Employer of record in France

An Employer of Record lets you hire in France without setting up locally.

Hiring in France can be a real competitive advantage. You get access to a highly skilled talent pool – especially in tech, data, and digital – supported by strong infrastructure that makes remote work and cross-border collaboration straightforward.

The trade-off is complexity. French labour laws and employment regulations are detailed. And when you work with independent contractors, the stakes are higher: the more the relationship looks like employment, the higher the misclassification risk.

That is where an Employer of Record (EOR) model can help.

With an Employer of Record in France, you can hire employees without setting up a local legal entity.
The EOR acts as the legal employer and manages contracts, payroll, taxes, and compliance with French labour law, while you remain in full control of day-to-day work and performance.

What is an Employer of Record in France?

An Employer of Record (EOR) is a model that allows companies to hire employees in France without setting up a local legal entity. The EOR becomes the legal employer, ensuring full compliance with French labour law while enabling companies to build and manage teams locally.

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In practice, the EOR sits between:
  • Your company, which defines the role, objectives, and day-to-day work
  • The employee, who works full-time for you under a local French employment contract
Depending on the setup, the EOR can handle:
  • Employment contracts and statutory documentation
  • Payroll, taxes, and social contributions
  • Administrative coordination (onboarding, changes, offboarding)
  • Employment compliance and labour law obligations

You still choose who you hire, define the role and mission, and manage performance day to day.

The EOR ensures that the employment relationship is structured, compliant, and fully defensible under French labour law.

AOR is not an Employer of Record (EOR)

AOR is about contractors.


EOR is about employees.

An Employer of Record (EOR) becomes the legal employer in France. The EOR signs an employment contract, runs payroll, pays social security contributions, and ensures compliance with labour laws and collective bargaining agreements. It is the right structure when the role is clearly an employment-type relationship.

An Agent of Record

by contrast, is designed for independent contractors:

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The person keeps their independent status.

(self-employed, micro-entrepreneur, company, etc.)

The AOR handles contracts, invoices and admin around that independent relationship.

The goal is to reduce misclassification risks and keep a clear line between contractor and employee scenarios.

In real life, companies often need both models at different times:
AOR for specialised,
project-based experts who operate as independent contractors.
EOR for long-term,
fully integrated team members who should be employees in France.

When EOR makes the most sense ?

The EOR model is especially useful when you:

  • Want to hire employees in France without setting up a local legal entity
  • Need to start quickly while staying fully compliant with French labour law
  • Do not have internal resources to manage payroll, contracts, and local employment administration
  • Want to test or scale a French team before committing to long-term entity creation
  • Prefer a single partner to handle employment compliance while you focus on growth and operations

Why companies use EOR in France ?

Faster market entry, lighter operational footprint

In short, an Employer of Record allows you to test and grow your presence in the French market with a lighter, more flexible setup.

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France is often a “test market” in a broader expansion plan. You might want to:

Hire a first employee to support a French client or local operations.

Validate demand with a local hire who understands the market.

Explore partnerships, sales channels, or long-term expansion options.

For this scope, setting up a local legal entity can feel disproportionate. An EOR simplifies the process.

Start quickly with one or two employees on local contracts.

Keep your HQ processes (purchase orders, vendor management, approvals) largely unchanged.

Avoid building internal expertise on French employment law before reaching critical scale.

Better control of employment

Common risk areas include:

  • Employment contracts that are not fully aligned with French standards
  • Payroll errors or incorrect social contributions
  • Inconsistent application of working time, leave, or benefits
  • Missteps during onboarding, role changes, or termination

An Employer of Record helps you reduce employment compliance risk by:

  • Issuing compliant local employment contracts
  • Managing payroll, taxes, and mandatory benefits
  • Handling employment administration across the employee lifecycle
  • Providing guidance on French labour law obligations as situations evolve

The goal is not to overcomplicate employment, but to ensure your French team is hired, managed, and supported within a fully compliant and defensible legal framework.

Simpler coordination for cross-border teams

This is particularly valuable when France is one of several countries where you employ talent, and you want to keep a consistent operating model across markets.

In distributed teams, local employment management can quickly become time-consuming:

Different local employment practices

Different employment contracts and standards

Different payroll, tax, and social contribution rules

With an EOR in France, you get:

One French partner handling local employment specifics

A more predictable view of costs, timelines, and administration

Fewer ad-hoc questions reaching your internal legal, HR, and finance teams

Frequently Asked Questions
Is EOR only for large companies?

No. The Employer of Record model works for both large organisations and smaller companies or scale-ups. The key factor is not company size, but whether you want to hire employees in France without setting up a local legal entity and without building internal expertise in French labour law.

Can we use AOR for any type of role?

An Employer of Record is best suited for employee roles that are full-time or long-term and integrated into your organisation. This includes positions such as engineers, sales representatives, operations staff, or local managers.
If the role is genuinely independent, short-term, or project-based, a contractor model may be more appropriate. In those cases, an AOR or contractor structure can be a better fit.

Can we switch from AOR to EOR later?

Yes. If over time a contractor’s role evolves into a long-term, integrated position, you can reassess the model. Many providers that offer AOR also offer EOR or umbrella solutions, which makes it easier to convert a key contributor into an employee structure without changing partner.

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