French Professional Review Template — 6-Year Assessment

Article L6315-1 of the Code du travail applies to every French employer regardless of company size, for each employee on the payroll. This includes part-time employees, apprentices at the end of their contract, and employees returning from extended absence — maternity leave, parental leave, long-term sick leave, or a trade union mandate. For returning employees, an additional interview is due immediately upon their return, on top of the regular two-year cycle.

For companies with 50 or more employees, Article L6315-1 II (referring to Article L6323-13) requires a corrective top-up of €3,000 to the employee's CPF, paid directly to the Caisse des dépôts et consignations. The penalty triggers at the 6-year review when the employee has not received the required biennial interviews AND has not completed at least one non-mandatory training course. Companies with fewer than 50 employees face no mandatory top-up but remain exposed to claims before the labour court (conseil de prud'hommes).

Article L6315-1 I expressly prohibits conflating the two. The professional development interview (entretien professionnel) focuses exclusively on career prospects — qualifications, potential role changes, and training needs — never on performance targets or results. The performance appraisal (entretien d'évaluation) is a separate management tool that may continue independently. Merging both into a single document gives a labour court grounds to declare the professional interview void, triggering the corrective €3,000 CPF top-up and potential liability under Article L6321-1 for breach of the training obligation.

Under Article L6315-1 II as amended by the Avenir professionnel Act of 5 September 2018, the bilan à 6 ans must confirm two things: (1) that the employee received all scheduled biennial professional development interviews over the six-year period, and (2) that the employee completed at least one non-mandatory training course — defined as any training beyond what is legally required to perform the role under Article L6321-2. Since the 2018 reform, salary progression and certification are no longer alternative criteria. A signed written record is strongly recommended.

Article L6315-1 I lists the situations triggering a mandatory return-from-leave interview: maternity leave, full or partial parental leave, care-giver leave (congé de proche aidant), adoption leave, sabbatical leave, a voluntary secured-mobility period (mobilité volontaire sécurisée), long-term sick leave, or a trade union mandate. The interview must take place as soon as the employee returns to work. It is an additional entitlement — not a substitute for the regular two-year cycle — and its absence is counted against the employer at the 6-year review.

No French statute requires a formal employee signature on the template itself. However, Article L6315-1 I states that the employee must receive a copy of the written record produced at the end of the interview. In practice, obtaining signatures from both parties is the best evidence in any labour dispute before the conseil de prud'hommes. If the employee refuses to sign, that refusal must be noted on the document. Employers should retain the signed record for at least 6 years to demonstrate compliance at the 6-year review.