Constructed figure, assumptions listed

Your candidate checked the barometer. You checked your internal grid, built four years ago, back when the role was called something else.

One of the two shows up prepared.

The two medians, converted into spend

FunctionMedian grossEmployer costEquivalent contractor days
IT and information systems€55,000€78,546137
Engineering and research€51,000€72,889127

The 4,000 euro gross gap between the two functions becomes a 5,657 euro spend gap. A gross gap always reads out multiplied by 1.43.

The 55,000 euro median represents 6,546 euros a month of employer cost, and 137 days of external services at the reference rate.

What the median doesn’t tell you

It covers the whole of France, all company sizes combined. The same skill isn’t paid at the same level in Angers and in Paris, and the barometer blends the two.

It also blends experience levels. Half the population earns less, which includes profiles you don’t need and others you would need.

Finally, it’s a 2025 figure in a 2026 negotiation. The candidate will use it as a floor, never as a median.

What you will be told, and what to answer

“The market median is 55,000.” It is, for the function, nationally. Ask which geographic scope, which company size and which seniority level. These three questions move the figure by several thousand euros in either direction.

“I have another offer at 60,000.” That’s possible, and unverifiable. What you can verify is what 60,000 represents for you: 85,680 euros of spend, that is 149 days of services. The question then becomes simple: does the need exceed 149 days a year.

“We’ll align on hiring, we’ll catch up later.” A hire above the internal grid gets paid twice, once on the new contract and once on the catch-up you’ll concede within the year to people already in post. Cost that second effect before giving in on the first.

“That’s the price for someone good.” Maybe. The price of a good profile is judged over three years, not one. If the skill sought is only useful for eighteen months, the service contract remains the right answer even at a high rate.

To check for yourself, in twenty minutes

Your internal grid, position by position. Three columns: the applicable collective bargaining minimum, your hiring range, and the ceiling beyond which the decision escalates to top management. One page is enough, and it shortens every negotiation.

The gap between people already in post and the range you’re about to offer. That’s the hidden cost of hiring, and it’s rarely provisioned.

The volume of the need, in days. If you can’t estimate it, comparison with a service contract is impossible, and you’re negotiating blind.

The last time the grid was revised. Beyond two years, it no longer protects anyone, neither your margins nor your employees already in post.

The sentence to remember

A gross median doesn’t tell you what to pay. It tells you what your candidate already knows.

Open in a spreadsheet · The medians in real spend, as a spreadsheet (614 bytes)

Sources

Last reviewed: 20 August 2026

Figures to review before 20 August 2027