ABSTRACTWage policies in France were substantially renewed in the 1980s; this renewal was reflected in two phenomena: profit‐sharing and merit payment. Merit payment is analysed here in relation to the emergence of new forms of organization of production. The need for higher‐skilled labour, the relative decline of execution work and Taylorism have led to the setting up of systems of individual assessment and a more coherent organization of internal labour markets. Thus, merit payment should be seen as a very different practice from piece work: rather, it is the first attempt to establish a system of payment which could serve as a basis for renewing the entire wage bargaining set