Individual right to training

The Individual Right to Training (droit individuel à la formation, DIF) applies to any worker, including temporary workers and workers on fixed-term contracts (based on particular methods).

Each employee has a right to 20 training hours a year. This can be accumulated over six years. Training leave has to be agreed upon with the employer (written agreement).

National government
Legal framework

Employers' or employees' organisations
The social partners pressured for obtaining the portability of the DIF (the rights can now be preserved when employees are fired in specific cases)

Public employment services
Providers engage with unemployed persons that want to benefit from this training scheme.

Other
Funding is provided by employers directly or through their contribution to a certified joint body training fund (organismes paritaires collecteurs agrées, OPCA)

Companies

Employer

DIF is accessible to a large proportion of employees. It is the first training scheme ever used by employees.

DIF is used by small and medium enterprises, which are generally least likely to resort to training). According to some collective agreements at branch level, training can take place during the working time. This acts as an incentive for workers to make use of this training opprotunity.

Some are sceptical regarding the multiple training options and the complexity of the training schemes.

No information available.

http://www.droit-individuel-formation.fr/

Triomphe, C.E., Teissier, C., Goryacheva, A. National background paper France. Anticipating and managing restructuring in enterprises: 27 national seminars. ARENA Report. Brussels, European Commission, 2009; http://www.droit-individuel-formation.fr/