SMIC. Guides that still describe a taper ending at 1.6 × SMIC are describing the pre-2026 system. We apply the current calculation at the exact salary, so lower-paid roles are costed properly rather than with a blunt flat rate.

French law requires a real and serious cause (cause réelle et sérieuse) and a formal procedure, including a preliminary meeting, to dismiss an employee. Statutory severance is a quarter of a month’s pay per year of service for the first ten years and a third per year after that; where a dismissal is judged unjustified, compensation is set within a statutory scale based on seniority, so the exposure is at least quantifiable in advance. Almost every role also falls under a collective agreement that can add requirements. As the employer of record, we run lawful, compliant exits.

EOR wins on speed and on carrying France’s dozen-line contribution system, the 2026 relief calculation, collective agreements and DSN filing for you: employees working in days, compliance handled. Your own entity wins on scale once French headcount and permanence are certain. Many clients run both in sequence — EOR to enter, entity once proven — and we transfer the team when the time comes.

Beyond the mandatory mutuelle health cover, competitive French employers typically provide meal vouchers (titres-restaurant), a transport allowance (subsidizing at least 50% of public transport costs is a legal requirement in most cases), and profit-sharing schemes, which are common and tax-advantaged. The applicable collective bargaining agreement often dictates minimums here too, so benefits need to be checked against the sector-specific convention collective.

There is a statutory floor — under article L1234-1 of the Code du travail, one month’s notice after six months’ service and two months after two years — but in practice the applicable collective agreement usually sets something longer, and cadres commonly have three months. Termination requires a documented, legally valid reason and a formal procedure that includes a preliminary meeting; statutory severance is a quarter of a month’s pay per year for the first ten years and a third per year beyond. Where a Comité Social et Économique exists it may also need to be consulted, which is why local expertise matters on every exit.

An EOR can have your hire working in days — typically two to five — because the employment sits inside a structure already registered with URSSAF, enrolled in DSN reporting and connected to the AGIRC-ARRCO pension bodies and a mutuelle. Incorporating a French company is quick on its own; becoming an operational employer is the slower part — URSSAF registration, pension and occupational-health enrolment, and a payroll setup that correctly applies the 2026 degressive relief commonly run to six to ten weeks. Identifying the right convention collective from day one is part of that, and getting it wrong is expensive to unwind — which an EOR handles as part of onboarding.