While many expats may be happy to get any job anywhere in France, a country famed for its generous work benefits, a new ranking has revealed the crème de la crème when it comes to employers in France.

 

The annual ranking, carried out by the Great Place to Work Institute, saw 66 companies put head to head in a survey that measured subjects as diverse as employee pride and their trust in management.  

 

Of companies with fewer than 500 staff, the best places to work were consulting firm Accuracy, computer firm Cadence Design Systems, and ride-sharing app Blablacar. 

 

For companies with more than 500 employees, the best was French company Davidson Consulting (for the third consecutive year), followed by confectionery company Mars France, and consultancy firm Solucom. 

 

Below are the top ten, beginning with 500+ companies on the left.

 

 

Companies must pay for the privilege of being ranked, with employee surveys making up two thirds of the final score. The remaining third is comprised of an investigation into the company. 

 

French workers are generally well protected by the country’s labour laws and are entitled to benefits like five weeks of paid holidays, restaurant vouchers and a 35-hour work week. But this study took into account somewhat less tangible strengths like trust in management, pride in work and atmosphere.

 

As an example, Great Place to Work pointed to Mars' offices which are in an open space format for workers of all levels, including the head of the group. The idea is to open up communication by knocking down barriers between levels of the hierarchy.

 

The survey found some impressive figures for the top companies, with 91 percent of Mars employees saying that would happily continue working for the company long term. Meanwhile, a whopping 97 percent of workers at Accuracy said they were proud to be an employee there.