French Work Benefits Are Truly Unbelievable

We were in line to pay for our portions of the meal.  It was in Grenoble and many of my native French companions had opted for raclette, the delicious and hearty mountain food of the Alps.  I wanted to encounter Savoyarde cuisine a bit more “head on” and opted for tête de veau.  As the guest in front of me paid, she ripped off a sequence of cheques, each denominated in 10€.  My eyes drifted to the bottom of the cheque: it read “cheque vacance.”  I made the mental connection, and then incredulous, I started laughing.  “Quoi?” my friend nudged.  “You…you…you people get money to go on vacation?” I queried.  Julien laughed, “Oui, mon ami.”  As we got into the car to drive back to Paris after a weekend of skiing, I made a note in my journal: “Hunt down all French work benefits.”  That was almost two years ago, and it’s high time I finally shared my findings with you.  Americans, please take a seat.  You’re not going to believe this.

I’ve divided the benefits into two categories.  There are the benefits that are required by law, which everyone gets, and there are those “optional” benefits which are only provided by certain companies.  I’m going to leave aside the discussion of cadre/non-cadre as well as CDD vs. CDI for another time.  I just want to focus on benefits.

Standard Benefits (required by law)

RTT (Réduction du Temps de Travail)

Everyone knows about the 35-hour work week, but what you don’t know is that the French are required to be compensated for the time they work beyond those 35 hours, and that comes out to a minimum of 2.5 days per month, every month of the year, at most large companies for those on a CDI.  That adds up to 30 days per year using that accounting though some have told me they get as “few” as 10 days per year as they are only on the clock for 38.5 hours per week.

CP (Congés Payés)

Everyone is required, after the first year of work, to be provided with an additional five weeks of paid vacation per year.  If you add the RTT and CP, you can begin to understand why the entire country is gone from roughly July 15-September 1st, and still has leftovers for personal vacations in the Winter and Spring.

Fêtes Nationales

The National Holidays were actually more numerous before the disestablishment of the Catholic Church (“holiday” is simply an elision of “Holy Day”) and because Napoleon wanted to show his power over the Church, in the Concordat he signed with Pope Pius VII in 1801, he suppressed a number of ancient feast days.  So, the number of national holidays would be even higher if it weren’t for Napoleon, who had a bit of a workaholic streak in him.  As it is, the national holidays of France, long called “bank holidays” in England, to commemorate that country’s true religion, finance, include:

  • The Circumcision (January 1st)
  • Easter Monday
  • Labor Day (May 1st)
  • Ascension Thursday
  • V-E Day (May 8th)
  • Pentecost Monday
  • July 14th
  • The Assumption (August 15th)
  • All Saints (November 1st)
  • Armistice Day (November 11th)
  • Christmas (December 25th)

If you were keeping track, that’s 11 days.  For a so-called secular state, the French do keep an overwhelming majority of ancient Catholic feast days, with only one “commemoration” of the bloodthirsty revolution.  I suppose you could count Armistice Day and V-E Days as commemorations of the wars that democracy gave us.

Public Transport subsidy

If you take public transportation to work, your employer must subsidize at least 50% of the cost of your pass.

Food subsidy

I couldn’t get a clear answer on the exact amounts, but you get vouchers called “ticket restaurant,” which are a 50/50 split between you and your employer.  This means if you get a series of 10 € daily vouchers, you have contributed 5 € and your employer has matched 5 €, making for 10 €.  Some, like my friend Adam, get as much as 19 €/day, and keep in mind, you aren’t limited to buying lunch only with those vouchers: you can use them for grocery shopping.  There is some movement away from the vouchers into an electronic debit card-based system (to prevent hoarding and mass-cashing at the end of the year), but that will take a while.

American reaction: “You get free money!”
French response (glumly, with a frown): “Yeah, we pay half.”

American glares at French person.
French person shrugs, repeats and says, “What, it’s true!”

Tuition Reimbursement

If you wish to take classes or training, possibly even training to change your career and quit your current job, your employer has to pause your job and allow you to take those classes.  Your employer may refuse twice, but may not refuse if you request a third time.

Compte Professionnel de Formation (formerly droit individuel à la formation)

You earn points in a personal account even via part-time work.  You can use these points towards paid training and certifications either in your career or to change careers.  These points do not expire and belong to you, not your employer.

Wait, there’s more: Maternity and Paternity Leave

French women are entitled to 16 weeks of paid maternity leave and French men are entitled to 11 days of paid paternity leave, though the French men are having to be encouraged to use this benefit as its culturally quite new.

Life Days Off (yes, more vacation)

If you get married, you are entitled to 4 days off, if you get into a civil union, you can get 1 day off.  If there is a death in your direct family (spouse or children), you can get 2 days off.  If one of your children is getting married, you can get one day off.

