ATQS, AQS, ASP: what do the French cleaning job grades mean?

You have come across an acronym — ATQS, AQS, ASP, ASC — on a French payslip, in a job advert or at the bottom of a cleaning quote, and you are wondering what it actually means. You are not alone: the French cleaning industry job grid is one of the most poorly understood, including by the people it directly concerns.

This page explains each grade, what genuinely separates them on site, and what it changes on the payslip. We write it from an employer's point of view: at Ménage Parfait, an office cleaning company in Paris, we grade and re-grade our 35 agents every year. It is a concrete decision, not a theoretical line in a table.

The French cleaning pay grid at a glance

The national collective agreement for cleaning companies and associated services (IDCC 3043, booklet 3173) organises jobs into three streams: operations, administrative and management. The operations stream — the on-site workforce — reads from bottom to top as follows.

ATQS: definition and place in the grid

ATQS stands for Agent Très Qualifié de Service — highly qualified service agent. It is the highest grade in the "agent" category of the operations stream: above it, you enter supervision with the team leader. On paper it is a classification step. On site, an ATQS can:

• organise their round and working time independently;
• make decisions without waiting for sign-off;
• handle an unplanned client request on site;
• operate specialist machines (scrubber-dryer, single-disc machine);
• train a newcomer and pass on the right techniques.

That is the whole difference between someone who executes a protocol and someone who genuinely masters their trade. A service agent applies precise instructions; the ATQS analyses the situation and acts.

ASP, ASC, ASCS, AQS: the other grades explained

You cannot understand the ATQS grade without understanding what comes before it. Here is each step, in the order you meet them across a career.

ASP — Agent de Service Professionnel

The entry level of the sector, where the vast majority of agents start. The ASP follows a specification: offices, washrooms, floors, accessible windows. The work already demands rigour, but it happens within a defined framework, with clear instructions and a contactable supervisor. This is the former AS1.

ASC — Agent de Service Confirmé

Same job as the ASP, with experience added. An important point many people miss: moving from ASP to ASC is automatic after one year of experience in the cleaning sector — not one year with your current employer, one year in the sector. If you have more than a year across several cleaning employers and your payslip still says ASP, that is worth raising. This is the former AS2.

ASCS — Agent de Service Confirmé Spécialisé

The confirmed agent who also masters an identified speciality: glazing, medical environments, technical washrooms. You remain in the "service agent" family, but with a recognised skill outside the common core. This is the former AS3.

AQS 1, 2, 3 — Agent Qualifié de Service

This is where the family changes. The AQS is no longer an experienced service agent: they are a qualified agent whose technical ability is recognised as such. They begin operating machines, working with genuine autonomy over their scope, and handling work that is no longer routine cleaning. The three steps (AQS 1, 2, 3) mark progression within that family. It is the rung immediately below ATQS.

AQS or ATQS: the real difference

This is the most frequent question, and the least visible boundary in the whole grid. The two grades look alike on paper. Here is how we tell them apart in practice when we have to decide for one of our agents.

Column A or column B: the detail almost nobody explains

Here is the point missing from almost every article on the French cleaning pay grid — and it directly changes the minimum wage figure. For the AS, AQS and ATQS grades, the grid does not set one hourly rate per step but two columns. Many employees have no idea they exist.

Column A

The employee performs cleaning activities OR associated services. This is the most common case: an agent who cleans offices, and only that, falls under column A.

Column B

The employee performs cleaning activities AND associated services, continuously for at least three months, outside of cover arrangements. Column B carries a higher hourly rate. "Associated services" covers what orbits cleaning without being cleaning: light maintenance, waste and flow management, reception, site logistics.

How we decide, in practice

The agreement sets the principle but provides no form to fill in. Here are the three questions we ask before placing an agent in column B — and that you can ask about your own situation:

• Are both activities actually in the job description? If the associated services are real but informal, they need to be written down before they can be paid.
• Has it run for three months without interruption? A one-off fix or covering for a colleague does not trigger column B.
• Does the client ask for it in their specification? If so, the activity is structural rather than occasional — the most reliable signal there is.

