Hiring in Greece with an EOR: costs, rules, and how it works (2026)
Everything you need to know about hiring employees in Greece through an employer of record.
Picture your first week after signing a Greek employment contract. Before your new hire shows up on day one, you are already obligated to file a hiring notification through ERGANI, the government's electronic labour registry, using a specific form submitted in advance. That filing is separate from payroll registration, separate from social insurance enrollment, and separate from the written employment terms you must hand over within a short window after the start date. Miss any one of those steps and administrative fines follow. This is the rhythm of Greek employment compliance: multiple parallel obligations, each with its own deadline and its own authority watching it.
The cost side is straightforward to read but meaningful in size. Employer social contributions run at 21.8% of gross salary on top of whatever you pay the employee, and the total tax wedge across employer and employee sits at 39.3%. Greece's statutory minimum wage is €1,027 per month as of 2026. Average annual hours worked come in at around 1,898, among the higher figures in the OECD, so you are hiring into a workforce that puts in real time. Employment protection is also genuinely strong: the OECD rates Greece's overall employment protection legislation at 2.5 on a 0–6 scale, which places it firmly in the more regulated half of European markets.
Thirty-two EOR providers publish pricing for Greece, with published base prices from $99 to $699 per employee per month. An EOR can have someone on payroll in three to five days. Setting up your own Greek entity typically takes three to six months. Which path makes sense depends heavily on how long you plan to stay and how many people you intend to hire.
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 5+ 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 5+ 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 grows past roughly five people, running your own entity usually becomes cheaper than paying a monthly fee per employee.
Companies that should think carefully before defaulting to an EOR are those already committed to Greece as a core market with five or more hires planned over the next two years. At that scale, the monthly per-seat cost of an EOR compounds quickly, and the ERGANI filing obligations, payroll structure, and social contribution mechanics are learnable. A corporate tax rate of 22% and a reasonably clear statutory framework mean that running a Greek subsidiary is not unusually complex once the entity exists. If your headcount justifies the three-to-six-month setup timeline, the entity route gives you direct control over employment terms, working-time scheduling, and the ERGANI notifications that trip up foreign employers most often.
For everyone else, and in my experience that is most companies testing Greek talent for the first time, an EOR is the practical answer. A single hire, a project-based engagement, or a situation where you need someone productive within days rather than months all point the same direction. The ERGANI system alone is a genuine compliance trap for foreign employers who have never dealt with pre-hire electronic registration: an EOR that already operates in Greece handles those filings as a matter of routine. The same applies to the holiday allowance structure, which Greek law treats as a distinct statutory entitlement rather than something you can fold into a global PTO policy.
On contractors: Greece's employment protection index and the expectation of a local employer presence for payroll and social security purposes mean that misclassifying an ongoing, directed worker as an independent contractor carries real exposure. Greek practice looks at the actual working relationship, and a foreign-law contract does not insulate you from Greek social insurance obligations if the substance points to employment. For anything beyond a genuinely project-scoped, time-limited engagement, a contractor arrangement is a risk I would not take lightly here.
Greece employment facts at a glance
Statutory notice in Greece is zero: what you agree in the contract is what applies, per our employer burden ranking.
What it costs to employ in Greece
Worked example: at the average Greece wage of $32,257/year (OECD, 2024), mandatory employer contributions add $7,029/year, bringing the true cost of employment to $39,286/year, or $3,274/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 underestimate if your frame of reference is a less regulated labour market. Each of the items 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, using a specific form (E3 for new hires). This is not a formality you can complete after the fact. Working-time schedules and any changes to hours, including overtime, require separate ERGANI declarations, often before the overtime is performed. Foreign employers who treat a signed contract and payroll enrollment as sufficient compliance are exposed to administrative fines from the moment the employee walks in.
Overtime must be notified in advance, not recorded after the fact
Greek law sets hard daily and weekly working-time limits and requires employers to notify ERGANI of overtime before it happens in most cases. Employers used to flexible, post-hoc overtime recording will find this system unfamiliar. Allowing informal extra hours without the correct ERGANI filing exposes the company to fines even if the employee is paid correctly for the time worked.
The holiday allowance is a separate statutory entitlement, not part of a global PTO policy
Greek employees earn annual leave that increases with service length, plus a holiday allowance paid on top of normal salary. The timing and calculation method are set by statute. A company that tries to satisfy this obligation through a global paid-time-off policy will find that Greek law does not recognise the substitution, leaving it exposed to back claims for the allowance as a distinct entitlement.
Hiring without a Greek entity creates permanent establishment and reclassification risk
Greek law does not contain an explicit prohibition on a foreign company employing someone in Greece directly, but Greek employment law guidance is clear that doing so creates material risk across employment, tax, and social security law. The practical expectation is that a local employer presence exists to handle ERGANI, social insurance, and payroll. A foreign-law contract alone does not satisfy that expectation and can result in a de facto permanent establishment finding.
Changing employment terms unilaterally is legally difficult
Greek law requires employers to provide written employment terms shortly after hiring and makes it hard to change essential terms, such as working hours, place of work, or pay, without employee consent. In many cases, a change also requires a prior ERGANI notification. Foreign employers accustomed to broad managerial discretion over working arrangements will find that Greek employees have meaningful legal protection against unilateral changes, and an invalid change can expose the employer to claims.
Your next step
33 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.