Insights
Making sense of French payroll and HR
Perspectives
Is your small administrative team ready for AI?
Clean data, written processes, clear ownership and realistic expectations: how a small administrative team prepares for AI before buying any tool.
Payroll
How do you switch payroll providers in France without losing history?
History takeover, year-to-date data, the DSN cycle, parallel runs and parameter watch, including the June 2026 SMIC rise: switching payroll providers well.
Employment law
Collective agreements: what foreign employers must check before the first payroll
Scope, pay minima, trial periods and leave: why a French collective agreement binds foreign employers and how to identify the one that applies to you.
HR
6 obligations to secure before your first hire in France
SIRET without an establishment, DPAE within 8 days, trial periods, health cover, medical visit, paid leave: a foreign structure's first hire in France.
Expats
Six steps that settle your first months working in France
Social security number, carte Vitale, right to work, trial period, mutuelle and the impatriate regime: the six steps that organise your arrival in France.
Payroll
Reading a French payslip from a headquarters abroad
Seven zones, one gross figure, three nets: a reading method for the French payslip, from montant net social to employer cost, written for headquarters.
Expats
An expat's guide to the French payslip
The seven zones of a French payslip, gross versus net, the montant net social, what your contributions fund, and the tax already withheld at source.
Payroll
Payroll automation: what it really does and what stays human
Anomaly checks before the run, parameter updates, DSN consistency controls: what payroll automation really does and what must remain human judgment.
Payroll
Hiring in France without an establishment starts with the CNFE
CNFE registration, the E0 form, a single SIRET, monthly DSN filings and the TFE service: the route for foreign employers with no establishment in France.
Employment law
Which law applies to locally engaged staff at an embassy in France?
French labour law, social security, unemployment insurance and state immunity: what actually applies to locally engaged staff of embassies in France.