Skills assessment (« bilan de compétences ») pursuant to French law

A skills assessment allows employees to analyze their professional and personal skills as well as their aptitudes and motivations in order to define a professional project and, if necessary, a training project.

The skills assessment is a system that allows employees and job seekers to analyze their professional and personal skills, aptitudes and motivations. It allows them to define the training actions necessary for redeployment, as well as the conditions for validating their acquired experience.

It can be carried out at the initiative of the employee, the employer or during a parental leave or a period of part-time activity to raise a child.

The duration cannot exceed 24 hours per assessment and is divided into three phases: preliminary, investigation and conclusions.

The detailed results cannot be communicated to the employer without the agreement of the beneficiary and the service provider is bound by professional secrecy.

The employer can propose to an employee to do a skills assessment, but only with the employee's agreement, and his refusal cannot be considered as a fault or a reason for dismissal.

If the skills assessment is carried out as part of the skills development plan or as part of redeployment leave, a tripartite agreement must be signed between the employer, the service provider and the employee.

This agreement must include information such as the objective, the content, the duration and the terms and conditions of the skills assessment.

If the employee uses his or her professional training account (“CPF” or “Compte professionnel de formation”) for a skills assessment during working hours, he or she must obtain the employer's prior agreement.

The " www.moncompteformation.gouv.fr " platform is used to carry out the skills assessment within the framework of the CPF.

French legal texts governing the assessment of skills (“bilan de competences”):

- Labor Code, art. L. 6313-4, R. 6313-4

Main French Court Decisions on skills assessment (“bilan de compétences”)

- Soc. Oct. 4, 2011, no. 10-19.574

- Soc. June 3, 1982, no. 80-40.543

- Soc. 22 May 1975, n° 74-40.011