Hire employees in Greece using an Employer of Record

Greece requires a mandatory 13th salary on top of regular monthly pay. Miss that in your compensation planning, and you're looking at an uncomfortable conversation with finance when the extra payroll run shows up on the calendar. It's not optional, it's not negotiable, and it's baked into how employment works here.

That's just one piece of what makes Greek employment law different from what you might be used to. Between mandatory social contributions, statutory leave entitlements, and a tax system with six income brackets, hiring your first person in Greece involves more moving parts than most companies expect.

Your three options for hiring in Greece

Option 1: Set up your own entity

• Cost: Significant upfront legal, registration, and accounting setup, plus ongoing annual maintenance
• Timeline: Months, not weeks, before you can run your first payroll
• Complexity: Tax registration, EFKA (social security) enrollment, payroll infrastructure, and ongoing local compliance
• Makes sense when: You're hiring a large team long-term and want a permanent legal presence in Greece

Option 2: Hire contractors

• Cost: No entity setup required, but you lose control over how the work relationship is structured
• Timeline: Immediate
• Risks: Misclassification is a real issue if the person works like an employee (set hours, exclusive work, ongoing supervision), and Greek authorities can reclassify the relationship and demand back contributions
• Makes sense when: You need a specialist for a short, clearly scoped project
• Note: Hire with Columbus also handles compliant contractor agreements and payments if this route fits your situation

Option 3: Use an employer of record (recommended for most companies)

• Cost: Starting from $179/month per employee
• Timeline: 2-3 days to get someone hired and legally employed
• Complexity: None on your end. We handle contracts, payroll, tax filings, and the 13th salary calculation for you
• Makes sense when: You're hiring 1-50 people in Greece, testing the market, or building a team across multiple countries

Why most companies choose EOR

If you're hiring one to ten people, entity setup costs typically exceed several years of EOR fees before you've even made your first hire. At $179/month per employee, three people costs $537/month total, a fraction of what standing up a Greek entity and running its ongoing compliance would run you.

The math gets more lopsided if you're hiring across several countries at once. Setting up separate entities in each one multiplies your setup costs, your timeline, and your compliance headaches. An EOR gives you one system, one bill, and local compliance handled by people who actually know Greek employment law.

Hire with Columbus takes care of the employment contract, payroll runs, EFKA contributions, the mandatory 13th salary, and every statutory leave entitlement, so you can focus on the actual work instead of the paperwork behind it.

Ready to hire in Greece without setting up an entity or gambling on contractor status? Get started with Hire with Columbus.

What employment types can you use?

Before you draft an employment contract in Greece, you need to decide: entity, contractor, or EOR. That decision shapes everything else, from how fast you can hire to how much risk you're carrying.

Part 1: How can you hire in Greece?

You've got three real paths to get someone working for you legally in Greece. Here's how they stack up.

1. Set up your own entity

Incorporating in Greece means registering a legal entity, handling tax registration, and building out payroll and HR infrastructure from scratch. The upfront costs cover incorporation, legal fees, and registration, and they add up fast before you've hired a single person.

• Timeline: this takes months, not days, once you factor in registration and setting up compliant payroll
• Ongoing: annual accounting, legal, and compliance costs continue whether you have 2 employees or 20
• When it makes sense: you're planning 20+ employees and want a permanent, long-term presence in Greece
• Complexity: full tax registration, a local payroll system, and ongoing legal compliance are all on you

2. Hire contractors/freelancers

This is the fastest way to get someone working, technically. You sign an agreement, they invoice you, and you're off.

• Speed: can start almost immediately
• Risks: misclassification is a real problem if the contractor works like an employee (set hours, exclusive engagement, your equipment). That exposes you to back taxes and legal disputes
• Limitations: you can't direct their work the way you would an employee, and integration into your team is limited
• When it makes sense: short-term projects under 6 months, or specialized one-off skills
• Hire with Columbus also handles compliant contractor agreements and payments, so you don't have to figure out Greek contractor law on your own

3. Use an employer of record (recommended for most companies)

Hire with Columbus becomes the legal employer in Greece on paper. You keep full control over day-to-day work, priorities, and performance.

• Cost: from $179/month per employee
• Timeline: hire in 2-3 days instead of months
• We handle: employment contracts, payroll, tax compliance, statutory benefits, and legal requirements
• When it makes sense: 1-50 employees, testing the Greek market, running multi-country teams, or just wanting to skip entity setup entirely
• ROI example: 5 employees through Hire with Columbus runs from $895/month total, no incorporation costs, no annual compliance filings for an entity you might not need yet

Part 2: Employment contract types in Greece

Most companies hiring in Greece use an indefinite (permanent) contract because it's the default relationship under Greek labor law and the standard for core, ongoing roles.

