FRENCH HR ESSENTIALS · HIRING

What should be decided before the first French hire?

Employer entity, role, collective agreement, contract, cost, payroll, registrations and prevention need one coordinated launch plan.

BEFORE THE OFFER

Close the decisions that drive cost and risk.

Which French or foreign entity is the employer?
What is the entity’s real main activity?
Which collective agreement and classification apply?
Permanent or fixed-term need, with a valid reason where required?
Working time: 35, 39, 40 hours or eligible annual days?
Full employer cost and mandatory benefits?

BEFORE DAY ONE

One onboarding chain, not separate provider checklists.

  1. 01

    Document the employment terms

    Prepare French-compliant terms and required information; do not rely on a U.S. offer letter or another country template.

  2. 02

    File the mandatory pre-employment declaration

    France’s pre-employment declaration (DPAE) is generally filed with the social-security contribution collection network (Urssaf) before the employee starts, within the applicable timing window.

  3. 03

    Open payroll and benefits

    Validate identifiers, pay inputs, collective health and other required benefit enrolments.

  4. 04

    Arrange occupational-health follow-up

    Register with the occupational health and prevention service and schedule the appropriate employee follow-up.

  5. 05

    Assess and prevent risks

    The mandatory workplace risk-assessment record (DUERP) is required from the first employee; the assessment should reflect the real role and work environment.

WHAT MONRH@MOI ADDS

One owner for the dependencies.

We connect the job design, collective rules, contract inputs, working time, payroll, benefits, health and safety, and manager onboarding. The company retains the final hiring decision.

Where immigration, tax, permanent-establishment or reserved legal advice is involved, we isolate the question early and coordinate the specialist input.

OFFICIAL SOURCES

FRENCH GOVERNMENTHiring procedure and formalities

Pre-employment declaration and core employer steps.

Official page in French · browser translation may helpFRENCH GOVERNMENTOccupational health follow-up

Employee health monitoring framework.

Official page in French · browser translation may help

General information only. The actual launch plan depends on the employer, role, employee, location and current rules.