Professional Employer Organization (PEO) in Greece

What is a PEO?

A professional employer organization is a service provider that’s meant to step in as your human resources (HR) team. This means your PEO will take care of all your administrative tasks including payroll, creating competitive employee benefits packages, and making sure that your business remains compliant with the local labor laws of wherever your employees live.

With PEOs taking on these tedious administrative and legal tasks, businesses won’t have to endure the costs of hiring their own teams or forming their own business entity within each country they choose to hire from. Plus, when there’s a PEO service handling all of those tasks, it frees up more time for business owners to focus on the growth of their company.

What’s more is that when you partner with a PEO, you can build an international team, sourcing top talent from all over the world, including Greece. Your PEO provider will stay on top of all the other stuff — like ensuring all your international employees receive their payments on time and in the right currency as well as the statutory benefits they’re entitled to.

Want to know if PEO services are right for your business needs? Get in touch with a team member at Skuad who will answer all of your questions and more.

What are the benefits of using a PEO provider in Greece?

By enlisting the help of PEO services in Greece, you’ll be opening up an international door for your startup or SME. This means you’ll be able to reap the following benefits:

Hire the best talent

It doesn’t matter whether you’re a brand new startup or a steadily successful business. The right talent will make all the difference when it comes to productivity and future growth. Of course, that talent may live halfway around the world.  

Greece’s greatest strength is its skilled workforce as it’s home to Europe’s second-highest percentage of Masters and Ph.D. students specializing in science, technology, and engineering. However, this workforce is largely underutilized.

With the help of a PEO in Greece, you can access this skilled and specialized talent pool looking to work for an international company like yours.

Become more competitive

With remote work on the rise and skilled workers such as the citizens of Greece looking for substantial employment, now is the time to plunge into the world of international hiring. By creating an international workforce with talented employees from Greece and elsewhere, you’ll gain an advantage over your competition simply by becoming a global name.

A PEO in Greece can help by not only allowing you to hire and onboard Greek talent but by helping you put together the best benefits package to attract and retain the most qualified candidates.

Save on unnecessary costs

The hard truth is that a PEO is likely your only chance of creating a global workforce. 

Without a PEO in Greece, or any other country for that matter, you would have to form your own business entity within the country. 

You would also have to hire your own in-house HR team to ensure that all administrative tasks are taken care of properly and a legal team to ensure you remain compliant with local legislation. 

This is incredibly expensive and incredibly time-consuming. 

Become experienced in a new market

Greece is one of the 27 members of the European Union (EU). 

When you use a PEO in Greece to hire Greek employees, you’re essentially getting an “in” within the European Single Market through said employees.

This valuable insight will allow you to become accustomed to the European market so you can expand further into it as well as its surrounding markets, such as Africa, the Middle East, and even Asia.

Learn more about all the benefits that come with partnering with a PEO in Greece like Skuad by taking the time to chat with one of our insightful team members!

Avoid setting up your own legal entity in Greece

As mentioned above, setting up your own legal entity in a new country is expensive and time-consuming. It could take anywhere from six months to a year just to get legally established in Greece, and you probably don’t have that kind of time. 

Plus, you would need to physically be there to handle all the bureaucratic tasks which may not be feasible.

Using a PEO in Greece would allow you to skip establishing a legal entity as your PEO already has its own legal entities established in various countries. This means that they can double as your employer of record (EOR) to hire Greek employees on your behalf and much more.

Become more culturally aware

As a business with intentions to grow internationally, it’s critical to have an understanding of the cultural impacts of doing business in Greece and everywhere else. By partnering with a PEO, you won’t have to worry about getting things “culturally wrong” when it comes to Greek work customs because your PEO in Greece will worry about it for you (and keep you informed).

For example, meetings in Greece are often held over coffee as they can last hours. This is because socializing and establishing trust are an important part of the culture. Having said that, you can expect your Greek employees to take longer than usual lunches. 

Remain compliant

Each country has different legal requirements for what employees are entitled to from their employers. It’s important to make sure you remain compliant with local labor laws or your business could face costly penalties or other punishments. 

Here are a few important things you should know about doing business in Greece: 

Payroll and taxes:

• Greeks are paid on a monthly basis
• The typical workweek is 40 hours, 8 hours per day, 5 days per week
• Overtime depends on specific circumstances and revolves around complex laws
• Employee termination, notice, and severance depend on how long an employee has worked for an employer 

Employees are taxed on their income progressively as follows:

• 0 - 10,000 EUR: 9.00%
• 10,001 EUR - 20,0000EUR: 22.00% 
• 20,001 EUR - 30,000EUR: 28.00%
• 30,001 EUR - 40,000EUR: 36.00% 
• Over 40,001 EUR: 44.00% 

The Greek corporate tax rate is 24% on annual profits, and employers must contribute the following:

• 13.33% - Pension Fund
• 4.3% - Health Care
• 0.25% - Health in Benefit
• 3.25% - Additional Contributions

Paid leave:

• The standard vacation time is 20 days of paid leave for employees who work 5 days per week
• Sick leave includes up to 3 days at 50% of the employee’s salary. After the 3rd day, sick leave is paid by the local social security authority
• Maternity leave includes 17 weeks of paid leave at 50% of the employee’s salary
• Paternity leave includes 2 days of paid leave

Find out more about how Skuad’s PEO services in Greece can help your business to grow and remain compliant by booking a demo today.

What does it cost to build a team in Greece?

When it comes to building a team in Greece, your two options are establishing a legal entity or partnering with a PEO. 

Depending on the type of entity you choose, Greek company registration costs begin at €12,600 — around $13,590. From there, the incorporation costs amount to an additional €5,400 by the second year and then €1,900 each year after. This does not include the total average fees for Greece engagement, which is an additional €11,600 to open up a local bank account, government fees, and so on. 

Pricing for PEO services in Greece will vary depending on the provider and the packages they offer. Skuad allows you to get started for free with the option to cancel at any time.

Our international onboarding and payroll services begin at $19 per month, which is purposely affordable so you can get started without any financial obstacles. From there, we provide different packages, including a customizable package for enterprise-level companies, to suit the needs of businesses of every size.

We also offer employer of record (EOR) services to take care of hiring, managing payroll, benefits, and compliance starting at $199 per month.

Whenever you’re ready to start onboarding and paying employees in Greece, Skuad is here to help. Book a demo today to see how Skuad’s global PEO solution can help you get the job done.