Enfin, le CPE place la France dans l’isolement. : on peut faire la comparaison avec les autres pays. Avec cette période de deux ans, la France est un cas unique. Certains ont parlé de l’Espagne : c’est faux ! La durée de la période d’essai en Espagne est de six mois. La seule personne qui ait tenté quelque chose de similaire, c’est Margaret Thatcher ! En 1985, elle a introduit un « order » qui réservait au salarié ayant deux ans d’ancienneté le bénéfice de ce que les anglais appellent « unfair dissmissing », le licenciement illégitime. Madame Thatcher a fait marche arrière : la période de deux ans a été rapportée à un an….

The period of employment before employees qualify for protection against unfair dismissal is currently set at two years. As the economy becomes more dynamic, leading to more frequent job changes, the Government is concerned that this period is too long and a better balance between competitiveness and fairness would be achieved if it were reduced:

* employees would be less inhibited about changing jobs and thereby losing their protection, which should help to promote a more flexible labour market;

* more employers would see the case for introducing good employment practices, which should encourage a more committed and productive workforce.

3.10 Some employers claim that a long qualification period is needed to allow mistakes made in recruitment to be rectified without heavy costs. The Government accepts such mistakes happen but believes that the present period is longer than is needed to allow them to come to light and be dealt with. For all these reasons, and to increase protection against arbitrary dismissal, the Government therefore proposes to reduce the qualifying period to one year.