I keep moving one side or the other on this issue. I think there is a philosophical difference in the way companies and employees are seen in France vs US. I o

I keep moving one side or the other on this issue. I think there is a philosophical difference in the way companies and employees are seen in France vs US. I often feel (from discussions here, but American friends told me the views are more varied in a representative sample of the US population) that in the US companies are seen as an extension of their owners' will. Do what you want on a whim. Want to close a profitable company to just cash in everything and buy a yacht? You own it, you can do it. In France companies owners that do have employees are more considered like caretakers of a piece of the national production and are expected to be responsible of the piece of economy they grabbed (or, arguable, were allowed to grab). So yes, if you think you can be a worthy contributor to the economy, you are allowed to grab a piece of it and keep a nice part to yourself, but in exchange there are rules for you to be responsible about it, like not creating jobs that may be unsustainable and depriving sustainable companies from labor. In France you can fire employees for reasons, but you need reasons better than a whim. If you have a good reason (the employee broke important rules, or the law, refuses to do their work), it is free. If it is for performances or economic reasons, well you made a hiring mistake and it is going to cost you, but a reasonable amount. I am not sure it is bad. The French economy performs pretty well when you go past the headlines and look at the numbers. I don't think that model is the drag we make it look like.