Efficient payroll operations in France

The French employment landscape is regarded as being one of the most complex in the world. “And when it comes to global payroll,” observes Emilie Nappa, French Payroll Operations Manager at Safeguard Global, “France has more exceptions than rules."  

“It is not just the technicalities of legislative compliance that the team is proficient within, however,” Emilie continues. “To operate payroll efficiently in France, you need to truly understand how French people work, the end-to-end process of employment, how the local administrations operate, and how to engage with them. With this additional knowledge, we are able to provide our customers with a holistic view and advice on the world of employment in addition to payroll. While some may say this is beyond our scope, we believe that it is the essential context that enables us to successfully deliver on client needs.”  

So, how does this need for both a grasp on the highly complex employment landscape and cultural nuances in France affect the internal team? For Emilie, it starts with finding people with a true love for what they do. “Beyond technical know-how of payroll, fluent French and business English language proficiency, I am looking for passion within potential team members. When someone speaks about something they love, you can see it in their eyes – that is what I am looking for. And I want people to want to learn. The more people ask questions, the more satisfying that is for me, as I know that they are interested and want to grow.”  

Once those with this essential passion are identified, the company has a robust learning and development infrastructure in place to support the onboarding and induction of new recruits. This includes use of a buddying system so that newer team members always have a longer-tenured colleague at hand to guide them through their early days. This is also a way to provide support from a training subject matter expert who ensures that the entire team develops their potential. Since this developmental approach is similar to what Emilie experienced almost a decade ago when she started in the payroll industry, she truly believes in the effectiveness of this approach.  

Having arrived within payroll “by accident” when she moved countries and wanted a role that would utilize her language skills and cultural understanding, she now anticipates a life-long career within the profession. “I was very lucky in that I was supported by a senior payroll specialist, had an excellent manager, and brilliant colleagues who were all so passionate. As a result, I was motivated to learn, to embrace the opportunity to become involved in global payroll management, and then to move on to manage others and facilitate their growth.”  

Far from being templated, however, the task of managing and developing a payroll team is undergoing a rapid transformation – notably due to evolving technological potential. “Even in my relatively short career, payroll has changed a lot – with the role in 2024 now so different to that in 2015 when I started,” Emilie reflects.  

These changes are not viewed as challenges by Emilie but embraced as opportunities. Notably, she is enthusiastic about the ongoing potential for technology to drive innovation for both her customers and within her team. “This is vital, as the day we have customers asking for innovation and improvements is the day that we are not doing our job.” She also observes that the best people to make these suggestions on improvements are the people at the sharp end of the process – the payroll specialists. “These are the people whose task is to manage and overcome complexities to ensure that people are paid accurately and on time – as has always been and will always be the case with this role. What is changing, however, is that automation and AI are removing time-consuming and repetitive tasks, enabling the team to spend more time on analytics, drive service improvements and strengthen relationships.”   

“I discovered early on in my career that I had a love for establishing strong relationships with customers,” Emilie recalls, “notably those where we have the opportunity to become one team addressing one challenge with the same goal, such as an implementation or global payroll transformation. Once we have stabilization and have good communication channels open with the client, you can feel the tangible client satisfaction. This is when we know that we have evolved from being a service provider into a true partner – which instills the whole team with confidence. This, for me, is a personal win.” 

And it is among her international clients – notably those who are operating global or multi-country payrolls, including France – where Emile and her team sense that all the energy and passion that they pour into their work is most appreciated. “As they are aware that operating payroll elsewhere is typically not as complex as it is in France, they are extremely grateful for the knowledge and expertise at Safeguard Global as it relates to our country-specific intricacies.”   

At Safeguard Global, we provide payroll solutions in 170+ countries. Wherever your employees are, we’re here to ensure that your payroll operates smoothly, accurately and compliantly. Check out our payroll solutions by country to learn more about different requirements to keep in mind as you manage and pay a global workforce.