Culture and Lifestyle

Hi there, Daniel!

Pretty common question amongst foreigners indeed. If you’ve traveled a bit, you may have realized that French tourists are everywhere. So it’s fair to assume that French people get a lot of vacation days. But how much is it exactly? Well, the annual leave entitlment in France is 5 weeks (25 working days) per year. It may seem like a lot, but actually, it is close to the EU’s average.

How does this work in practice?
The first thing to know is that in France, everyone gets the same amount of vacation per year, provided their all are full-time employees. For every month you work at a company, you will earn 2,5 vacation days, regarless of how long you’ve been working at the company.
You may have noticed that 2,5 is not a round number. This begs the question: how do people deal with half vacation days? They simply round them up: say you have 17,5 vacation days available and you want to take them all at once, then the company will have to round this number up to 18 days.

I think it’s important to say that according to the law, new hires have to work for a full year before they can start enjoying their holidays. In practice though, many companies will let you take a few days even during your first year at the company as long as you use common sense (maybe don’t ask for 2 weeks of holiday after four months at the company…).

What are the written and unwritten rules with vacation?
Let’s start with the obvious: you should always align your holidays with your boss and HR. They have the right to refuse or to ask you to change your plans in case there is a conflict with the company’s agenda, so don’t take a leave without having them both agreeing to it. In France, there is this thing called abandon de poste (duty abandonment) where you can be fired for not showing up to work for a few days without notice. You don’t want that to happen. Generally, companies ask for a 1 month notice to grant your holiday, so it’s best to plan in advance.
Also, contrary to some countries, there is no obligation to take your vacation days all at once, nor any minimum amount of days per leave. You can take them one day at a time, or all at once, or in any way you like. You will witness this flexibility during the month of May. There are so many public holidays in May that if the calendar is particularly favorable, it is common to see people getting a 2 week leave using only 4 or 5 vacation days.
Of course, you should always use common sense when taking a leave, be it long or short. Be responsible and always discuss your plans with your manager.

What about unpaid holidays?
Many foreigners don’t know this, but you can also request unpaid leave (Congés sans solde) to your company. You won’t receive any salary during this leave but you will keep your job. You can use this period to travel, carry out a personal project or take care of a child: there are no conditions as to who can use this benefit.
However, the company has no obligation to agree and you will probably have to sign a written agreement specifying the duration and return conditions.