Indefinite (permanent) contracts

This is the go-to for any role you expect to be part of your team long-term. It comes with the full set of statutory protections around notice, leave, and termination that Greek employees expect.

Fixed-term contracts

Fixed-term deals work for genuinely temporary needs, like covering a leave or a project with a clear end date. Greek law limits how these contracts can be renewed, so you can't just keep rolling one over indefinitely to avoid permanent status. If you're using fixed-term as a workaround for what's really a permanent role, you're taking on legal risk you don't need.

Part-time contracts

Part-time employees in Greece get the same statutory rights as full-time staff on a pro-rata basis, including leave and benefits. This works well if you need coverage for specific hours rather than a full role.

Whichever contract type fits the role, Hire with Columbus drafts it to match Greek statutory requirements and handles the paperwork end to end. You tell us the role and the terms, we make sure the contract holds up.

How does payroll and taxation work?

Most companies budget salary only. Then payroll hits and employer contributions add another 21.8% on top of gross pay.

That's not a rounding error. On a €60,000 salary, you're looking at an extra €13,080 a year just for contributions, before you even think about the mandatory 13th salary.

Income tax brackets

Greece runs a progressive income tax system. Here's how it breaks down for 2026:

This is withheld and remitted by the employer, not something your employee sorts out on their own at year-end. Get the bracket calculations wrong and you've got an unhappy employee and a correction to file.

Minimum wage and average wage

The statutory minimum wage in Greece is €1,073 per month, effective July 2026. The average monthly wage across the workforce sits at roughly €1,934.

If you're hiring for a role that's genuinely entry-level, don't assume you can go far below that average without struggling to find candidates. Greek salaries for skilled roles, especially tech and finance, run well above the minimum.

Social security contributions

Both employer and employee pay into Greece's social security system (EFKA). Here's the split:

Employer contributions are capped at a monthly ceiling of €7,761.94 under EFKA rules. Above that ceiling, you don't pay employer social contributions on the excess, which matters if you're hiring senior people at high salaries.

The 13th salary

Greek law mandates a 13th salary payment on top of the standard annual pay. This isn't a discretionary bonus, it's a statutory requirement.

Budget for it as a real cost, not an afterthought. Companies that forget to build this into their salary offers end up either underpaying (a compliance problem) or scrambling to find the cash mid-year.

What a real employee actually costs

Let's run the numbers on three illustrative salaries, using the 21.8% average employer contribution rate:

These figures don't include the 13th salary, which adds further cost depending on how your contract structures it. Treat the table as a floor, not the full picture.

Payroll mistakes companies actually make

• Quoting salary without contributions. A €50,000 offer isn't a €50,000 cost. Factor in the 21.8% before you finalize a budget.
• Forgetting the 13th salary in cash flow planning. It's not optional, and it changes your monthly and annual burn.
• Ignoring the EFKA ceiling. For high earners, you may be over-calculating employer contributions if you apply the flat rate without checking the cap.
• Treating Greek payroll like a domestic one. Local tax withholding, EFKA registration, and reporting all follow Greek rules, not your home country's calendar or forms.

The self-managed reality

Running payroll yourself in Greece means engaging a local accounting firm or payroll provider, staying current on EFKA registration and reporting, and carrying the compliance risk if something's filed wrong. None of that is cheap in time or attention, even before you look at the actual invoices.

With Hire with Columbus, you skip all of it. We handle Greek payroll, tax withholding, and EFKA contributions directly, starting from $179/month per employee (USD), fully compliant with no separate accounting engagement needed on your end.

What benefits and leave are required?

Maternity leave in Greece runs 56 weeks. Fathers get 11.1 weeks, and there's a separate 8.7-week parental leave entitlement on top of that. These aren't small numbers, and getting them wrong is one of the easier ways to end up in a dispute with an employee or a labor inspector.

Annual vacation

Employees get a minimum of 20 days of paid annual leave per year. That's the statutory floor, not a suggestion.

Leave accrues over the course of the year, and pro-rating applies for anyone who starts mid-year. If your Greek hire joins in July, they haven't earned a full 20 days yet, and you'll need to calculate the accrued portion correctly on payroll.

Carryover and payout rules matter a lot here. Get this wrong and you're looking at back-pay claims when someone leaves. This is exactly the kind of detail an EOR tracks automatically so you're not manually calculating leave balances in a spreadsheet.

Sick leave

Sick leave in Greece is governed by law and by EFKA, the national social insurance fund. The general structure is that the employer covers an initial period of illness, and social insurance takes over after that, with the exact split and pay percentage depending on the employee's tenure and specific circumstances.

