Employer of record in Greece: costs, rules and how to hire
Everything you need to know about hiring employees in Greece through an employer of record.
Picture the first Monday of your new Greek hire. Before that person sits down at their desk, you were legally required to file an electronic notification with Greece's ERGANI labour information system, declaring the hire, the agreed working hours, and the employment terms. Not within a week, not on the first payroll run: before work begins. That single procedural reality shapes the entire experience of employing someone in Greece, because ERGANI is not a one-time registration. Every change to hours, every overtime shift, every schedule adjustment requires its own filing, often in advance. Foreign employers used to informal flexibility find this the sharpest adjustment.
The underlying employment relationship is also more structured than many expect. Greece mandates a thirteenth salary payment, requires written employment terms from the outset, and sets employer social contributions at 21.8 percent of gross on top of whatever salary you agree. The average monthly wage runs around €1,978, and the statutory minimum sits at €1,073 per month as of 2026, so you are working within a market that is mid-range by European standards but carries a compliance architecture that is firmly in the high-effort tier. The total tax wedge on labour reaches 39.3 percent, which means the gap between what you pay and what the employee takes home is meaningful and worth modelling carefully before you commit.
Annual leave starts at 20 days, public holidays add up to 9 days under national government figures, and maternity leave runs to 56 weeks. Greece also provides paternity leave of just over 11 weeks. These are not negotiable floors you can substitute with a global policy: Greek law treats them as distinct statutory entitlements, calculated and paid according to local rules.
How should you hire in Greece?
| Employer of Record (EOR) | Your own legal entity | Independent contractor | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Time to first hire | Days | Months | Immediate |
| Upfront cost | None | Incorporation, registrations, local counsel | None |
| Ongoing cost | From $99–$699/employee/month | Payroll, accounting, filings, benefits administration | Contractor invoices only |
| Best when | You want 1–5 hires fast, without a local entity or in-house payroll expertise. | You are building a long-term team (roughly 10+ employees) and want full control. | Genuinely project-based, independent work. Misclassifying an employee as a contractor carries real penalties. |
- Time to first hire
- Days
- Upfront cost
- None
- Ongoing cost
- From $99–$699/employee/month
- Best when
- You want 1–5 hires fast, without a local entity or in-house payroll expertise.
- Time to first hire
- Months
- Upfront cost
- Incorporation, registrations, local counsel
- Ongoing cost
- Payroll, accounting, filings, benefits administration
- Best when
- You are building a long-term team (roughly 10+ employees) and want full control.
- Time to first hire
- Immediate
- Upfront cost
- None
- Ongoing cost
- Contractor invoices only
- Best when
- Genuinely project-based, independent work. Misclassifying an employee as a contractor carries real penalties.
Rule of thumb: an EOR wins on speed and simplicity for the first handful of hires; once a team in Greece passes roughly ten people, running your own entity usually starts to win. Treat that as a risk-adjusted rule of thumb rather than a calculation. Registration and accounting are the cheap part; the costs that decide it are payroll software, local employment-law advice, pension administration and the statutory sick-pay and termination exposure you take on directly once you are the employer.
EOR pricing in Greece: providers covering Greece publish base fees from $99 to $699 per employee per month, before statutory employer costs. How EOR pricing works.
Companies that should think carefully before defaulting to an Employer of Record (EOR) here are those planning to hire a team of ten or more people in Greece over a two-to-three year horizon, or those whose Greek operation will involve significant client-facing activity, local contracts, or physical premises. At that scale and visibility, the cost of an EOR fee per head compounds quickly, and the ERGANI compliance infrastructure an EOR provides is something a properly resourced local entity can replicate. Setting up a Greek entity takes roughly three to six months, which is not trivial, but the corporate tax rate is 22 percent and the legal framework, while protective of employees, is well-documented. If you are building something permanent, the entity route deserves a genuine cost comparison rather than a reflexive EOR decision.
For companies hiring one to three people in Greece, testing a market, or moving quickly on a specific role, an EOR is the more practical structure. The ERGANI filing obligations alone, which require pre-hire notification and ongoing schedule declarations, are genuinely difficult to manage without local payroll expertise. An EOR absorbs that operational burden and gets a hire live in three to five days rather than months. In my view, the ERGANI complexity is the single strongest argument for EOR in Greece specifically: it is not just about payroll, it is about real-time labour reporting that has no equivalent in many other European markets. The providers listed below vary in how well they handle Greek-specific filings, so that is worth probing directly before you sign.
On contractors: Greece's employment protection index sits at 2.5 on a zero-to-six scale, which places it in the stricter half of OECD countries. Greek courts and labour inspectors look at the actual working relationship, and a contractor who works fixed hours, uses company equipment, and takes direction from a manager is likely to be treated as an employee regardless of what the contract says. The consequences include back social contributions at the employer rate of 21.8 percent, plus potential fines. If the role involves ongoing, directed work, a contractor arrangement carries real legal exposure here.
