Employer cost calculator: a salesperson in France vs the UK
In short
- In France, employer contributions add 38.5% to a 40,000 euro executive salary (URSSAF simulator, company of 30 staff).
- In the UK, employer National Insurance (15% above 5,000 pounds) and the 3% minimum pension add about 15% to the same salary converted to pounds.
- Commission is salary in both countries: include your on-target variable to compare the real cost.
Pick a sales role, adjust the French salary and the UK salary you would pay, and the calculator returns the yearly employer cost in each country, in pounds and euros. French figures come from the official URSSAF simulator; UK figures from HMRC and pension rates for the 2026 to 2027 tax year.
Commission or bonus at target, same rate in both countries.
Empty = the French salary converted at the ECB rate.
France: yearly employer cost
- Gross pay (base + variable)
- Employer contributions
- In euros
- On top of gross pay
UK: yearly employer cost
- Gross pay (base + variable)
- Employer NIC (15%)
- Minimum pension (3%)
- On top of gross pay
How is the French employer cost calculated?
We ran the official URSSAF hiring cost simulator (mon-entreprise.urssaf.fr) on 21 October 2026 for 42 monthly salaries, from the minimum wage (1,867.02 euros a month gross, service-public.gouv.fr) to 25,000 euros, for executives and non-executives and for four company sizes: 336 simulations in all. The calculator interpolates between those points. Checked against the URSSAF rules package on a finer grid, the interpolation moves the total cost by 0.13% at most. The figures include the general reduction of employer contributions (RGDU), which lowers the cost of salaries below three times the minimum wage (5,601.06 euros a month).
The variable is spread evenly over the year. In practice commission is paid when earned, and the yearly reduction is adjusted at year end, so the real monthly cost moves around; the yearly total stays close.
What makes up French employer contributions?
Worked example from the URSSAF simulator: an executive (cadre) on 40,000 euros a year (3,333.33 a month), in a company of 30 staff.
| Contribution (employer share) | Per month | Rate of gross |
|---|---|---|
| Health insurance (maladie) | 433.33 € | 13.0% |
| State pension (vieillesse, capped and uncapped) | 355.33 € | 10.7% |
| Supplementary pension (Agirc-Arrco, CEG, CET) | 200.33 € | 6.0% |
| Family allowances | 175.00 € | 5.3% |
| Unemployment insurance | 141.67 € | 4.3% |
| Accident at work (default rate) | 69.33 € | 2.1% |
| Provident cover (prévoyance) | 50.00 € | 1.5% |
| Company health insurance (default employer share) | 20.00 € | 0.6% |
| Training, apprenticeship tax, Apec and other levies | 76.67 € | 2.3% |
| Exemptions and reductions (RGDU) | −238.67 € | −7.2% |
| Total employer contributions | 1,283.00 € | 38.5% |
Source: URSSAF hiring cost simulator (mon-entreprise.urssaf.fr), simulation of 21 October 2026. Default accident-at-work rate and default health insurance; mobility contribution and collective agreement extras not included. Rates are rounded. Next check: January 2027, when French rates are revised.
And in the UK?
| Employer charge, 2026 to 2027 | Rule |
|---|---|
| Employer Class 1 National Insurance | 15% of earnings above the secondary threshold of £5,000 a year |
| Employment Allowance | Up to £10,500 a year off your employer NIC bill, for eligible employers (whole payroll, not per hire) |
| Workplace pension (auto-enrolment) | Employer minimum 3% of qualifying earnings between £6,240 and £50,270 |
| Apprenticeship Levy | 0.5% of the pay bill, only if your annual pay bill exceeds £3 million (not included in the calculator) |
Source: GOV.UK, Rates and thresholds for employers 2026 to 2027 (updated 1 September 2026), Workplace pensions and Employment Allowance pages, checked 21 October 2026. Next check: April 2027, start of the 2027 to 2028 tax year.
What do sales roles pay in France?
The role selector pre-fills the median base salary measured on permanent job offers published on France Travail, the French public employment service, on 21 October 2026.
| Role | Median base | Middle 50% of offers | Offers with a salary |
|---|---|---|---|
| Business developer | 40,000 € | 33,575 to 50,000 € | 126 |
| Key account manager | 57,500 € | 47,500 to 77,500 € | 67 |
| Sales director / head of sales | 65,000 € | 55,625 to 85,902 € | 48 |
| Sales manager (responsable commercial) | 44,000 € | 36,600 to 59,611 € | 123 |
| Technical sales (technico-commercial) | 33,000 € | 27,651 to 40,744 € | 312 |
| Field sales representative | 33,250 € | 27,600 to 41,625 € | 332 |
| Sales engineer / account executive | 47,500 € | 40,000 to 55,000 € | 181 |
| Inside sales / SDR | 28,500 € | 25,333 to 32,500 € | 238 |
Source: France Travail, API Offres d'emploi v2, permanent (CDI) offers whose title matches the role, retrieved 21 October 2026. Gross annual base salary, midpoint of the range stated in each offer, variable not included. Next check: January 2027. Full method and per-role detail in sales salaries in France.