ATQS, AQS and service agent pay: the 2026 grid

The collective minimums below apply from 1 April 2026, following the +1.1% increase set out in amendment no. 27. Monthly figures are calculated on the statutory basis of 151.67 hours.

In concrete terms: moving from ASP (€12.52/h) to ATQS 1 (€13.17/h) is roughly €0.65 more per hour — close to €100 gross more per month full-time. For an ATQS 3 (€14.95/h), the gap rises above €2.40/h — around €370 gross per month, or more than €4,000 over a full year. That is not a grid technicality: it is a real change in standard of living.

On top of this base pay come further elements set by the agreement, often left out of comparisons:

• the experience bonus, which can reach +7% of base pay depending on seniority;
• the annual bonus (equivalent to a 13th month), paid after one year in the sector;
• the transport allowance, €29.54 per month for at least 104 hours worked.

The technical skills that set an ATQS apart

Beyond mindset, an ATQS is recognised by a precise set of skills. These are the ones we value in our most qualified agents:

• operating the scrubber-dryer, for mechanised cleaning of large areas;
• using the single-disc machine, for washing, buffing and stripping;
• floor stripping, the technical step before any restoration;
• crystallisation and metallisation of floors (marble, stone, PVC);
• cleaning complex and high-level glazing;
• bio-cleaning, essential in medical and sensitive environments;
• precise product dosing, for effectiveness as much as safety;
• restoration cleaning after building or renovation work;
• identifying floor coverings and their constraints.

How do you become an ATQS in the cleaning industry?

First, set one idea aside: seniority alone is not enough. We have seen agents with fifteen years of experience who did not want to progress — and that is entirely respectable. Conversely, some reach ATQS in two or three years. What makes the difference:

• curiosity and appetite for learning;
• autonomy in organising the work;
• the ability to solve problems alone;
• progressive mastery of the machines;
• rigour and attention to detail.

On the training side, the sector's CQP qualifications and machine certifications noticeably speed up the path, but they are not mandatory: what counts is the job actually performed. With us, progression almost always starts with a request from the agent themselves — "Can I learn the scrubber-dryer?", "Can I join the team on a restoration job?". That is usually when it clicks.

Case study: what an ATQS actually changes

Nothing beats concrete examples. Here are three real situations that show why this grade matters so much to our clients — and to us.

Karim: from service agent to restoration specialist

Karim joined us as a service agent. At first he only did offices. Then he learned the scrubber-dryer, post-works restoration, stripping and floor treatments. Today, when a client calls about an emergency or a difficult job, he is among the first people we turn to.

Maria: the medical bio-cleaning specialist

Maria runs a medical practice site. She knows the bio-cleaning protocols almost better than some site managers. That kind of profile is valuable: it brings stability and reassures the client over the long term.

The PVC floor that did not need replacing

In an office building, a PVC floor had gone dull. The client thought it needed replacing — a heavy investment. One of our ATQS agents proposed another route:

• a deep strip;
• a specific treatment matched to the covering;
• metallisation to protect the floor and restore its shine.

The result was striking. The client pushed the floor replacement back by several years, saving thousands of euros. That is exactly where an ATQS's experience makes the difference — and it is a value that never shows up in an hourly rate.

Common misconceptions about qualification grades

"ATQS just means someone who has been around a while"

False. You can have twenty years of seniority without ever having mastered the specialist techniques. Conversely, a motivated, well-trained agent can become an excellent ATQS in a few years. The grade rewards skill actually exercised, not time served.

"An ATQS costs too much"

Usually the opposite is true. A good ATQS saves money for the company and the client alike:

• less damage to surfaces and furniture;
• fewer jobs needing to be redone;
• fewer client complaints;
• better retention over time.