Mutuelle (because inexpensive health care wasn’t good enough)

Beginning this year, the mutuelle, which was a paid private plan you could acquire (from a number of different companies) to make up the balance of payments of the 30% of medical costs you often handle (the State takes on 70%) now has to be provided for you by your employer.  So that bit of health care you did have to pay for?  That’s been taken care of as well.

Optional Benefits (yeah, there’s even more)

Treizième mois

So, some companies pay you for a “13th month” each year.  The purpose?  So you don’t have to set aside savings to pay for your taxes.

Cheques Vacance

You heard about this already this kicked off the idea for this article years ago.

Cheques Cadeau

Well, because at Christmastime, you can’t actually be expected to pull from your savings to buy gifts.  Grab your chequebook, with 10-15 cheques denominated in, you guessed it, 10 € increments.

Comité d’enterprise

If you have at least 50 employees, this is required and .2% of the company wages must be diverted to fund the benefits it provides, which include discounted movie and theater tickets, among other things.  Smaller companies do not necessarily have this.

* * *

So, whenever I begin to catalog this list of benefits to the French, I get some silly speech about how they “fought” for these “rights” and that they have been “earned.”  This is, of course, absurd.  No one has a “right” to a job.  Those of us who have actually signed the front of a paycheck, not just the back, know that.  These laws are coercive measures that are leveled by the French government on companies that do business in France.  It is to maintain a standard of living in this magnificent jewel of a country.  The only price?  Innovation.

The reason that the US and other countries so far outdistance not just France, but Europe, in innovation, is because startups are allowed to figure life out before they are yoked with the duties of taxation.  France, as the laws are currently construed, is a fundamentally anti-business country.  There is no balance whatsoever it is all about the responsibilities and obligations of the employers, which must take all the risk, while the State and the citizens/employees are completely shielded.  This is not real life.  This is the artificial reality created in France.

What do the French retain in exchange for losing the ability to innovate at the speed of the internet?  Stability.  The French have a really good life, thank you very much, and they don’t care if they aren’t keeping up with the rest of the world.  And that’s what those of us who come to this country to make our lives are fundamentally at peace with: the unbelievable burden carried solely by the private sector of the French economy is the price that is paid to have such a good life.  No one forces these French companies to stay here they can leave and go anytime they want and the young French don’t have to create companies here they can go to the US or other friendlier climes.  This isn’t to say that there is no startup scene here in France.  There is it’s exciting and I’ve been pleased and privileged to work with and interact with some of these startups in the guise of my own small French startup.  These French are earnest about the opportunities, okay with the lack of a safety net, and grateful for the flexibility that the startup universe offers.  But they face challenges they simply would not have to face in America and it slows them down.

But that’s the question at the heart of this: is speed what you’re after?  If so, then France isn’t for you, anyway.  Come here for stability, tradition, and pride.  But let’s be clear: these benefits cannot reasonably be construed into a narrative of “rights” that were “earned.”  It’s a ransom that is extorted.  It is paid perhaps reluctantly, but it is paid, nonetheless.  Because life really is that good here, despite all the hassles, paperwork, and these days, bombs and bullets.

The photo was taken at the hottest times of the protests against the new reform of labor laws this year, back in May.  That was, of course, before severe flooding prematurely dampened the resolve of people complaining about gold-plated privileges they never earned and consider “rights.”

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21 thoughts on “French Work Benefits Are Truly Unbelievable

  1. Incroyable! As an American with an 8-5 job and two weeks of vacation that goes so quickly, and health insurance costs for my family that eat up a good chunk of my paycheck, I go a little weak in the knees contemplating this smorgasbord of benefits. OTOH, I understand the reality that the benefits so many American progressives see as “rights” have to be paid for by someone else. I really enjoyed this thoughtful and nuanced post about an issue I think about often.

    I found your blog via the Art of Charm blog, and look forward to exploring more.

    • Brigette – it’s precisely because I’ve been doing a lot of work for AoC that my own little labor of love blog has had so few updates, but that should be changing soon as I’ve made some adjustments to do more “leisure” writing 🙂

      • I neglect my blog, too, mainly because of work (you know, the place I DON’T get 6 weeks of vacation and a 13th month of pay to cover taxes) and my 4 kids. You’re neglecting yours for a much cooler reason. AoC is a great site. Can’t believe the podcast has been around more than 10 years and I only discovered it this month. Ridiculous. Shows you how much great content is out there…which is a little discouraging as I contemplate strategies for being heard above the din.

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  3. I’m French, working in Paris and who have a master degree in human ressources, so I’m very aware about french working laws.

