Looking for a PEO and EOR provider in Greece? You've knocked on the right door! Our European PEO and EOR solutions help companies hire employees in Greece without establishing a legal entity. Hiring and employment in Greece can be complex as a foreign employer. We're here to guide you. EuroDev is the leading provider of EOR & PEO solutions in Europe. We partner with North American businesses who want to expand their business into Europe, including Greece. What should be taken into account when employing or hiring in Greece?

How it works - PEO and EOR in Greece

An Employer of Record (EOR) or Professional Employer Organization (PEO) is a company or organization that is legally responsible for paying employees, including dealing with employee taxes, benefits & insurances. As the EOR/PEO of your European or Greek employees, we provide you with tailored payroll, HR and compliance services. Through this construction, we decrease all the complications such as compliance issues, setting up a foreign establishment and setting up employment contracts in a different language.

Benefits of using a Greek PEO & Employer of Record in Greece

• Expand without an entity 

• Flexible and cost-effective solution to outsource payroll and HR functions for international expansion 

• In compliance with foreign local laws & regulations 

• Minimizes employment liabilities and risks 

• Reduced risk, as the risks of being an employer fall almost completely on the employer of record 

• Let's you focus on your core business 

• You manage your employees 

• EoR takes care of registration and contact with local authorities 

Employment Contracts Greece

In Greece the most common type of employment contract is the full-time contract with indefinite duration - also called permanent contracts. In this type of contract, both the employee and the employer haven’t agreed upon a certain duration. Fixed-term are less common, but are definitely used. Fixed-term contracts end when the work that needed to be performed came to an end. The maximum length of a single fixed-term contract is 36 months.

In addition, it is not common practice in Greece to offer part-time contracts. Furthermore, employment contracts in Greece can be agreed upon orally or in written form.

Greek PEO and EOR service providers will support you with the set-up of a local employment contract.

Employment Termination Greece - Notice Period Greece

In indefinite/permanent contracts, the employee must go through a probationary period for the first year of the contract. The probationary period is considered the initial trial run that many new employees have to go through at the beginning of the agreement. The probationary period can be terminated without notice and without severance pay, except if agreed upon differently in the contract.

After the first 12 initial months, the employee’s contract can be terminated only with written notice from the employer, which will take place the day after the employee has been let know.

On the contrary, fixed-term contracts can be terminated by the employer or the employee, without notice period, before the agreed end date in case of valid reasons. If valid reasons are provided, the employer could decide to not pay compensation.

Valid reasons for the employers could be:

• Incompetence or unsatisfactory performance;
• Breach of contractual obligations;
• Disturbing the peace of the workplace;
• Failure to comply with the employer’s instructions;
• Undermining workplace cooperation and trust;
• Material long-term absence due to illness;
• Disciplinary offences (e.g. breach of code of conduct);
• Participation in an illegal strike;
• Change of production methods;
• Introduction of new technologies;
• Structural reorganization;
• Lack of raw materials;
• Decrease in production.

In Greece, the notice period varies on the length of service provided for the company. The employer can choose to either pay a compensation to the employee or to give a period of notice prior to the end of the service. This table below will provide a more informative description on the period of notice and the compensations.

Social Security Tax Greece

What are the primary social security contributions in Greece? And more importantly, what is the amount of the social security contribution that is accounted to the employer? The total primary contribution in Greece for the employer is 23.33% - 24.74% and goes in range of 13.67% - 15.87% for the employee.

Social contribution in Greece includes:

• Pension
• Supplementary pension
• Healthcare
• Unemployment
• Professional risk
• High occupational risk (dependent on industry)

Average Salary Greece & Average Employer Costs Greece

In 2022, the average annual wage in Greece was $15.934,80. This is way lower than the average annual wage in the United States: $53.490,00. As an employer, the actual employer costs are 22.54% higher than the gross annual salary as we have seen in the social contribution in Greece. Based on a $15.934,80 annual salary, the employment costs would be $19.440,46.

To learn more about the average salaries in Europe and the actual employment costs in Europe, we invite you to read this article on Costs of hiring European employees.

Greek Payroll Period and Salary Instalments Greece

In Greece, it is mandatory to pay a 13^th and 14^th month salary. The 13^th one includes Easter (half month of salary) and vacation bonus (half month of salary); the 14^th includes Christmas which sums up to a full month of salary. How does this look?

Working Hours Greece

In Greece, it is not very easy for employees to find a work-life balance. Greek employees have one of the highest work rates (2.109 hours per year) compared to the other OECD countries (1.749 hours per year).

Usually, in Greece the working week is from Monday to Friday for 8 hours a day, and it commonly starts between 8am and 9am. Nevertheless, employees in Greece work around 42 hours week. Some companies also offer the option to work 6 days a week which amounts to 6 hours and 40 minutes per day. The maximum daily working hours, including overtime, is 12 hours.

Paid Vacation Leave Greece

In Greece, for all the employees that work 5 days a week, they are entitled to 20 paid vacation days. However for each year of work, employees are entitled to one more day of vacation leave (up to 22 days). In addition, for each employee that has been under the same employer for a period between 10 to 12 years, they are entitled to 25 days of paid vacation leave. Lastly, for all the employees with 25 and more years of service, they are entitled to 26 days’ leave if they have been working 5 days a week and 31 days’ leave if they have been working 6 days a week.

For more information on paid vacation days in Europe, please feel free to read our blog on paid vacation days in Europe 2021.

Public Holidays Greece

In Greece employees celebrate both national and traditional holydays:

• New Year’s Day - 1 January
• Epiphany - 6 January
• Orthodox Ash Monday - 7 March
• Independence Day - 25 March
• Orthodox Good Friday - 22 April 
• Orthodox Easter - 24 April
• Orthodox Easter Monday - 25 April
• Labour day - 1 May
• Orthodox Whit Sunday - 12 June
• Orthodox White Monday - 13 June
• Assumption Day - 15 August
• Ochi day - 28 October
• Christmas Day - 25 December
• 2nd Day of Christmas - 26 December

Add 2023 Greece Public Holidays to your calendar

Maternity and Paternity Leave Greece

In Greece, women are entitled to 17 weeks of maternity leave. Moreover, the maternity leave can be divided into two periods. The first one, included the first 8 weeks before the expected birth of the child. The latter, comprises the 9 weeks after the delivery.

Additionally, with an agreement between the employer and the employee, the mother can ask to work to hour less per day in the following 12 months and one hour less per day in the following 6 months after the first year after the pregnancy.

Fathers are entitled to 14 days of paid leave that can be divided before and after the birth of the child or fully after the birth.

Furthermore, mothers and fathers that had a baby through surrogacy or have adopted a child are still entitled to the same arrangements as mentioned above.

To read more about Paternity Leave in Europe, we invite you read this blog on Paternity Leave in Europe - A New Directive.

Learn more about PEO and EOR in Europe:

• PEO in Europe
• EOR in Europe