France · Employer of Record · Payroll Services · PEO
You have found the person you want to hire in France — now you need a compliant way to employ them. JN Recruitment is the expansion partner that connects international companies with vetted Employer of Record and payroll partners in France — plus the employment lawyers, tax advisors, payroll bureaus and accountants a French expansion actually needs — and delivers the boutique recruitment that finds the candidate in the first place.
for an EOR to issue a compliant French employment contract once documents are complete
employer social charges on a French gross salary — budgeted before you make the offer
no SAS or SARL required — with an Employer of Record, the partner is the legal employer in France
our recommendation is free — the best specialist from our vetted French network, matched to your case
Payroll partner France
France is the second-largest economy in the European Union — and arguably the most codified place in Europe to put someone on a payroll. A contract governed by the Code du travail and the applicable convention collective, a DPAE filed with URSSAF before the first day of work, monthly DSN declarations, mandatory complementary health cover (mutuelle), prévoyance for cadres, employer charges that approach half the gross salary: none of it is optional, and all of it lands before your new hire receives a first payslip. Companies that have already found their candidate lose weeks here — or improvise with a freelance contract that URSSAF later requalifies as employment.
There are two clean routes. If you have (or will build) a French entity, a payroll service provider in France runs the monthly bulletins de paie, DSN filings and registrations for you. If you have no entity and don’t want one yet, an Employer of Record (EOR) employs your hire legally in France while you direct the day-to-day work — what many US companies would call a PEO, and what French law channels through regulated constructs such as portage salarial. The market is crowded and opaque; licences, service depth and pricing vary enormously. And sooner or later a French expansion also needs an employment lawyer for the contract, a tax advisor for the registrations and an accountant (expert-comptable) for the books. We vet all of it for you.
JN Recruitment is a boutique recruitment firm headquartered in Mannheim, with offices in Poland and Cyprus — and the expansion partner international companies use for the French market. Years of placing people in France have built us a network of the best employment lawyers, tax advisors, payroll bureaus, accountants and licensed EOR and portage providers in the country. We recommend exactly the specialists your case needs — free of charge, at the partner’s standard rates — and stay your single point of contact. What we deliver ourselves is the headhunting: the sales recruitment agency for France that international machinery, industrial-technology and recycling companies already use to enter the market.
What we arrange
Whatever stage your France plans are at — first hire without an entity, or a full team on an existing SAS — this is what our vetted French network delivers: EOR and portage salarial providers, payroll bureaus, employment lawyers, tax advisors and accountants, matched and introduced by us:
The partner becomes the legal employer of your hire in France — French employment contract under the right convention collective, payroll, social charges, mutuelle and prévoyance — while you manage the work day-to-day. Live within days, no SAS required. The standard route for a first hire in France.
For companies with a French entity: a specialised payroll bureau runs the monthly bulletins de paie, DSN declarations to URSSAF, withholding of income tax at source (prélèvement à la source), paid-leave tracking and year-end statements — no in-house French payroll expertise needed.
Searching for a “PEO France”? The US-style PEO doesn’t exist 1:1 under French law — the compliant equivalents are EOR employment, the regulated portage salarial construct for autonomous professionals, or outsourced payroll on your own entity. We translate what you actually need into the right French construct.
Specialised employment lawyers for watertight French contracts, convention collective classification and terminations (rupture conventionnelle included), tax advisors for registrations and filings, experts-comptables for the books — the advisory bench every French expansion eventually needs, already vetted and briefed.
Onboarding paperwork, the mandatory medical visit, absence tracking and statutory registrations — plus audits of French freelance setups: URSSAF actively requalifies disguised employment (salariat déguisé), and partners convert contractors into compliant employment before that happens.
The part we deliver ourselves: executive search for technical sales and leadership roles in France. If you don’t have the candidate yet, we find them — then plug employment and payroll in behind the signed offer.
Market knowledge
French employment is dense with rules — but every rule is written down, and most sit in the convention collective. The essentials we brief every company on before a French hire:
France channels third-party employment through regulated constructs: portage salarial — a licensed model with its own collective agreement, a financial guarantee and a salary floor, built for autonomous professional roles — and licensed temporary work (travail temporaire). Serious EOR providers in France operate within these frames; how a provider is structured is the first thing we check before an introduction.
The French minimum wage (SMIC) sits at roughly €1,800 gross per month on a 35-hour basis and is indexed to inflation, so it moves most years. Professional salaries sit far above it, but the convention collective adds its own salary minimums per classification level — and those bind an EOR just as they bind a local employer.
The période d’essai for cadres runs up to four months and can be renewed once where the convention collective allows it. After probation, cadre contracts typically carry a three-month notice period — so a French hire is signed quickly but starts a quarter later, and terminations follow strict procedure. French contracts must be right from day one.
The déclaration préalable à l’embauche goes to URSSAF before the employee starts — followed by monthly DSN declarations, enrolment in a mutuelle (mandatory complementary health cover), prévoyance for cadres and the occupational medical visit. A first-time employer in France clears this checklist before payroll can even run; it is the single biggest time sink an EOR or payroll partner removes.
Employer cost benchmarks
Payroll quotes in France are built on the charges sociales both sides pay on gross salary. The 2026 picture — the source of the “roughly 45% on top” rule every employer budget should use:
| Contribution | Employer pays | Employee pays |
|---|---|---|
| Health, maternity & disability (assurance maladie) | ≈7–13% | — |
| State pension (assurance vieillesse) | ≈10.5% | ≈7.3% |
| Complementary pension (Agirc-Arrco, incl. CEG) | ≈5–13% by tranche | ≈3–9% by tranche |
| Unemployment insurance (assurance chômage + AGS) | ≈4.3% | — |
| Family allowances (allocations familiales) | ≈3.45–5.25% | — |
| Accident insurance & other levies (AT/MP, FNAL, training, transport) | ≈4–7% | CSG/CRDS ≈9.7% |
Orientation figures for 2026, rounded: several rates step up above salary thresholds, Agirc-Arrco runs in two tranches, accident insurance varies by sector, and the réduction générale cuts employer charges sharply near the SMIC. Rule of thumb: a €70,000 gross salary costs the employer roughly €98,000–102,000 all-in. Your payroll or EOR partner’s quote is the binding number.
