At a glance
The employer pays the gross salary and, on top of it, its own contributions to e-EFKA, 21.79%. A salary of €1,500 gross costs €1,826.85 a month, paid 14 times a year. Of that, €1,164.79 reaches the employee's bank account.
- On top of the gross salary, the employer pays its own contributions to e-EFKA, 21.79%1. It does not take them from you. It pays them out of its own pocket.
- A salary of €1,500 gross costs €1,826.85 a month. The employee’s account receives €1,164.79.
- The minimum wage of €920 costs €1,120.47 for each payment2.
- The year has 14 payments. The bonuses and the holiday allowance carry contributions too, so the cost of a year is about 14 times the cost of a month3,4.
- Above €7,761.94 of gross pay a month, contributions stop rising5.
The gist
“I pay you €1,200 gross, and my books show €1,461.48. Where does the rest go?” Every accountant in Greece hears this question from someone hiring their first employee. The employee asks the same question the other way round on payday: “If I cost that much, why do I take home so little?”
Both are right, and both see half the picture. Between what the employer pays and what the employee keeps, there are three amounts: the employer’s contributions, the employee’s contributions and income tax. The first two go to e-EFKA, the national social insurance fund, for pensions, health care and unemployment cover. The third goes to the tax office.
This article is for you if you work for a salary and want to understand what you cost, especially before you ask for a raise. It is also for you if you run a small business and are thinking about taking someone on. The topic has a date, too. In a few weeks comes December, the most expensive month of the year for any employer, because it pays the salary and the Christmas bonus together.
You will see how large the employer’s contributions are and where each euro of the cost goes, how to work out the cost of a whole year, what changes at the minimum wage and at very high salaries, and which payments push up the cost of a month. At the end there is an example of a small employer choosing between two salaries.
What the employer pays on top of the salary
For a private-sector employee in the main insurance scheme, contributions to e-EFKA come to 35.16% of gross pay in total. Of that, you pay 13.37%, and your employer withholds it from your salary. The employer pays the other 21.79%, on top of your salary1.
The difference matters. Your own contributions appear on your payslip, because they come out of your gross pay. The employer’s contributions come out of nothing. They are an amount added on top, and many payslips do not even show them. Each month the employer declares them to e-EFKA together with yours, and that declaration is also what records your insurance days, the ένσημα.
Here is what that means for a few common salaries, for an employee over 30 with no children:
| Gross salary | Employer contributions | Cost of one payment | Employee’s net pay |
|---|---|---|---|
| €920 | €200.47 | €1,120.47 | €771.67 |
| €1,200 | €261.48 | €1,461.48 | €962.07 |
| €1,500 | €326.85 | €1,826.85 | €1,164.79 |
| €2,000 | €435.80 | €2,435.80 | €1,484.40 |
| €3,000 | €653.70 | €3,653.70 | €2,071.65 |
An easy way to remember it: for every €100 of gross pay, the employer spends €121.79. The rule holds for every salary up to the ceiling, because the rate is fixed.
Notice one more thing in the table. The cost column rises at the same pace as the salary. The net column rises more slowly. That is because contributions are the same rate for everyone, while income tax rises band by band6.
Where each euro of the cost goes
Take the salary of €1,500 gross and start from what the employer pays, €1,826.85. On its way to your account, the money splits into four parts:
| Where it goes | Amount a month |
|---|---|
| The employer’s contributions to e-EFKA | €326.85 |
| Your own contributions to e-EFKA | €200.55 |
| The tax the employer withholds for the tax office | €134.66 |
| The net pay in your account | €1,164.79 |
Together the four parts make up the cost. The first two go to the same fund and build the same rights: your insurance days, your future pension, your health cover and unemployment benefit if you ever need it1. The third is an advance on your income tax. The employer withholds it each month and pays it to the tax office on your behalf7.
Economists call the gap between the cost and the net pay the tax wedge. On a salary of €1,500, a little under two thirds of the cost reaches the employee. At the minimum wage a slightly larger share does, because the tax is very small. On a salary of €3,000 a smaller share does, because the tax reaches higher bands.
If you want to check that your contributions were paid, log in to the e-EFKA online services for employees with your Taxisnet codes. There you can see the insurance days and the pay your employer declared for each month. If a month is missing, or if the declared pay is lower than on your payslip, ask the payroll office straight away.
This means the employer does not “keep” the difference. Whatever does not reach you goes to e-EFKA and to the tax office. If you ever think “I cost €1,826.85 and I get €1,164.79”, the figures are right. But the thought leaves out that the contributions, the largest part of the gap, are recorded in your name, in your personal insurance account.
