FRANCE | Internship: At work | Dress Code and Manners

Adressing others at the work place

Since the French behave very politely with each other, it is normal practice to use vous, the formal "you", when addressing colleagues at work. Trainees are generally addressed by their first name, but the formal "you" is used unless a suggestion is made between two persons to address each other using the informal tu .

Written correspondence in French requires special care: Always follow the norms. Few examples are given here:

• To greet the recipient, only Madame/Monsieur ("Dear Ms or Mrs … / Dear Mr ...") is used without the last name
• If you address a director, professor or president, the form of address is Monsieur/Madame le directeur/la directrice ("Dear Madam / Dear Sir")
• To formulate a request, it is Je m’adresse à vous concernant... ("I am writing to you about…")
• To end the letter use En vous remerciant d'avance, je vous prie d'agréer, Madame, Monsieur, l'expression de mes/nos sentiments les meilleurs ("Thanking you in advance, Yours Faithfully,")  
• Or Je vous prie d'agréer, Madame, Monsieur, l'expression de mes sentiments distingués ("Yours Sincerely/Yours Faithfully").

Dress code

Dress code depends on the company in which you are working and also the circumstances and safety requirements (if you are working in a manufacturing plant as an example) at your workplace. Generally speaking, office employees in France are elegantly dressed: Trousers and shirts with leather shoes. Some companies also have a "casual Friday". This means that jeans or more informal dressing are accepted on Fridays.