Key takeaways
- According to Insee, “hybrid work refers to a way of organising work in which workers divide their time between physical presence at the workplace and telework”. A hybrid worker is therefore someone who divides their time this way.
- The French Labour Code (code du travail), in Article L1222-9, defines telework (télétravail) and the teleworker. It defines neither hybrid work nor the hybrid worker.
- Under the same article, telework is set up through a collective agreement, failing that through a charter drawn up by the employer, and failing that through an agreement between employee and employer, formalised “by any means”.
- Insee counts, in the first half of 2024, 22% of private-sector employees (including state-owned companies) in France excluding Mayotte working remotely at least once in the four weeks before they were surveyed. Work organisation is essentially hybrid, with an average of 1.9 days of remote work a week.
All quotations from French law and official French sites in this article are our translations; the links go to the French originals.
Your employer hands you an amendment to your contract: two days a week at home, the rest at the office. You are about to work a hybrid schedule. Before you sign, you want to know which text this rhythm rests on, what you are allowed to turn down, and who pays for the screen you are about to set up in the living room.
Hybrid work has a definition, Insee’s. The rules are those of telework, which Article L1222-9 of the French Labour Code defines. You will be able to read your amendment with the right texts in hand.
Hybrid worker meaning: hybrid work has a statistical definition, not a legal one
The definition comes from a study by Insee and Dares, Insee Analyses No. 105, published on 5 March 2025: “Hybrid work refers to a way of organising work in which workers divide their time between physical presence at the workplace and telework.” Someone always at the office does not fit, and neither does someone who never comes in.
The Labour Code, for its part, defines telework. Its Article L1222-9, in force since 21 July 2023, sets out two definitions:
- Telework: “any form of work organisation in which work that could also have been carried out on the employer’s premises is carried out by an employee outside those premises on a voluntary basis using information and communication technologies”.
- Teleworker: “any employee of the company who, either from hiring or later, carries out telework as defined in the first paragraph of this I”.
Hybrid work does not appear in it. Your two days at home count as telework if they meet its conditions: work that could be done on the premises, done elsewhere, voluntarily, using digital tools. So the rules of telework apply to you.
How hybrid telework is set up in France
Article L1222-9 provides three levels, in this order: “Telework is set up under a collective agreement or, failing that, under a charter drawn up by the employer after consulting the social and economic committee, if there is one.” And when there is neither: “where the employee and the employer agree to use telework, they formalise their agreement by any means.”
The Service-Public page on telework for private-sector employees adds one point on the individual agreement, which can be a clause in the employment contract or an amendment to it: “To avoid disputes, it is preferable for this agreement to be in writing.”
The same page distinguishes two frequencies. Regular telework “makes it possible to have a regular schedule (1 to 2 days a week, for example)”. Occasional telework “consists, for example, of a few days or weeks a year of telework”. The frequency is set in the collective agreement or the charter; without either, it is set by agreement between employer and employee, in the employment contract or an amendment, for example.
Can you say no? Voluntary telework and refusals
Being voluntary is part of the definition itself: the work is carried out outside the premises “on a voluntary basis”. Service-Public says: “The employee must be a volunteer.”
So the employee can refuse. Under Article L1222-9, “Refusing to accept a teleworker position is not grounds for terminating the employment contract.”
The employer can refuse too, with obligations that depend on the framework. Where telework is provided for by a collective agreement or a charter, an employer who refuses it to an employee in an eligible position “gives reasons for its answer”. Without an agreement or charter, Service-Public says the employer “may explain its refusal, but is not obliged to”. The law makes one exception: when the request comes from a disabled worker covered by Article L5212-13 or from an employee caring for a child, a parent or a relative, “the employer gives reasons, where applicable, for its decision to refuse”.
The voluntary rule has one limit. According to Service-Public, “In exceptional circumstances (threat of an epidemic, for example), telework can be imposed without the employee’s agreement. This provision also applies in cases of force majeure.”