The cost of a whole year
The sum for one month is only the start. A business that hires thinks in years, and an employee’s year in Greece has 14 payments: 12 salaries, the Christmas bonus, the Easter bonus and the holiday allowance3,4.
The bonuses and the holiday allowance are pay just like the salary. They carry the same contributions, 21.79% for the employer and 13.37% for the employee1. So the cost of a year is simple to find: the cost of one payment, times 14. For €1,500 gross, multiply €1,826.85 by 14. The Employer cost calculator does the multiplication for you.
The sum with 14 runs a little below reality. The Christmas bonus for a full period is slightly more than one salary, because the law adds a small share for leave to it3. On €1,500 gross the bonus is €1,562.50. The same applies to the Easter bonus. The difference is small, but a careful employer plans for it.
The 14 payments also cover your days of annual leave. You are paid for them as normal, without working, and they also bring the holiday allowance4. An employer who works out the cost of one hour of work has to keep this in mind: it pays 14 salaries for fewer than 12 months of work.
There is a practical side as well. The cost is not spread evenly over the months. The Easter bonus comes in April, the holiday allowance comes with your leave, which for many people falls in summer, and December brings the salary and the Christmas bonus together, by 21 December3. A small business that does not set money aside each month finds itself squeezed in December.
The minimum wage on the employer’s books
From 1 April 2026 the minimum wage is €920 gross a month, and the minimum daily wage is €41.092. For the employer, each payment of the minimum wage costs €1,120.47: the €920 plus €200.47 in contributions. The employee, with no children and over 30, receives €771.67.
The April rise lifted the minimum wage by €40, from €8802. For the employer, those €40 cost €48.72 on each payment. For the employee, net pay rose from €743.94 to €771.67. Every rise in the minimum wage works this way: the employer pays the rise and its contributions, and the employee receives the rise minus their own contributions and tax.
Seniority steps, the τριετίες, raise the minimum wage by 10% for every three years of previous service, up to three steps. With one step the salary becomes €1,012, and it costs €1,232.51. The rule for the years after 2012 is not fully clear, so ask your accountant whether you are entitled to the steps.
Under part-time work, the minimum wage applies in proportion to the hours. Four hours a day, five days a week, earns half the salary, €460, and it costs the employer €560.23 for each payment. The contributions are the same rate, 21.79%, however many hours you work. For everything about the net pay of the minimum wage, see the article Minimum wage of €920: what is left net.
When the salary passes the ceiling
Contributions do not rise for ever. They count up to a gross amount a month, the ceiling of insurable pay, which is €7,761.94 in 20265. Above it, neither the employer nor the employee pays any further contribution.
For the employer, contributions stop at €1,691.33 a month. A salary of €9,000 gross costs €10,691.33, with the same employer contributions, €1,691.33. Each euro of gross pay above the ceiling costs the employer one euro.
The rule affects few salaries, mostly managers and specialists. But it explains why the cost of a very high salary comes close to its gross. The ceiling changes every year. For 2026 it rose by 2.5%, in line with inflation in 2025, and you can see it on the page The ceiling of contributions5.
The payments that push up the cost of a month
The cost of a month is not always the cost of the salary. Whatever is paid as pay for work carries contributions, on both sides. Four cases come up most often.
Overtime. Legal overtime is paid at 40% above the normal hourly rate, and extra hours at 20% above it8. On a salary of €1,500, ten hours of legal overtime come to €126.00 gross. On top of that, the employer again pays 21.79%.
Sundays and public holidays. Work on a Sunday or a public holiday earns a premium of 75%9. For a business that opens over the holidays, such as a restaurant or a shop, December costs even more.
Night work. Night hours earn a premium of 25%9. In hotels, hospitals and warehouses, this lifts the cost of every post month after month.
Leave that was not given. If the employer does not grant the leave, it pays for those days with a premium of 100%4. It is the most expensive way to “save” days.
For the employee, all of this is gross pay for the month. It carries their own contributions and tax, so it does not reach the net in full. For the employer, it carries 21.79% on top. Anyone who plans shifts without counting this finds a cost at the end of the month they did not expect.
What it means for you when you ask for a raise
When you ask for €100 more gross, the employer does not hear €100. It hears €121.79 on each payment. Over 14 payments the raise comes to €1,400 gross a year, and it costs €1,705.06.
Less than €100 a month reaches you. First your own contributions come out of the €100, €13.37, then the tax of your band1,6. The article A €100 raise: how much reaches your net pay explains how much is left exactly.
The same holds for a raise in percent. A 5% raise on €1,500 gross is €75 a month, and it costs the employer €91.34 on each payment. When a company announces “5% for everyone”, its budget shows this larger amount, for each employee and for 14 payments.