Doctor's certification is required to validate sick leave through EFKA, not just a note to your HR inbox. If you're managing this without local expertise, it's easy to miss a certification step and end up paying out of pocket for something social insurance should have covered.

Parental leave

Here's the breakdown on family leave:

Pay during these periods typically involves a mix of employer obligation and social insurance benefits, and the exact calculation depends on the employee's contribution history with EFKA. This is not a "figure it out yourself" area. Miscalculate maternity pay and you're either underpaying an employee (compliance risk) or overpaying out of your own pocket when EFKA should be covering part of it.

Public holidays in 2026

Greece has 14 public holidays in 2026. Several of these move each year because they're tied to the Orthodox Easter calendar, so the dates below are specific to 2026, not fixed forever.

Two of these (Aug 15 and Dec 26) fall on a Saturday in 2026, so they don't create an extra weekday off unless your company policy grants a substitute day. Worth flagging to employees so nobody's confused come August.

Mandatory benefits and social contributions

Three things are non-negotiable when you employ someone in Greece:

• Social insurance contributions. Employers contribute an average of about 21.8% of gross pay to EFKA, covering pension, health, and unemployment insurance. Employees contribute an average of about 13.4% of their own gross pay.
• Contribution ceiling. Employer social security contributions are capped once monthly gross pay hits €7,761.94, so high earners don't scale contributions infinitely.
• Thirteenth salary. An extra month's pay (structured as statutory bonuses through the year) is mandatory in Greece. If you're budgeting salary as 12 equal monthly payments and stopping there, your payroll math is wrong.

Skipping or miscalculating any of these isn't a gray area. EFKA contributions are enforced, and shortfalls get flagged during audits, with back-payments and penalties following.

Optional and competitive benefits

Beyond the legal minimums, companies hiring in Greece often add:

• Private supplemental health insurance (public healthcare exists, but private coverage speeds up access to specialists)
• Meal vouchers or allowances
• Additional paid leave beyond the 20-day minimum
• Remote work stipends or equipment allowances
• Performance bonuses on top of the mandatory thirteenth salary

None of these are required, but they matter if you're competing for talent against companies that already offer them.

Common benefit mistakes

• Forgetting the thirteenth salary in budgeting. If your total compensation math only accounts for 12 months, you'll be short when the bonus payments come due.
• Not pro-rating leave correctly for new starters. Full 20-day entitlement doesn't apply from day one for a mid-year hire.
• Missing EFKA certification requirements for sick leave. Paying out of pocket for something social insurance should cover is an avoidable cost.
• Ignoring the contribution ceiling. Overpaying employer contributions above €7,761.94 monthly gross is a common, fixable error.
• Treating public holidays that fall on weekends as extra days off without checking policy. This creates confusion and inconsistent treatment across your workforce.

The real cost of getting this wrong

Administering Greek benefits correctly means tracking EFKA contribution rates, thirteenth salary schedules, Orthodox Easter-linked holiday dates that shift every year, and leave entitlements tied to tenure. Local HR expertise, compliance software, and periodic legal review all add up, and that's before accounting for the cost of a mistake that triggers an EFKA audit or an employee back-pay claim.

Hire with Columbus handles benefit administration, statutory bonus calculations, leave tracking, and social contribution compliance for $179/month per employee. You get the correct numbers without hiring someone whose full-time job is keeping up with EFKA rules.

What are the compliance requirements?

Miss one mandatory clause in a Greek employment contract and you risk the whole agreement being challenged. Here's what you actually need to get right before you make an offer.

Employment contracts

Written contracts aren't optional for most hiring in Greece. Fixed-term agreements, part-time work, and remote arrangements all need a written contract to hold up legally.

Contracts should be in Greek, or at minimum include a Greek-language version, even if you keep an English copy for internal use. At minimum, spell out job title, salary, working hours, workplace, start date, and notice terms.

New hires, and most contract changes, generally need to be filed through Greece's electronic labor registry, known as Ergani. Skipping this step is one of the fastest ways to get flagged during a labor inspection.

Hire with Columbus drafts and files every contract through the right channels in Greece, so you're not guessing whether your paperwork will actually hold up.

Probation periods

Greek law allows a probation period set out in the employment contract, capped by statute. During probation, termination is generally simpler and faster than it is once that period ends.

Once probation ends, full employment protections kick in, including notice and severance obligations. Don't treat probation like an at-will arrangement; document performance issues from day one anyway.

Working time rules

Actual hours worked in Greece run below the traditional 40-hour benchmark. Employees averaged about 37.8 hours a week as of 2025, down from an average of 40.0 hours back in 2021.

