six workers tell how their conventional termination changed their lives and careers

Will the use of conventional terminations become more complicated? In its draft Social Security budget, the examination of which in a public session in the Senate begins on Wednesday November 19, the government intends to review this system introduced in 2008. The conventional rupture aims to put termination of a permanent contract by mutual agreement between an employer and an employee. Less costly than layoffs for companies, in exchange it allows workers to receive unemployment benefits and compensation paid by their company. In 2024, 515,000 contractual terminations were signed, according to figures from the Ministry of Labor. Or 17% more than in 2019.

So much so that in 2024, they were the first item of unemployment insurance compensation, representing 10 billion euros out of a total of 37 billion distributed. To dissuade employers from using it too often, the draft Social Security budget, the revenue aspect of which was adopted by the National Assembly, intends to increase from 30% to 40% the employer taxation which applies to conventional termination compensation. He hopes to generate 250 to 300 million euros. A measure that makes the unions jump. Franceinfo gave the floor to six workers who benefited from a conventional break to give a second wind to their career or take time for themselves.

Pierre resumed studies in real estate

At 37, Pierre is back at university. This engineer by training, operational director of construction sites at a large real estate developer for seven years, signed a conventional termination in the fall of 2024 to reorient himself towards real estate investment. “The idea coincided with my employer’s desire to make payroll savings, due to the real estate crisis, he summarizes. Our interests overlapped.”

This Parisian enrolled in a master’s degree in real estate management. An 18-month course taught part-time which allows him to do voluntary asset management for associations and to “develop skills” in this environment. His 22,000 euros in tuition fees were partly financed thanks to the check for around 15,000 euros that his employer released when he left. “I couldn’t resign because I wouldn’t have had this employer compensation to reduce the cost of my training”he admits. Pierre judges this conventional rupture “salutary”. “Becoming a student again at this age means questioning everything you thought you knew and reopening all aspects of your curiosity”he rejoices.

Justine “took time” for herself and her children

“I had reached the end of this job.” After 17 years as a florist, Justine hung up her career in February, a few months after the birth of her second son. Worried about the risks linked to exposure to pesticides, the thirty-year-old from Haute-Saône also wanted to find a balance with her family life, long put aside because of the constraints of her job. “We work all public holidays, including Christmas and New Year’s Day, we cannot work bridges or go on winter vacation because of Valentine’s Day”she smiled. Justine found a “common ground” with his employer and negotiated a contractual termination. She receives 1,400 euros in unemployment benefits, or 700 euros less than her salary.

“It was not an easy decision, my husband and I have a loan to repay and children to support.”

Seven months later, she does not regret her choice. “It allowed me to take time for myself and my children, to be there for the youngest in a way I couldn’t be with the first and to finally be able to have breakfast with the family on Sunday morning,” she rejoices. Justine still plans to enjoy “a few months” of this period with his children. “I’m going to let the end of the year pass, and from the start of 2026 I’m going to knock on the doors of temp agencies to submit a hundred CVs if necessary”she plans. She does not know in which sector she will retrain, but intends to put her personal life before her work. “I will no longer do a passion job, I no longer want to invest myself as I did”, she swears.

Rose created her own tattoo business

Rose* has been thinking since “four years” to his reconversion into tattooing. “I signed a conventional termination in May which allowed me to do so under the best conditions”says this former school teacher in the south-east of France. The conventional break was introduced in 2020 in the civil service, on an experimental basis until the end of 2025. Nearly 5,800 state civil servants had benefited from it as of September 1, 2024, including around 4,000 in National Education, according to a government report.

Before her departure, the 38-year-old teacher had already benefited from part-time work, which allowed her to do an apprenticeship in a salon at the same time and complete her hygiene and safety training. Thanks to the “safety net” financial that the conventional break offers, this trained graphic designer continued her project and started the steps to create her own business. In addition to the employer compensation of 4,000 euros received upon her departure, she will soon receive unemployment benefit, the amount of which she is currently unaware of.

