GLOSSARY
Bench (Intercontrat)
The bench (intercontrat) is the period during which a staffing firm consultant is not placed on a client mission. They're paid but generate no revenue.
IN DEPTH
The bench (intercontrat in French) is the non-billable period between two missions of a staffing firm consultant. It's the operational nightmare of staffing firm executives: the consultant keeps being paid (salary + charges) without generating revenue. Average cost in 2026 is €4,500-6,500/month per benched consultant (salary + charges + allocated fixed costs). Average bench rate in France is 11.4% in 2026 for an average duration of 41 days. For the entire sector, this represents €6.8 billion/year in pure loss. AI-first staffing firms (Cobalt) reduce bench to <7% thanks to J-60 mission-end prediction and proactive mission/consultant matching.
Frequently asked questions
€4,500 to €6,500/month per consultant (gross salary + employer charges + allocated fixed costs: management, tools, offices). A 100-consultant staffing firm with 10% bench loses €540-780k/year.
5 levers: 1) J-60 mission-end prediction (AI), 2) proactive mission/consultant matching, 3) accelerated inter-mission mobility, 4) training during downtime, 5) weekly monitoring. Cobalt natively offers these 5 levers.
Related terms
- Staffing Firm / ESN (Entreprise de Services Numériques)An ESN (IT staffing firm) is a French company specialized in IT services: it places consultants (employees or freelancers) at client sites for 3-month to 2-year missions.
- Business Manager (BM)A Business Manager (BM) is a staffing firm salesperson responsible for a client and consultant portfolio. They sell services, manage missions and bench time.
- Day Rate (TJM)TJM (Taux Journalier Moyen) is the price billed by a staffing firm or freelancer per day of service. In 2026, median IT consultant day rate in France: €580/day.
- AI Matching (candidate-mission)AI matching uses machine learning models to evaluate a candidate's relevance to a mission by crossing skills, experience, availability and cultural fit. It replaces Boolean search.
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