French labour law is detailed, frequently updated, and unforgiving for foreign companies without in-house expertise. A social audit is a one-off HR project that tells you exactly where you stand: what is compliant, what is at risk, and what needs correcting before it becomes costly.
As part of our HR Project Management offering, this is a structured mission with clear deliverables, not an ongoing subscription.
Most of our clients do not request an audit because something went wrong. They request one because the stakes of not knowing have become too high.
Common situations that prompt the decision:
You want to know your exposure before the inspector does
HR due diligence before or after a transaction
A clean baseline before making any changes
Regulatory obligations shift, compliance needs to be re-verified
"We have been operating for three years, but no one has ever reviewed the contracts or the payroll setup end to end"
A UK-based reinsurance company commissioned a social audit during a French subsidiary takeover, uncovering 14 contractual discrepancies and three payroll irregularities within five weeks.
We review the employment and HR framework of your French operation against current French labour law and applicable collective bargaining agreement (CBA) requirements.
Areas covered include:
Employment contracts and contractual obligations
Collective bargaining agreement application and compliance
Payroll compliance and social contribution accuracy
Working time regulations and leave management
Social declarations (DSN filings and URSSAF reporting)
HR documentation and mandatory legal obligations
Employee representation (CSE) requirements where applicable
We cross-reference your current practices against legal and conventional requirements, identify gaps, and assess the associated risk level for each finding.
Depending on your situation, we propose two formats:
Targeted review of highest-risk areas, typically employment contracts, payroll setup, and DSN filings. Suited for companies that need fast answers before an inspection or a transaction.
Full coverage of all employment and HR compliance areas. Suited for new market entrants, post-acquisition integration, or entities that have never conducted a formal review.
The scope and timeline are defined together based on your specific situation.
Employment contracts, payslips, collective agreement, HR policies, and 12 months of DSN filings. You provide; we analyse.
We compare current practices against French labour law and collective agreement obligations. Each gap is assessed by risk level: administrative, financial, or litigation exposure.
Two concrete outputs:
A written gap report summarising findings by risk level, and a prioritised action plan with corrective steps and timelines. No ambiguity.
Identifying and addressing gaps early is always simpler and more cost-effective than a late regularisation. A social audit gives you a clear picture of where you stand and allows you to act with confidence, before any issue becomes urgent.
Foreign companies that work with us are not lacking rigour, they are operating within a complex French regulatory system without in-house institutional expertise. Our role is to provide that expertise, concretely and confidentially.
Tell us your situation, and we will define the right audit format for your needs.
Request my social audit