Yes. An Employer of Record (EOR) employs your candidate in France on your behalf: the EOR holds the French employment contract, runs payroll and social charges, and you direct the day-to-day work. No SAS, no French bank account, no registrations on your side. It is the standard route for a first hire in France — with a French particularity: third-party employment runs through regulated constructs such as portage salarial or licensed temporary work, so the provider’s structure and licence matter, and we check both before any introduction.
The EOR is the legal employer under French law. It issues a compliant contract under the applicable convention collective, files the DPAE with URSSAF before day one, runs monthly payroll and DSN declarations, withholds income tax at source, pays the employer social charges, enrols the employee in a mutuelle and prévoyance scheme, arranges the occupational medical visit and administers paid leave (congés payés) and sick leave. You remain in charge of the work itself — targets, tasks, tools, day-to-day management — and reimburse the EOR for gross salary, employer charges and a service fee.
Typical French EOR pricing is a flat €400–700 per employee per month, or a percentage of gross salary — on top of the salary itself and roughly 45% employer social charges; portage salarial providers usually price as a percentage of the invoiced amount instead. Compare that with the alternative: forming and running a SAS means formation costs, accounting, annual filings and a local payroll setup — rarely worth it below three to five employees. We match you with a partner whose pricing fits your head-count and flag the all-in monthly number before you commit.
Budget roughly 40–47% employer social charges at professional salary levels: health insurance, state and complementary pension (Agirc-Arrco), unemployment insurance, family allowances, accident insurance and a set of smaller levies for housing, training and transport. The réduction générale lowers the burden substantially near the SMIC, and several rates step up above salary thresholds — which is why the percentage is higher for a cadre than for a junior hire. As a rule of thumb, a €70,000 gross salary costs the employer roughly €100,000 all-in per year, before any bonus, car or EOR fee.
In the US, a PEO co-employs your staff while you keep your own entity; an EOR employs them fully so you don’t need one. French law has no 1:1 equivalent of the US PEO model — the compliant French constructs are EOR employment, portage salarial for autonomous professionals, or outsourced payroll and HR administration on your own SAS. Providers use all these labels loosely, which is precisely why we check what a partner actually delivers before we introduce them.
Yes — within the constructs French law provides. Portage salarial is fully regulated: providers need a financial guarantee, operate under a dedicated collective agreement, and the model is built for autonomous, professional-level roles with a salary floor. Licensed temporary work (travail temporaire) covers other cases, and some providers employ directly through a French entity. What is not legal is informal labour lending outside these frames (prêt de main-d’œuvre illicite) — provider structure and licence status are the first things we verify in our partner vetting.
Yes. If your SAS or branch already exists, a French payroll partner takes over the monthly cycle: bulletins de paie, DSN declarations to URSSAF, income-tax withholding at source, paid-leave and RTT tracking, mutuelle and prévoyance administration, plus year-end statements. Typical pricing runs per payslip per month. The same partners handle the employer registrations and convention collective classification if your entity has never employed anyone in France before.
Via EOR: the French employment contract is typically ready within three to seven working days once the candidate’s documents are complete — the fastest compliant route into the French market. Building your own entity first takes weeks to months including registrations. In practice the binding constraint is usually the candidate’s notice period: three months is standard for French cadres — which, as recruiters, is the part we actively manage for you.
Only if they are genuinely self-employed. France polices disguised employment (salariat déguisé) hard: URSSAF audits contractor relationships, and requalification means back-dated social charges — paid largely by you — plus a deemed employment contract with full Code du travail protection. One client, fixed working hours and integration into your team are classic red flags. If the working reality is employment, EOR or portage employment costs little more and removes the risk; our partners also audit and convert existing contractor setups.
No — and that is deliberate. JN Recruitment is a boutique recruitment firm and your expansion partner for France: over years of placing candidates here we have built a vetted network of the best employment lawyers, tax advisors, payroll bureaus, accountants and licensed EOR and portage salarial providers — and we recommend exactly the specialists your case needs. You contract directly with the partner at their standard rates; the recommendation costs you nothing, and we stay your single point of contact. What we deliver ourselves is the search: if the candidate doesn’t exist yet, our French headhunting finds them.
Across Europe
The same specialised technical sales search opens every market on the continent — pick the country you are expanding into.
Hiring in several markets at once?
Hiring at leadership level? Our executive search practice:
Candidate found — and now need a compliant way to employ them?
Talk to us — no strings attached. We get back to you within 24 hours.
Our mission is simple: placements that open new markets.
30-minute intro call
Two quick steps — tell us what you need and how to reach you. Within one business day you get an intro call and, where it fits, a direct introduction to the right specialists from our vetted network.
Your contact person Jonas Strambach Director & Senior Recruiter, JN Recruitment +49 1525 2077583 [email protected] Thank you — we’ll get back to you within one business day to schedule your intro call.
An honest read on your vacancy & market — in your first call.
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Before you go
Every month a key sales seat stays empty pushes your expansion plans back — and leaves serious revenue on the table. We fill technical sales positions within weeks, so you hit your expansion targets on schedule.
Jonas Strambach Director & Senior Recruiter, JN Recruitment Free vacancy check · reply within 24 hours