Greece employment facts at a glance
Each row shows the year of the most recent citable source for that figure. Where a year looks old, that is the newest comprehensive source available, and we keep the sourced figure rather than substitute an unsourced newer one. Statutes may have changed since.
World Bank WBL measures paid leave available to mothers and fathers, which can include mother-eligible or father-eligible parental leave on top of dedicated maternity or paternity schemes.
Statutory notice in Greece is zero: what you agree in the contract is what applies, per our employer burden ranking.
Average salary in Greece by occupation
Gross monthly earnings of employees per ISCO-08 occupation group, in EUR, from the ILO's official labour statistics. These are the latest published survey figures for Greece(reference year 2025), refreshed automatically when the ILO releases newer data. Survey earnings, not the statutory minimum wage above. Use them to benchmark an offer before an EOR quote turns it into total employer cost.
Source: ILOSTAT, the International Labour Organization's statistics database (average monthly earnings of employees, both sexes), reference year 2025.
What it costs to employ in Greece
Worked example: at the average Greece wage of $32,412/year (OECD, 2025), mandatory employer contributions add $7,063/year, bringing the true cost of employment to $39,475/year, or $3,290/month.
Based on OECD 2025 aggregate data for a single earner at average wage.
Termination and severance in Greece
Greece requires just cause for termination of permanent employees after the probation period, providing strong employment protection. Employers must provide substantial notice periods and severance pay based on tenure, with both increasing significantly over time. The system emphasizes employee security with mandatory compensation for dismissals without serious misconduct.
Source: Employ Borderless research · 2024. Statutory minimums; collective agreements and contracts can set higher terms. During the probation period (up to 60 days) shorter or no notice may apply.
What catches employers out in Greece
Greece has several compliance requirements that are easy to miss if you are applying a standard European hiring template. Each of the points below has caught foreign employers out in practice.
ERGANI pre-hire registration is mandatory and time-sensitive
Every new hire must be registered in the ERGANI electronic system before the employee starts work. This is not a payroll formality: it requires specific forms (including the E3 form for new hires) and is entirely separate from social insurance registration. Late or missing filings trigger administrative fines. Foreign employers who assume that a signed contract and payroll enrolment are sufficient often discover the ERGANI obligation only after the fact.
Overtime and schedule changes must be reported to ERGANI in advance
Greek law does not just set limits on working hours: it requires employers to notify ERGANI of fixed schedules and any changes, including overtime, often before the additional hours are worked. Employers accustomed to recording overtime after the fact and adjusting payroll accordingly will find this system unfamiliar. Allowing informal extra hours without the correct ERGANI filing exposes the employer to fines even if the employee is paid correctly.
Holiday allowance is a separate statutory entitlement, not a PTO policy
Greek employees receive statutory annual leave that increases with service, plus a holiday allowance paid on top of normal salary. These are distinct legal entitlements with prescribed calculation methods and timing. A global PTO policy cannot substitute for them. Foreign employers who try to roll everything into a single leave allowance typically find themselves non-compliant with both the leave days and the allowance payment.
Hiring without a Greek entity creates permanent establishment and reclassification risk
Greek law does not contain an outright prohibition on a foreign company employing someone in Greece directly, but doing so creates real exposure in employment, tax, and social security law. Greek practice expects a local employer presence capable of meeting ERGANI, social insurance, and payroll obligations. A foreign-law contract alone is not sufficient, and the arrangement may be treated as creating a de facto permanent establishment.
Changing employment terms unilaterally is legally risky
Greek law requires employers to provide written employment terms at the outset and makes it difficult to change essential terms, such as hours, place of work, or pay, without employee consent. In many cases, changes also require a prior ERGANI notification. Foreign employers used to broad managerial discretion over role scope and working arrangements are often surprised to find that unilateral changes can be invalid and expose them to employee claims.
Your next step
39 EOR providers can employ for you in Greece. Compare them independently, or tell us about your hire and get a shortlist matched to your situation.
Common questions about hiring in Greece
What does it cost an employer to hire someone in Greece on top of gross salary?
Is the thirteenth salary really mandatory in Greece?
How long does it take to hire someone in Greece through an EOR versus setting up a local entity?
What are the notice and severance obligations when terminating a permanent employee in Greece?
What is the minimum wage in Greece?
How much annual leave are Greek employees entitled to?
Can a foreign company hire employees in Greece without setting up a local entity?
Can I use a PEO in Greece?
Not in the US sense of the word. A PEO (professional employer organization) is a co-employment model under US law and needs your own local entity; Greece has no equivalent. When a provider offers a "PEO in Greece", it is in practice an employer of record: the provider is the legal employer and you direct the work. That is the route this guide describes. EOR vs PEO explains where the two models differ.