A “career review” every four years

Since March 2014, employers have been required to organize a career review with each of their employees every two years, focusing mainly on their career development prospects. Every six years, this review must include a “summary of the employee’s career path”. This interview has been renamed a “career path interview” by the recent law “transposing national inter-professional agreements in favor of the employment of experienced employees and relating to the development of social dialogue”, while also changing its frequency.

One interview every four years

From now on, the career path interview must be organized during the year following the employee’s recruitment, and then every four years. However, a collective company agreement or, in absence of that, a sectoral agreement may provide for a shorter frequency.

Like professional interviews, the career path interview does not focus on evaluating the employee’s work. During this discussion, the employer and employee discuss:
- the employee’s skills and qualifications used in their current job, as well as their potential development in light of changes within the company.
- the employee’s professional situation and career path, in light of changes in the profession and employment prospects within the company.
- their training needs, whether related to their current professional activity, the evolution of their job in light of changes within the company, or a personal project.
- their career development aspirations (where applicable, retraining, skills assessment, validation of prior learning, etc.).
- the activation of their personal training account, employer contributions to this account, and career development advice.

Here is another new feature: in order to prepare for the career development interview in companies with fewer than 300 employees, employees can benefit from career development advice and employers can benefit from local advice provided by their skills operator. If a sectoral or company agreement provides for it, the employer may be assisted by an external organization.

An assessment interview every 8 years

Every 8 years, the career development interview must provide a “summary review of the employee’s career path”.

As before, the purpose of this review meeting is to ensure that the employees have benefited from periodic career development meetings over the past 8 years and that they have:
- completed at least one training course.
- acquired certification through training or validation of prior learning.
- achieved salary or career progression.

And, as before, in companies with at least 50 employees, if it turns out that, over the last eight years, the employee has not benefited from periodic interviews or at least one training course (other than compulsory training for the performance of an activity or function), the employee’s personal training account must then be credited by the employer with €3,000.