    I agree with 80% of this article, but. I said I’m french so of course there is a but. A french worker gets paid less american worker. For exemple, the state takes 25% of my salary each month + 10% of my annual salary each year. (It can goes to 30% depending on your job but the mininum is 22%)

    I’m 26, with a master degree and earn around 3000€ each month. But the state take 750€.
    Each year, the state also takes 10% of the 27 000 I really earned (2250×12 months), so 2700.

    In one year, state took me 750×12 = 9000, + 2700, so 11700. I earn 24300 while I’m working for 36000. And this is more than 70% of french workers.

    also, there is 20% taxes on goods. You buy car, you have to pay 20% more to the state, same for a house, a phone, a bed, a new sofa… And around 5% on food.

    So yes, we have many rights as a workers but we pay for it… and it costs a lot. Think about it.

    • Okay, but who cares if Americans get paid more if the health care in America costs 2000% more than what the French pay? Do you know how much a single man has to pay for health insurance per month? At least $500 USD. Where does the “extra pay” go now? What about transportation? In 98% of locations in the US it is impossible to live without a car – that means car payment, petrol, insurance, registration, upkeep. You can live in Paris and survive with the metro or bicycle or even just your legs. Now add the mandatory US car costs to your total. That’s just two things that French people take for granted (health care and transportation) that are extremely expensive in America. Whatever imaginary “extra money” you think the Americans make go directly to these costs, among many other stupid things.

      When you’ve lived and worked outside of France you’ll understand just how good the French have it. 🙂 For now I’ll chalk up your reply to the usual “Yes, but” attitude of the French 🙂

      • Paris is just one state in france! Most of the other states requires a car to get by. What’s your point? Newyork has a train system too.

        • Well considering the population centers of Lille, Lyon, Paris, Nantes, Marseilles, etc. all have public transportation, I think you mean 99% of geographic France. But population-wise, that’s clearly not the case. Most of the population of France don’t need a car to survive and I think as high as 1/3 of the French population don’t even possess a driver’s license.

    • Yes you are 100% true as my husband is doing job here from 2 years and we have same situation. Much of the salary is deducted in taxes.

  4. This was such a refreshing balanced read. France’s way of life always intrigued me and I wondered how they managed to carve out these benefits but also deal with a jeopardized business climate. It’s always great to hear the other side. Thank you.

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  6. It depends on where you leave in the US and for which company. I am both French and American and worked in both countries living in both Paris and San Diego which is very expensive also (if you want to live by the beach :)).

    I made 4x more in SD in salary. I was working for a very large company who did pay 100% of my health insurance PPO (had $0 out of pocket and $0 deductible). I was a privileged one in the US I guess…. In another company I worked for, I was contributing to $50/month for my PPO health insurance which was covering a lot also (few hundreds out of pocket).

    True that most workers in the US probably don’t have that chance but I think that overall, even with all the French crazy benefits, and the crazy health insurance in the US one makes more money in the US for an equivalent good paid job. Taxes at the end of the year are better in the US. A lot more can be itemized and the % tax brackets are much larger in the US so you pay less % for a large salary.

    Bottom line, high middle class or rich people, go to the US if you can. Middle middle class to lower middle class, stay in France.

    For a middle middle class person, you are better off in France.

    • As a middle-middle class person with children, you are better off in France, because child care is essentially free. Once your kids are older, a lot of that benefit disappears. And then you begin to feel the pinch from taxes + low income.

      Do not the mistake that health care is free in France. It is not. It IS however guaranteed, which is a big difference. We calculate that we pay about the same if not more in total health care in France than we did in the US (on a typical employer plan).

  7. Fascinating article. I have been very interested in French/Western European lifestyle compared to that of here in the USA. I am curious whether you think the lack of “innovation” is really that big of a drawback. USA has amazing innovation, but has innovation really benefited the country, or just benefit a very very small subsection of the workers, and that too mostly in one or suburbs of one city.

    • Steve

      That’s a conversation that I’d love to have if you’re ever in town. My very short answer is yes, it does limit innovation, but that only matters if innovation is your summum bonum.

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  9. We have lived and worked in France for a decade, both on a CDI and as individual corporations (micro-entrepreneur, EURL), and you posit the choice quite nicely: More benefits == less flexibility/opportunity. The requirements on businesses here are…crushing. They are even more so on entrepreneurs and sole proprietors. We love our life here but it is indeed anti-business.

    The “benefits” you list, if you add them up, are basically a hill of beans compared to the tax burden. Resto tickets are nice, vacation/holiday checks are nice, but that money is coming out of your salary. In effect, you are paying yourself to eat lunch out every day. Think about that. Same with the 5 weeks of vacation. You are paying for those weeks by earning half what you would make in the US for a similar job.

    Now, the quality of life and security, for those lucky enough to have a CDI, is phenomenal. But if you want to change careers, to strike out on your own … well, good luck with that…

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