Employer cost is one input. The French rules on probation, notice and dismissal and contracts weigh as much in the decision; our guide to hiring sales staff in France puts them side by side. If you want the hire made for you, see how we recruit sales staff in France.
What we cannot tell you
- The real cost of your company health insurance (mutuelle): the employer must pay at least half of it. The URSSAF simulator, and so this calculator, counts a default employer share of 20 euros a month; your contract will differ.
- The mobility contribution (versement mobilité) paid by employers with 11 or more staff: its rate depends on the town where the employee works. The calculator leaves it out.
- Rates set by your collective agreement (convention collective), such as extra pension or provident cover, and your own accident-at-work rate: the calculator uses the default rates of the URSSAF model.
- UK income tax, employee contributions and take-home pay: the calculator compares employer cost only.
Hiring a salesperson in France?
We find and qualify sales staff in France for UK companies: direct approach, two interviews per candidate, fixed fee paid only when your hire starts.
Recruit sales staff in France with usOr brief us directlyFrequently asked questions
How much does it cost to employ someone in France?
On top of gross salary, a French employer pays social contributions that typically add 35% to 45% for a salesperson earning 35,000 to 70,000 euros a year, after the general reduction (RGDU) on salaries below three times the minimum wage. In our worked example from the URSSAF simulator, a 40,000 euro executive salary in a 30-person company costs 55,396 euros a year, or 38.5% on top of gross pay.
Is it more expensive to employ a salesperson in France than in the UK?
For the same gross salary, yes: employer National Insurance (15% above 5,000 pounds a year) plus the 3% minimum pension contribution add about 15% in the UK for a salary around 33,500 pounds, against 38.5% in France on the same salary. Gross salaries for sales roles also differ between the two countries, so compare the salary you would actually pay in each.
Do commissions and bonuses carry employer contributions in France?
Yes. Commission and bonuses are salary in France and carry the same employer contributions as base pay. The calculator adds your on-target variable to the base salary before computing contributions.
Which exchange rate does the calculator use?
The euro reference rate for the pound published by the European Central Bank, fetched from the ECB data portal when the page loads. If the ECB service does not answer, the calculator falls back to the rate of 21 October 2026 (1 euro = 0.83825 pounds) and says so.
Sources and method
Every rule, rate and amount on this page was checked at the source on the date shown. I update the page when a source changes.
- URSSAF, salary and hiring cost simulator (mon-entreprise.urssaf.fr, simulateur salarié), checked 21 October 2026. Total employer contributions read for 42 monthly salaries from 1,867.02 to 25,000 euros, executive and non-executive, four company sizes (336 simulations)
- URSSAF, modele-social 11.1.0 (npm), used to check the interpolation between salary steps, checked 21 October 2026. Published 16 July 2026; the online simulator already applies more recent parameters for the RGDU, so the page uses the simulator values
- Service-public.gouv.fr, fiche F2300 (Smic), checked 21 October 2026. Minimum wage 12.31 euros an hour, 1,867.02 euros a month gross
- GOV.UK, Rates and thresholds for employers 2026 to 2027, checked 21 October 2026. Employer Class 1 rate 15%, secondary threshold 5,000 pounds a year
- GOV.UK, Workplace pensions, and the DWP review of the qualifying earnings band for 2026/27, checked 21 October 2026. Employer minimum 3% of qualifying earnings between 6,240 and 50,270 pounds
- GOV.UK, Employment Allowance, checked 21 October 2026. Up to 10,500 pounds a year off employer National Insurance
- European Central Bank, euro foreign exchange reference rates (EXR.D.GBP.EUR.SP00.A), checked 21 October 2026. 0.83825 pounds per euro on 21 October 2026, refreshed live on this page
- France Travail, API Offres d'emploi v2, checked 21 October 2026. Median salaries per role from permanent job offers, see sales salaries in France for the method
Olivier Niel, Founder and Managing Director, Eagle Rocket
Olivier founded Eagle Rocket in 2020, a sales recruitment firm on a human scale. The firm works for a single fixed fee paid on success, and holds two in-depth interviews with each candidate before presenting them to a client.
LinkedIn · YouTube · About Eagle Rocket
Rules and figures are checked against official French and UK sources (service-public.gouv.fr, the French Labour Code, URSSAF, gov.uk) on the date shown. Published by Eagle Rocket SARL (RCS Évreux 883 581 803). This guide is general information, not legal advice.