Service robots and hiring difficulties in France: what the 2026 BMO survey shows

01What the 2026 BMO survey says

The Besoins en main-d'œuvre (BMO) survey is published each year by France Travail. It asks employers about their recruitment plans for the year. For 2026, France Travail collected nearly 416,000 responses from about 2.2 million establishments in scope, and published the results on 21 April 2026.

• Employers declared 2,274,951 recruitment plans for 2026, down 6.5% on 2025, according to La finance pour tous.
• 43.8% of these plans are judged difficult by employers, down 6.3 points in one year, according to the Banque des Territoires.
• Hotels and restaurants account for about 320,000 recruitment plans, down 5.5%, according to the same source.
• Kitchen assistants and multi-skilled restaurant staff, café and restaurant waiters and office cleaners are among the jobs with the most recruitment plans in 2026, according to the Afpa and the France Travail Normandy release.

Recruitment difficulty in the survey is the employer's own expectation. It does not measure how many jobs remain unfilled.

02The repetitive tasks robots take on

A service robot does one defined task, in a mapped area, on a schedule. The staff keep the work that needs judgement, contact with customers and the handling of exceptions.

03Working alongside the team

• Cleaning: the robot scrubs the large open areas at night or early morning; cleaning staff handle corners, sanitary areas and detail work.
• Restaurants: the robot carries plates and returns dirty dishes; waiters stay with the customers, take orders and serve at the table.
• Security: the robot patrols and films the perimeter; a security officer watches the alerts and decides on any action.
• Logistics: the autonomous pallet truck moves pallets between fixed points; operators prepare orders and manage exceptions.

Each of these robots changes how the work is organised. Involve the staff and their representatives from the start, and include the robot in the workplace risk assessment.

04How companies try a robot: trial, rental, RaaS

1. On-site trial: the robot runs on a real site for a short period to check the map, the routes and the result.
2. Short or medium-term rental: the robot covers a season, a peak or a test of several months without a purchase.
3. RaaS (robot as a service): a monthly fee covering the robot, the software, maintenance and support.
4. Purchase: once the use is confirmed, often with a maintenance contract.

Robot Distribution offers purchase, rental and RaaS, with installation and after-sales service in France and Europe. See the robots by sector on the solutions page, or describe your site in the quote form.