Overtime is regulated and must be paid at a premium set by law. Keep accurate time records: Ergani filings and labor inspections both check whether logged hours match what you actually paid.

Notice periods

Here's something that trips up a lot of foreign employers: Greek law doesn't set a fixed statutory notice period for either side. Instead, severance does the heavy lifting when an employer terminates without cause.

That doesn't mean you can skip documentation. You still need a valid reason, proper paperwork, and a correct severance calculation, or you're exposed to a wrongful dismissal claim.

Termination process

For individual dismissals, Greek law generally doesn't require government pre-approval or works council sign-off. But you do need to:

1. Confirm the dismissal is lawful (not discriminatory, not retaliatory, not during protected leave)
2. Put the termination in writing
3. Calculate and pay severance correctly
4. File the termination with the labor authorities

Skip any of these steps and you risk a wrongful dismissal claim, which can mean back pay, legal fees, and in some cases a reinstatement order.

Severance pay

Severance is mandatory when you terminate without cause, and it scales with tenure. Across the Greek workforce, severance obligations average about 15.9 weeks of pay.

Get the calculation wrong and you're not just short-paying someone, you're inviting a legal claim that costs a lot more than getting it right the first time would have.

Data protection

Greece follows the EU's GDPR framework, and employee data counts just as much as customer data. That includes payroll records, health information, and performance reviews, anything tied to an identifiable employee.

You need a valid legal basis to collect and process that data, and employees have the right to access and correct their own records. GDPR violations carry serious financial exposure at the EU level, so treat HR files with the same discipline you'd apply to customer data.

Common compliance mistakes

• Relying on verbal agreements for roles that legally require a written contract
• Skipping the Ergani filing for new hires or contract changes
• Leaving out mandatory clauses like working hours, workplace, or notice terms
• Miscalculating severance because tenure or contract type wasn't factored in correctly
• Forgetting the mandatory 13th salary payment, which Greek law requires regardless of your home payroll calendar

What happens if you get it wrong

• A contract missing a mandatory clause can be challenged, exposing you to back-pay claims
• A termination that gets reclassified as wrongful dismissal means recalculating severance plus covering legal costs
• A missed Ergani filing draws attention from labor inspectors and complicates future terminations
• A GDPR misstep with employee data carries financial exposure well beyond the cost of handling it correctly upfront

Hire with Columbus handles the contract, the filing, the notice question, and the severance math in Greece, all built into the $179/month per employee cost. You get compliant hiring without needing to become an expert in Greek labor law yourself.

What has changed recently?

If you last checked Greek employment rules a year or two ago, some numbers on your spreadsheet are now stale. Here's what actually moved in 2026 and why it matters if you're hiring there this quarter.

Minimum wage went up again

Greece's minimum wage climbed to €1,073 per month, effective July 1, 2026. If you've got Greek employees on or near the floor, check this number against their contracts right now.

Miss this update and you're technically underpaying. That's the kind of compliance gap that's easy to create by accident and a pain to fix after the fact.

Tax brackets reset for the year

The income tax bands took effect January 1, 2026, and they're still progressive, running from 9% at the low end up to a top rate of 44% on income above €60,000. Here's the full breakdown:

Corporate tax sits at 22%, and VAT is holding at 24%. None of these numbers are shocking if you've hired in Greece before, but confirm them every payroll cycle since brackets do get revised.

Employer contribution ceiling got an update

The EFKA social security ceiling for employer contributions is now €7,761.94 per month, as of February 2026. This caps how much of an employee's salary is subject to the employer's 21.8% average social contribution rate.

If you're hiring someone at a high salary, this ceiling is what stops your payroll costs from growing without limit. Worth knowing before you run the numbers.

Paternity leave got a real bump

Paternity leave now runs to 11.1 weeks, updated as of February 2026. That's a meaningful entitlement, not a token few days off, and it can catch employers off guard if they're used to shorter policies elsewhere.

Annual leave stayed at 20 days and public holidays at 14 days per year, both effective January 2026. Those didn't move, but they're easy to mix up with other EU countries' entitlements, so it's worth restating them here.

What this means if you're hiring now

None of these changes are dramatic on their own. But together, they mean the "standard" cost of employing someone in Greece shifted a bit this year.

Higher minimum wage, a higher contribution ceiling, and longer paternity leave all nudge your total cost of employment upward, even if the headline tax rates look familiar.

This is exactly the kind of detail that slips through the cracks if you're running Greek payroll manually or through a local advisor who checks in once a year. With Hire with Columbus, these updates get built into your employees' contracts and payroll runs automatically, so you're not the one tracking every EFKA ceiling revision or leave law change.

You just see the current, correct cost, starting from $179/month per employee, with the compliance details already handled.