What is GEPP and how is it different from GPEC
GEPP, or Employment and Career Path Management, replaced GPEC following the ordinances of September 22, 2017. The name change is not cosmetic. Where GPEC, or Forward-looking Management of Employment and Skills, reasoned in terms of forecasting the jobs and skills needed by the company, GEPP centers the approach on employees' career paths and their long-term employability. The legal framework is set out in articles L2242-20 and following of the French labor code, which organize mandatory GEPP negotiations in companies with at least three hundred employees.
What GEPP covers
GEPP is a forward-looking approach. It aims to identify the skills the company possesses today, those it will need tomorrow, and to organize the transition between the two. It rests on a few constant operational components.
Skills mapping. Knowing what the organization truly holds, job by job, skill by skill. This is the foundation without which nothing holds.
Identification of sensitive positions. Which jobs are threatened by technological, regulatory or market changes. Which jobs are emerging. Which jobs are in tension.
Career paths and mobility. How an employee moves from a threatened job to a promising one, through which steps and which training.
Associated training programs. GEPP is only worth what it concretely triggers in the skills development plan.
What changes between GPEC and GEPP
The shift in the center of gravity. GPEC started from the company's needs and deduced the skills to be acquired. GEPP also starts from people's career paths and their employability, including beyond the company. It is a less top-down logic and more attentive to individual trajectories.
Integration into collective bargaining. GEPP is part of the overhauled mandatory bargaining block under the 2017 ordinances, articulated with other company negotiations.
The emphasis on career paths. The word "path," absent from the GPEC acronym, says it all: it is no longer just about forecasting jobs, but about organizing trajectories.
The legal framework
Articles L2242-20 and following of the labor code require GEPP negotiations in companies and groups of at least three hundred employees, as well as in community-scale companies with at least one establishment of one hundred fifty employees in France. This negotiation covers in particular the establishment of a GEPP system, associated support measures, and the three-year guidelines for professional training within the company. The frequency may be adapted by agreement, within the limits set by law.
The mistakes that drain GEPP of its meaning
Formal GEPP. An agreement negotiated, signed, filed away, with no effect on training decisions. This is the most common case, and the most costly, because it consumes social time without producing skills.
Dead mapping. A framework built once, never updated, obsolete in eighteen months. A mapping that does not live serves no purpose.
Disconnection from the skills development plan. A GEPP that does not translate into the annual training plan remains an intention. The plan is GEPP's execution vehicle; without it, GEPP does not exist in practice.
Lack of measurement. Without indicators, no one knows whether the approach produces anything, and it ends up abandoned for lack of proof of value.
FAQ
Is GEPP mandatory? GEPP negotiations are mandatory in companies and groups of at least three hundred employees, and in community-scale companies meeting the criteria set by the labor code. Below this threshold, the approach is not mandatory but remains strongly recommended.
GPEC and GEPP — do we need to change existing agreements? Existing GPEC agreements continue to have effect. The question arises at renewal time, when the GEPP framework applies.
What are the risks of not negotiating? Failure to conduct mandatory negotiations exposes the employer to consequences provided for by the labor code. Beyond the legal risk, the company deprives itself of a forward-planning tool whose absence is paid for in skills tensions.
Where to start? With skills mapping. Without it, negotiation deals with empty content. The professional interview is the other individual entry point for GEPP.
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