This gap does not mean you should ask for less. It means it helps to know what you are asking for. When you name a figure in gross terms, you know what it will cost the business and what will reach you. That makes you more persuasive, because you speak the language of the person across the table. If the talk is about a “net” figure, the Net to gross calculator shows you the gross and the cost behind it.
The cost you see at companies
Large companies publish their accounts each year, and the accounts show the cost of staff. If you divide it by the number of employees, you get a cost for each employee. The page What large companies pay shows it for hundreds of businesses, from their own filings.
That amount is not the salary of a post. It includes the employer’s contributions, the bonuses and often other benefits, such as private health insurance or a car. It is also an average of all posts, from the newest employee to the management.
If you want to bring it closer to gross pay, remember the ratio: for every €121.79 of cost, €100 is gross salary. And if you want the pay of a specific post, look at the professions and the collective agreements, which give gross pay for each post.
An example
Stelios is 46 and runs a car repair shop in Heraklion. He works alone with one assistant, and he can no longer keep up. He wants to hire a full-time mechanic, and he hesitates between €1,250 and €1,350 gross a month.
Step 1: the cost of a month. At €1,250 gross, each payment costs €1,522.38, with €272.38 in contributions. At €1,350 gross, it costs €1,644.17, with €294.17 in contributions1.
Step 2: the cost of a year. Stelios multiplies each amount by 14, because the mechanic will also receive both bonuses and the holiday allowance3,4. The gap between the two offers is €100 gross on each payment, which is €1,400 gross a year. It costs him €1,705.06 a year.
Step 3: what reaches the mechanic. The candidate he likes is 34, with no children. At €1,250 gross he will take home €995.85, and at €1,350 he will take home €1,063.42. Over a year, the second offer leaves him €14,887.88.
Step 4: December. Stelios asks his accountant about the heaviest month. This year the bonus will be small, because the mechanic will have worked only a few weeks of the bonus period, which starts on 1 May3. From next year, at €1,350 gross, December will bring the salary and the full bonus, €1,406.25 gross. On both amounts he pays 21.79%. He decides to set aside part of the money each month, so as not to be squeezed.
Step 5: a second candidate. The other candidate is 27. For Stelios the cost is exactly the same, €1,644.17, because the employer’s contributions do not depend on age. The younger mechanic, though, will take home €1,113.50, because he pays less tax6.
Stelios settles on €1,350. The gap in his cost is clear, and he knows that a good mechanic who stays for years is worth more than the gap.
The mistakes that cost
Working out the cost over 12 months. An employee’s year has 14 payments, and the two extra ones carry the same contributions. A budget with 12 salaries falls short by about two months of cost3.
Forgetting that the bonuses carry contributions. The Christmas bonus is not a “net” sum handed over in cash. It is gross pay, with 21.79% for the employer and 13.37% for the employee1.
Thinking the employer keeps the difference. Whatever does not reach the net pay goes to e-EFKA and to the tax office. The contributions are recorded in the employee’s personal insurance account, and the tax counts in the employee’s own tax return7.
Reading a company’s staff cost as a salary. The cost for each employee of a company includes contributions, bonuses and benefits. If you compare it with a gross offer, you may feel undervalued when you are not.
Agreeing to cash in hand with no insurance. Then no contributions are paid, and the employee records no insurance days. They lose pension rights, unemployment benefit and health cover. The employer risks a fine from the Labour Inspectorate, which checks undeclared work10.
Forgetting the premiums. Overtime, Sundays and nights raise the gross pay of the month, and the contributions with it. A shift that looks cheap on the rota can turn out to be the most expensive of the month8,9.
What the law says
Private-sector employees in the main scheme pay contributions of 13.37%, and employers 21.79%1. They count up to the ceiling of €7,761.94 a month for 2026, under circular 4/2026 of e-EFKA5. The tax on a salary follows the scale of article 15 of the Income Tax Code, and the employer withholds it each month under article 606,7.
The Christmas and Easter bonuses come from joint decision 19040/1981 and article 142 of Presidential Decree 62/2025, and the holiday allowance from articles 221 to 226 of the same decree3,4. Overtime and the premiums for Sundays and nights are set in articles 194 and 219 of Presidential Decree 62/20258,9. The minimum wage is €920 from 1 April 2026, under joint decision 8934/20262.
To see the cost of a salary with your own figures, for a month and for a year, enter the gross pay in the Employer cost calculator. It shows the employer’s contributions, the employee’s net pay and the total that goes to e-EFKA and the tax office, with the rules of 2026.
