You can consider several options to retrain if you are an employee:
- Educational leave
- Time credit
- Self-employment as a side activity
- Resignation
- Right to bounce back
You have two options available to resume long-term studies: educational leave and time credit with justification.
Educational leave
Private sector employees can pursue studies of a minimum of 32 hours and a maximum of 120 or 180 hours per year while being paid and remaining employed.
These studies, whether or not related to your current work, can be undertaken during working hours or outside of working hours.
The employee is protected against dismissal during educational leave.
Do not hesitate to find out about the conditions or approved training programs. Information is provided based on your place of residence.
For public sector workers, there are also different formulas of career breaks whose specifics can be found spécificités ici.
Time Credit with Justification
Time credit can be requested for several reasons: to care for your child under 8 years old, your disabled child under 21 years old, to care for a family member who is ill, or to pursue recognized training.
To request time credit for continuing education, you must pay attention to the following conditions:
- The training must be recognized by the communities.
- It must total at least 360 hours per year or 27 credits or 120 hours or 9 credits per school term.
regarding seniority, minimum working time (at least three-quarter time), number of time credits available in your company depending on the number of full-time equivalents... To be consulted here.
The maximum time allowed to pursue training on time credit is 36 months and is remunerated with an allowance.
Self-Employment as a Side Activity
To launch an entrepreneurial project, it can be interesting to test it while you are still an employee.
Starting your project as a side self-employed person has several advantages:
- Test your concept with less risk
- Start gradually
- Have additional income that could be useful when you take the step of becoming a main self-employed person
- Minimal social contributions, less significant than as a main self-employed person
- Keep the status of side self-employed person when you resign for a few months if you have been a side self-employed person for some time already. The info is here.
However, there is a major disadvantage: it takes time outside your working hours, leaving you with little time for your personal life.
One option would be to try to reduce your working time as an employee and switch to 4/5, 3/5, if this is feasible in your company.
Resignation
The last option remains resignation.
This is the solution that: on one hand will free up a lot of time to think about your new professional project, but will be the most precarious option financially.
But sometimes it remains a solution when your work situation has become too hard to bear or when you feel not far from burnout.
Resigning does not mean giving up receiving unemployment benefits. You will indeed be able to receive them following a waiting period that will be more or less long depending on your previous periods of unemployment, your health...
If you are recognized as having burnout by the ONEM doctor, you will have access to unemployment more quickly.
Do not hesitate to inquire to get an idea of the number of months you will have to wait in your particular case.
Right to bounce back
From 2026, a new system opens: the "right to bounce back".
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The principle: a worker with at least 10 years of career will be able once in their lifetime to resign from a suitable job and be entitled to unemployment benefits for a maximum of 6 months, with the possibility of extension for 6 months if training for a shortage occupation is undertaken and successfully completed.
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This system will apply to resignations after February 28, 2026.
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Warning: it is not a universal right. You must meet all conditions (seniority, nature of employment, future training, etc.).
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It also does not exempt you from having a concrete plan — since the training or retraining must be serious to benefit from the extension.
