European Restructuring Monitor (ERM)
Eurofound's ERM database on restructuring-related legal regulations provides information on regulations in the Member States of the European Union and Norway which are explicitly or implicitly linked to anticipating and managing change.
Labour code: L. 1222-12 to L. 1222-16 (securing employment) L.2242-20 to L. 2242-21 (anticipatory management of employment and competencies plan) L. 5151-1 to L. 5151-6 (occupational personal account) L.6111-1 (vocational training) L.6315-1 to L6315-2, L6323-13 (Career interview) L..6321-1 (adaptation to the workstation) L. 6321-2, L.6321-6 (vocational training considered as working time) L.6331-1A to L6333-8 (commitment to fund vocational training)
Employers are required to finance the vocational training system, and according to the Labour code, the employer is obliged to ensure the adaptation of employees to their workplace. Furthermore, the legislator and the case law required them to be more active through schemes like the personal training account, the obligation to negotiate Anticipatory management of employment and competencies plan or the commitment to organise a career interview for each employee.
Secure voluntary mobility - L. 1222-12 to L. 1222-16: The secure voluntary mobility schemes enable employees to ask their employer to temporarily suspend their contract to work in another company. The objective is to enrich the career of the employee, without the termination of their contract. Eligible employees must be working in companies or groups with at least 300 employees and have at least 24 months of seniority, consecutive or not.
Employers may refuse the request without providing justifications. However, the refusal must not be discriminatory, and if the employee believes the refusal is unlawful, they may contest it before the industrial tribunal. If the employer refuses the request twice, the employee becomes entitled to a specific leave.
If employers accept the request, an amendment to the employment contract must be drawn up. This amendment outlines the terms of the mobility period, including duration, conditions of return, and any other relevant provisions.
Every six months, the employer provides the Social and Economic Committee (CSE) with a list of requests and the action taken on them.
On returning to their original company, employees' personal job classification must be maintained. Employees are either automatically reinstated in their previous job or in a similar job with at least equivalent qualifications and remuneration. Upon returning, employees must be offered a professional interview (Labour Code, article L. 6315-1), devoted to their career development prospects.
If an employee chooses not to return to their original company, it constitutes a resignation, and their employment contract will be terminated.
** Management of jobs and career path - L.2242-20 and L. 2242-21:** Every three years, large companies (300+ employees, or EU-scale groups with at least one 150+ employee site in France) must engage in negotiation with employee representatives. An assessment will be conducted at the end of the agreement. Negotiations focus on employment and skills planning and must cover: * Forward-looking jobs and skills planning (GPEC), especially aligned with ecological transition goals. * Internal mobility conditions, * Three-year guidelines for vocational training and skills development plan * Reduce precarious contracts in favour of permanent contracts. * Information sharing with subcontractors on strategic changes affecting jobs and skills. * Career development of union representatives * Collective dismissal provisions (Articles L.1233-21 and L.1233-22). * Identification of at-risk job categories due to economic or technological changes. * Inclusion of subcontractors in the company's workforce planning. * Participation in regional employment initiatives * Mobility leave policies (Articles L.1237-18 et seq.). * Integration of youth, promotion of knowledge transfer, with specific provisions for improving alternance (apprenticeship/internship) * Employment and improvement of working conditions of older workers Law n°2021-1104 of 22 August 2021, Article 40 emphasised the ecological transition as a core consideration in workforce planning and GPEC.
** Personal Activity Account - L. 5151-1 to L. 5151-6:**
The Personal Activity Account (Compte Personnel d’Activité - CPA) is a system designed to enhance individuals’ autonomy and job security throughout their professional careers by consolidating various rights and entitlements into one digital account. It includes:
The CPA is managed by the Caisse des dépôts et consignations via a free online platform. It provides information on social rights, access to digital pay slips, mobility support tools, and coordination with retirement and prevention accounts.
The following individuals are eligible for the CPA: * Individuals aged over age 16, or 15 for apprentices. * Retired individuals. * Inmates engaged in work, volunteering, or civic service. * Individuals not in employment or training but wishing to use the citizen engagement account.
The CPA will close upon the person’s death. The CPF funding stops in certain unemployment situations unless specified otherwise. The CPA provides access to rights simulations, pay slip consultations, and career and geographic mobility services.
These services are available via secure online platforms. The API integration allows third-party service providers to interface with the CPA platform. Personal data usage conditions (including from the Déclaration Sociale Nominative) are defined and subject to CNIL oversight.
** Vocational training - L.6111-1:** Lifelong access to vocational training is a national obligation aimed at enabling every individual—regardless of employment status—to acquire and update skills and qualifications throughout their career. As part of this system, all individuals aged 16 or older (or 15 for apprentices) can open a Compte Personnel de Formation (CPF), which remains valid from their entry into the labour market until retirement. This right is maintained even during periods of unemployment or job transitions.
The CPF is integrated into the broader Compte Personnel d’Activité (CPA), which supports career security by enhancing individual autonomy and removing barriers to professional mobility.
Since 1 January 2019, CPF entitlements have been monetised in euros. From 2020, employees working at least 50% of full-time hours for the entire year receive €500 credited annually, up to a ceiling of €5,000. Part-time employees working less than half the year receive a pro-rated amount.
If the available CPF balance is insufficient to cover a training course, it can be topped up by other actors, including the employer, the individual, sectoral agreements, or public employment services. In cases of unemployment, state or regional employment authorities may provide additional funding. Company-level collective agreements may also establish extra contributions.
