FRENCH HR ESSENTIALS · ANNUAL DAYS
When does an annual working-days arrangement fit?
France’s annual working-days arrangement — forfait annuel en jours in French — can support genuinely autonomous work. It is not a way to stop monitoring workload or rest.
FOUR GATES
All four need an evidenced answer.
- 01
Valid collective basis
A collective agreement must authorise the arrangement and define its framework.
- 02
Eligible autonomous employee
The employee must belong to an eligible category and have real autonomy in organising the schedule.
- 03
Signed individual agreement
The employment terms must record the annual-days package in writing.
- 04
Active safeguards
Days worked, rest, reasonable workload, work-life balance and the right to disconnect require ongoing follow-up.
218 DAYS
A ceiling is not a management system.
The standard legal maximum under a collective agreement is generally 218 working days a year. Rest days bridge the calendar to that annual number and are often called RTT days in French workplace language, but they are not paid leave and do not come from the same mechanism as an hours-based rest-day arrangement.
In the official 2026 calendar illustration, a 218-day package produces nine additional rest days. Entry or departure during the year, the agreement, leave rights and the actual calendar can change the calculation.
OPERATIONAL CONTROL
What monRH@moi puts behind the clause.
OFFICIAL SOURCE
General information only. Do not adopt an annual-days arrangement without checking the collective basis, employee autonomy and monitoring process.