“This conventional break was essential to secure me if my plan does not work.”

“If I had resigned, I would not have been entitled to unemployment and I would have had to take temporary work assignments at the same time”she explains. As for furloughing, a system which offers civil servants the possibility of temporarily stopping working without benefiting from unemployment benefit, it “would only have made it possible to find (son) post in case of failure”. Initially, Rose plans to work as a self-employed person in a tattoo parlor, before, perhaps, opening her own establishment. For now, she’s giving herself time: “I will take stock in one year, by the end of June-beginning of July 2026, to reassess the viability of the project.”

Miguel left his job two years before retirement

Miguel* was a dental technician “all (has) live”. At the age of 60, in April he left his small business of three employees where relationships had become strained and where “decrease in activity” had led to a “overstaffing situation”. “I took a conventional break because I didn’t want to stay in this structure”, testifies Miguel, who judges that “it is also a device for employers to get rid of certain employees without dismissing them.”

“From the start, I knew that I was going to wait until I retired”at 62 years old. Miguel benefits from the maximum duration of unemployment compensation, set at 27 months for those over 57. In a study published in 2023, Unedic observed a peak in conventional terminations as the legal retirement age approaches, corresponding to the duration of compensation from which seniors benefit. An observation which has pushed recent governments to act to try to keep older workers in employment.

“It’s always a shame to end your career like that”recognizes Miguel. “But dental prosthetist positions are rare, he justifies. Since I registered with France Travail, I have not seen an ad in my region.” The sixty-year-old from Loiret also testifies to the difficulties of staying up to date at his age, in a profession that “has evolved a lot”. “The advisors gave me maximum autonomy in my job search and made me understand that they would not bother me,” he assures. And to add, resignedly: “It’s an annoying age to be unemployed, by the time I learn to do something else, I’ll be retired anyway.”

Sandrine found a way out of a job that “exhausted” her

“I was getting to a stage where I was almost burned out.” “Physically and morally exhausted”, Sandrine* left her job as coordinator responsible for welcoming refugees in an association in December 2023. For seven years, she traveled throughout the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region and often made herself available “in the evening” to lead meetings with volunteers. “My salary of 1 800 euros did not suit my responsibilities”deplores this 57-year-old worker.

“I ended up on antidepressants. If I hadn’t had a conventional breakup, I would have ended up quitting,” assures Sandrine. “During the first months of my conventional breakup, I took care of myself”she recalls.

“I took the time to analyze what had happened: the investment I had put into this work and why I had given so much.”

“This is why we must maintain the conventional termination, to maintain the well-being of employees and give us the means to be able to bounce back,” she insists. Today, Sandrine is better and hopes to find a job “which makes sense”, without costing him his health. But “the few offers I applied for were not responded to”breathes the fifty-year-old, for whom time is running out. “I have the right to unemployment until April, so I will have to find it quickly before finding myself against the wall.”

Marie “never regretted her retraining” as a nurse

Thirteen years after her conventional breakup, Marie* has not “never regretted his reconversion” as a college nurse. A project matured at the end of the 2000s, when it was still a charterer, responsible for organizing the transport of goods. After a skills assessment, this fifty-year-old obtained approval from her company to complete training as a childcare assistant. “It was during this year that I discovered the profession of nursing, she remembers. When I returned to my job, my employer expected me to request a conventional termination.” Marie left her job in 2012, four years after the creation of the conventional termination.

“At the time, it was quite new, no one in the company was very familiar with these procedures.”

“I received 3,000 or 4,000 euros in employer compensation. It’s not huge, but it allowed me to bounce back and finance my three years of study to become a nurse,” continues Marie. “We are lucky in France to have a system that offers us a second chance, measures this 51-year-old caregiver. Because when you decide your direction at 18 or 19, you are very young and you don’t have all the keys in hand.”

* Some first names have been changed at the request of those interviewed.