To be eligible under the CPF, training programmes must appear on an official list, such as the Répertoire national des certifications professionnelles (RNCP) or Répertoire spécifique.
Professional Interview - L.6315-1 and L6315-2: Article L6315-1 establishes a legal obligation for employers to conduct a biennial professional development interview (entretien professionnel) with each employee, focusing on career prospects, skills development, and training opportunities—not job performance.
A comprehensive career review must also take place every six years, assessing whether the employee has:
If these conditions aren't met in companies with 50+ employees, the employer must top up the employee’s CPF as a penalty.
The law also allows collective agreements to adapt the interview frequency, content, and CPF contribution rules. A separate interview is available for employees starting an elected public mandate to address work-mandate balance.
Training and vocational obligations - L.6321-1 to L. 6321-6: Article L.6321-1 requires employers to ensure employees adapt to their roles and maintain their employability by offering relevant training, including in digital skills, literacy, and the French language, with possible certification through the skills development plan.
Training required by law, regulations, or international agreements is considered actual working time and must be fully paid by the employer during its duration.
Training actions are generally considered working time and paid, except when they occur outside working hours under a collective agreement or with the employee’s formal consent, within set limits (e.g., 30 hours/year or 2% of annual work time for forfait employees).
Funding vocational training - L.6331-1A to L6333-8: As stated above, training activities generally count as paid working time. However, they may be conducted partly or fully outside of regular working hours if:
Employers penalties - L.6323-13: Article L.6323-13 of the French Labour Code establishes a financial penalty for companies with 50 or more employees that fail to support their employees' professional development over six years.
If an employee has not received the mandatory biennial career interviews and at least one non-mandatory training course, the employer must make a compulsory payment (abondement) to the employee’s personal training account (CPF). The amount is set by decree and capped at six times the annual CPF credit (up to €3,000).
If this obligation is not fulfilled, the company can be forced to pay the missing amount plus a 100% penalty to the French Treasury. This payment is collected and disputed under the same rules as taxes on turnover. The employee threshold is calculated according to the Social Security law.
Created by Law 2013-504 of 14 June 2013 on securing employment, secure voluntary mobility is set out in Articles L 1222-12 et seq. of the French Labour Code. There are no statistics available to assess the scheme, but a number of press articles show that it is largely unknown and little used.
The personal training account (CPF) replaced the individual right to training (Droit individuel à la formation - DIF), which was created in 2003 and was rarely used.
The 2018 law 'pour la liberté de choisir son avenir professionnel' amended the labour code in the field of vocational training. It brought significant changes with respect to:
Even if its provisions address a very wide range of topics, the law is directly related to employee mobility in the labour market and employers' duties in this respect. The reform generally aims at empowering people, irrespective of their situation in the labour market, and at making them active in the development of their own competencies and employability. The reform contributes to the overall labour market reforms implemented by the French president, which include the 2017 reform of the labour code and the reform of the unemployment insurance scheme.
As highlighted by the Court of Auditors (Cour des Comptes, 2023), one of the major objectives of the reform was to make use of the CPF more "democratic". This is the result of both the transformation of the annual entitlements available to working people into an amount available in euros and, from November 2019, the possibility of purchasing training through an online platform inspired by internet shopping sites. Use of the CPF has risen sharply, beyond expectations, since September 2020, with the annual number of applications rising from around 500,000 - 600,000 before the reform to more than two million by 2021.
As for GPEC (Gestion prévisionnelle des emplois et des compétence / Anticipatory management of employment and competencies), there have been several attempts to assess the impact of the policy initiatives discussed above, but there are essentially three obstacles in depicting a clear picture. First, in its annual reviews on collective bargaining, the Ministry of Labour includes GPEC agreements at company level in the wider 'collective agreements on employment', which includes as well collective agreements on other issues like employment of disabled people. Second, companies can also merge GPEC negotiations with other negotiations on different topics. Third, collective bargaining for GPËC is legally required every three years, meaning GPEC agreements are often multi-year. However, it is possible to notice that the percentage of company-level collective agreements on employment related to job management (GPEC, Employment Safeguard Plans, employee mobility) reduced from 31% in 2016 to 28% in 2017. At the sectoral level, two GPEC agreements were concluded in 2016, two in 2017 and three in 2018. The 2018 reform does not directly affect GPEC regulation but, in the current context, employers have a role to play, and sometimes legal duties to satisfy, to explain to their employees their interest in training and using available resources. For instance, the 2018 reform allows employees to receive information about the CPF and the CEP (Conseil en évolution professionnelle - career guidance public service) during the career interview.
In the ruling 24-16.405 from the Cassation Court it was stated that an employer may not dismiss an employee for professional incompetence without first offering adequate training and support. For a dismissal for professional incompetence to be valid, it must be based on serious, objective, and verifiable reasons. For example, an employee must be unable to perform its job properly, perform repeated errors, lack productivity, fail to perform mandatory training, lack technical skills, or deliberate absences. If the employee’s poor performance is linked to a lack of training or adaptation support, particularly in light of changes in roles, technologies, or organisational structure, the dismissal may be invalid.
Eurofound (2015), France: Employers obligation to provide skill development plans or training, Restructuring legislation database, Dublin, https://apps.eurofound.europa.eu/legislationdb/employers-obligation-to-provide-skill-development-plans-or-training/france
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