Salary levels
The average gross salary sits well below the western European average, but the aggregate tells you little: pay varies sharply by sector, seniority and city. Qualified technical profiles — software engineering, engineering roles, positions requiring foreign languages — face a competitive market and command salaries far from the national average. Using the average wage to size a technical team is a reliable way to underestimate the budget.
Social contributions
The system splits contributions between employer and employee, each combining a pension component and a health component. Contributions are calculated on an assessable base bounded by a monthly minimum and maximum: below the minimum you still pay on the minimum, above the ceiling the contribution stops at the cap. That ceiling is why the contribution cost of a senior profile grows less than proportionally.
Working out the total cost
Employer cost is the gross salary plus employer contributions on the applicable base. On top of that sit the items that never appear on a payslip but exist anyway: workstation, equipment, any supplementary insurance, training, and the administrative cost of running payroll and the monthly filings.
Contract types
Employment can be open-ended or fixed-term, with specific rules on written form, probation and notice periods. Independent contractor arrangements also exist, but cannot be used to disguise an employment relationship: reclassification is a real and expensive risk. Choose the contract type on the true nature of the relationship, not on contribution savings.
Leave, absence and termination
The law sets a minimum annual leave entitlement, recognised public holidays, and rules on sick leave and maternity. Terminating a contract requires following the procedure and notice periods, which scale with length of service: a dismissal handled without following procedure invites litigation regardless of how well founded the reason was.
Finding the people
The talent pool is real but not unlimited, and competition for some technical profiles is intense — including from foreign companies hiring remotely. What drives retention is what drives it elsewhere: role clarity, a growth path, quality of management. A low cost base does not compensate for a sloppy hiring process.
The regulatory, tax and macroeconomic figures on this page come from secondary sources and are being verified against the official sources cited. They are general information, not tax or legal advice.