What is a PEO?

A professional employer organization in France — and everywhere else in the world — is designed to act as an HR team. They manage the responsibilities for SMEs, startups, and other companies that just don’t have the enterprise-level manpower (or money!) to establish legal entities.

A PEO’s responsibilities include managing the payroll, creating competitive benefits packages, and ensuring that your business remains compliant with local labor laws. 

With the help of a PEO service in France, business owners don’t have to spend time on HR tasks or other administrative tasks. They also don’t have to worry about coming up with the capital to hire an in-house team and local legal counsel. This is because the PEO becomes your in-house team and legal services — and for a fraction of the cost.

If you want to learn more about what a PEO service can do for your business, get in touch with a team member at Skuad today. 

What are the benefits of using a PEO provider in France?

Working with a PEO in France can turn your small business into something much bigger. 

Starting with the following benefits of PEO services in France, you’ll learn how a PEO can become your greatest asset for future business growth.

Hire the absolute best

With remote work on the rise and the amount of highly skilled workers out there, it’s just in your best interest to take a look outside of your own country to find the best people for the job. 

Working with a PEO means you can dip into virtually any talent pool in the world, including France. Plus, with France’s strong economy and highly qualified workforce, it would be foolish not to try and access the country’s top talent to grow your business.

Become a global competitor

Whether you’re working with a PEO in France or elsewhere, you’re essentially expanding your business globally. This means you can grow your business without hesitation, establish a global reputation within your industry, and do so at scale.

What’s more, a PEO service working in France already has an understanding of the statutory benefits that employers are obligated to give their workers in the country. This means they can help you offer competitive benefits packages to attract and retain top talent from overseas, giving you an edge over your rivals!

Say goodbye to unnecessary expenses

Doing business in France comes with some very significant costs. As a startup or even a medium-sized business, you likely don’t have the necessary capital to expand into another country on your own.

When you partner with a PEO in France, however, you’ll get a full suite of HR and legal services to help you manage administrative tasks like payroll and reporting. They also ensure that you remain compliant with the local labor laws without pause, and they’ll do it for a fraction of what it would cost to hire your own HR and legal teams.

Gain experience in new markets

Doing business in France essentially means doing business throughout the European Union — and even neighboring countries outside the EU. Using a PEO to hire and onboard employees in the EU is the best way to gain insights into the European market. This will help you expand into the surrounding markets over time. 

Skuad is the professional employer organization in France, helping you corner your share of the European markets. Get in touch with a Skuad team member to talk about market insights today!

Avoid having to set up your own legal entity in France

Without a PEO in France, you would have to set up your own legal business structure in the country just to hire international employees. This is an incredibly time-consuming process. It’s also much more expensive than you can imagine — and that’s even before hiring your own legal and HR teams to work with.

You would also have to physically be in the country to see the process through, which means incurring other expenses for accommodations, airfare, and so on.

Gain cultural awareness and total compliance with local laws

It’s essential to become familiar with the cultural difference that comes with international hiring. 

Your PEO in France will make sure that you’re informed about all of these cultural differences as an employer of French workers.

For example, virtually everything in France shuts down during the summer months. French workers are entitled to five weeks of paid vacation, and most employees choose to cash that in during this time. As a result, you can expect your French employees to be pretty much unreachable during the summer season! 

Other things that you’ll need to know about the work culture in France include…

Hiring and employment law in France

• The statutory maximum working hours in France are 35 hours per week or seven hours per day. However, there are some exceptions that allow working hours to extend up to 48 hours per week with an average of 44 hours weekly during a 12 week period with 10 hour days.

• Employee contracts in France can be either written or verbal. Of course, a written document (in French) is always advised.

• Female employees in France are entitled to 16 weeks of paid maternity leave while male employees are entitled to 11 consecutive days of paternity leave. 18 consecutive days if multiple children are born or adopted. 

• The French Labor Code does not specify a particular number of days for sick leave. However, employees are entitled to paid sick leave upon presenting a certificate known as avis d’arrêt de travail, which is essentially a doctor’s note.

Income tax rates in France

Residents of France benefit from one of the most generous social security systems in the world — but it has to be funded somehow. And that’s where France’s income tax rates come into play.

2022’s income tax brackets in France are:

• Up to €10,225  0%
• €10,226–€26,070        11%
• €26,071–€74,545         30%
• €74,546–€160,366 41%
• €160,367 and above 45%

Non-residents also pay a minimum of 20% tax on their France-sourced income.

It’s the employer’s responsibility to deduct income tax under the Pay As You Earn (PAYE) system.

There’s a lot to learn about the employment laws in France as well as the country’s work culture, and expectations. As your PEO in France, Skuad will keep you compliant.

What does it cost to build a team in France?

When it comes to hiring French workers, you’ve got two options: set up your international business in France by opening a local entity, or working with PEO services in France to do it for you.

Cost of setting up a business in France

Setting up a business in France can get expensive fast. It can also be a very time-consuming process. 

A France LLC setup will cost €2,960 in the first year, with some recurring costs in the second. But the overall cost of engagement — when you consider company incorporation, setting up a corporate bank account, legally registering, government fees, legal fees, and so on — can be more in the region of €15,000.

You’ll also have to obtain the appropriate visas, which may require a status change down the line — and France is somewhat infamous when it comes to visa applications and renewals!

Using a PEO in France

Partner with a PEO in France and you’ll only have to pay a fraction of the cost of forming a legal entity. With Skuad, you can even get started for free to see how you like it.

Our PEO services begin at $19 per month, providing you with the means to onboard and pay your international employees in France. If you need us to also act as your employer of record (EOR), to hire international employees on your behalf as well as manage your payroll, benefits, compliance, etc., prices begin at $199 per month.

We also serve enterprise businesses, which we offer customized prices for (just reach out to our team to talk business).

When you’re ready to start onboarding and paying employees in France, book a demo to see how Skuad’s PEO services work.