Who pays the costs of telework
Back to the living-room screen. According to Service-Public, where telework is carried out at home, “the employer must provide, install and maintain the equipment needed for telework”, provided the electrical installations and the places of work are compliant. For other costs, the employer must cover those an employee incurs in performing the employment contract, and “on this basis, it therefore covers the costs caused by telework”. There are two ways to do it: reimbursement of expenses actually incurred and justified, with receipts, or payment of a flat-rate allowance.
Hybrid work in numbers: 1.9 remote days a week
According to Insee, in France excluding Mayotte, in the first half of 2024, 22% of private-sector employees (including state-owned companies) teleworked at least once in the four weeks before they were surveyed. Insee goes on: “Work organisation is essentially hybrid, combining physical presence with an average of 1.9 days of remote work a week.”
What this leaves on site can be worked out, provided two assumptions are made:
- a five-day working week;
- the 1.9-day average read as the average of employees who telework, since Insee’s sentence follows the figure for teleworkers.
The calculation: 5 − 1.9 = 3.1 days on site a week, or about three days once rounded.
This result is a calculation, not an Insee figure; your agreement may provide for a different rhythm.
When the office is far away
Three days at the office is easy when the office is twenty minutes away. When the distance is measured in hours, a daily round trip becomes hard to keep up, and the question of where to sleep comes up fast. How to match your office days to the days on a lease, and which options to look at when the pattern has no end date, is the subject of our article on housing for hybrid workers.
Renting on fixed days every week requires stable days. With the fixed-days lease, the days are fixed for the whole term of the lease, three months minimum, and each occupant signs their own contract, with exclusive use of the home on their days. The employer’s side, where weekday housing can become a recruitment argument, is covered in recruiting remote talent with a weekday home. The commuters section gathers the other situations of a week split between two cities.
For property owners: regular weeknights
For the owner of a furnished flat in a city, an employee on site two or three fixed days a week means weeknights that come back, always the same ones. The owner can rent them on fixed days, to one occupant on their days and to another on the remaining days, for a regular income. The other ways to rent out a property are gathered in the owners section.
What to check before you sign
- The text your telework rests on. Collective agreement, charter or individual agreement: they are different documents, with different obligations when telework is refused.
- A written record, if the agreement is individual. Service-Public advises putting it in writing, for example as a clause in the contract or an amendment.
- The frequency. Regular or occasional, and where it is set down.
- Equipment and costs. Equipment provided by the employer; for costs, reimbursement on receipts or a flat-rate allowance: ask which one applies to you.
- Your days on site, if you live far away. Before committing to fixed-days housing, make sure those days are stable.
Frequently asked questions about hybrid workers
What is a hybrid worker?
A hybrid worker divides their time between physical presence at the workplace and telework, according to the definition of hybrid work given by Insee. The French Labour Code, in Article L1222-9, does not define the hybrid worker: it defines telework and the teleworker.
Does hybrid telework have to be in writing in France?
Under Article L1222-9 of the French Labour Code, it is set up through a collective agreement, failing that through a charter drawn up by the employer, and failing that through an agreement between employee and employer formalised by any means. Service-Public adds that it is preferable for that individual agreement to be in writing, to avoid disputes.
Can an employee refuse to work remotely?
Yes. Under Article L1222-9 of the French Labour Code, refusing to accept a teleworker position is not grounds for terminating the employment contract. Service-Public adds that in exceptional circumstances, such as a threat of an epidemic, or in cases of force majeure, telework can be imposed without the employee’s agreement.
How many days a week do teleworking employees in France work remotely?
According to Insee, in the first half of 2024, in France excluding Mayotte, 22% of private-sector employees (including state-owned companies) teleworked at least once in the four weeks before they were surveyed. Work organisation was essentially hybrid, with an average of 1.9 days of remote work a week. Over a five-day week, reading that average as the average of teleworkers, about three days remain on site: that is a calculation, not an Insee figure.
If the distance between home and the office weighs on this rhythm, the article on a long commute in France sets out what your employer must refund and what counts as working time, and the guide to living between two cities takes over once nights on site become a habit.