Employer of Record (EOR) in Poland: How to Hire, What It Costs, and How to Stay Compliant

An Employer of Record (EOR) in Poland lets a foreign company hire Polish employees legally without setting up a local entity. The EOR becomes the legal employer on record — running payroll, withholding income tax, paying ZUS social security, and ensuring Labour Code compliance — while you keep full control over daily work, targets, and strategy. A first hire can typically be onboarded in about four weeks.

Expanding into Poland is far simpler when you do not have to incorporate first. An EOR handles every employment, payroll, and HR obligation on your behalf, so you can test and grow the market without long-term fixed costs. If the business later scales, you can transfer employees from the EOR structure into your own Polish entity — until then, the model gives you flexible entry and an easy exit.

An EOR in Poland is especially useful when you need

• Sales and business-development staff on the ground
• Local people to manage distributors and key accounts
• Service, maintenance, or technical roles close to customers
• A fast, low-commitment way to enter and grow the Polish market

Why use an Employer of Record in Poland?

Partnering with an EOR in Poland lets you hire locally without opening a Polish company, while staying fully compliant with Polish labour law, payroll, and social-security rules. You manage targets, tasks, and strategy; the EOR manages the legal framework, contracts, registrations, payroll, and statutory reporting. You can scale headcount up or down without changing your legal structure, and your local staff can support distributors and key accounts directly. The model suits any company that would rather focus on revenue and projects than on company registration and HR administration.

How much does it cost to employ someone in Poland in 2026?

On top of the gross salary, a Polish employer pays social contributions of roughly 19.21% to 22.41% — about 20.7% in a standard case. The employee’s gross is then reduced by their own ZUS contributions, health insurance, and income tax to reach net (take-home) pay. The diagram below shows how a gross salary splits three ways.

Employment contracts in Poland

Employment is normally based on a written employment contract (umowa o pracę) under the Polish Labour Code, drafted in Polish — usually bilingually for foreign employers. Typical structures:

• Fixed-term contracts — maximum total duration 33 months across up to three contracts; probation up to 3 months.
• Indefinite (permanent) contracts — probation up to 3 months, with notice and severance based on seniority.

Since the 2023 Labour Code reform, fixed-term and indefinite contracts carry the same statutory notice periods, and employers must give a justified reason when terminating a fixed-term contract — closing the old gap between the two contract types. Your EOR structures contracts to fit your needs while remaining compliant.

Working hours, overtime & maximum working time

• Standard week: 40 hours, usually 5 days of 8 hours.
• Overtime: generally allowed for genuine business needs, capped at 150 hours per year by default (higher caps possible via internal regulations or collective agreements).
• Overtime pay: +50% of base pay for most overtime; +100% for night work, Sundays, public holidays, or days off granted instead of Sunday work.

Income tax & social security in Poland (2026)

Poland applies a two-bracket progressive income tax (PIT):

• 12% on annual income up to PLN 120,000
• 32% on income above PLN 120,000

A tax-free amount (kwota wolna) of PLN 30,000 applies, so no income tax is due on the first PLN 30,000 — which keeps the effective rate on a typical salary below the headline 12%. An additional 4% solidarity levy applies only to income above PLN 1,000,000.

On contributions, employees pay 13.71% of gross in ZUS social contributions (pension 9.76%, disability 1.5%, sickness 2.45%) plus a 9% health contribution, while the employer pays a further 19.21–22.41%. With an EOR, all calculations, filings, and payments are handled for you, and you receive a clear monthly cost breakdown.

The EOR hiring process in Poland, step by step

Employee benefits, leave & time off in Poland

Annual leave

Paid annual leave depends on total years of employment (a university degree counts as eight years for this calculation):

• 20 days per year — less than 10 years of service
• 26 days per year — 10 or more years of service

Unused leave can usually be carried forward within statutory limits, and your EOR tracks entitlements and balances.

Public holidays

Employees in Poland have 13 national public holidays, including New Year’s Day, Easter, Labour Day, Constitution Day (3 May), and Christmas. Your EOR reflects all holidays correctly in payroll and scheduling.

Sick leave

Employees receive paid sick leave for up to 33 days per year (14 days for those aged 50+), paid by the employer at 80%. Beyond that period, ZUS pays the sickness benefit on a valid medical certificate.

Maternity, paternity & parental leave

Following the 2023 family-leave reform, Polish entitlements are extensive:

• Maternity leave: 20 weeks for one child, rising with multiple births (31 weeks for twins, up to 37 weeks). Paid at 100% by ZUS.
• Parental leave: 41 weeks for one child (43 for multiple births), of which 9 weeks are non-transferable per parent, paid at 70% (or 81.5% if combined and applied for in time).
• Paternity leave: 2 weeks, to be taken before the child turns 12 months, paid at 100%.
• Childcare leave: up to 36 months, unpaid, available after 6 months of service.

Your EOR manages the documentation and coordinates with ZUS throughout.

Termination, notice periods & severance in Poland

Ending employment in Poland requires careful Labour Code compliance.

During probation

• Probation under 2 weeks — 3 working days’ notice
• Probation over 2 weeks — 1 week’ notice
• Probation of 3 months — 2 weeks’ notice

Fixed-term & indefinite contracts

Statutory minimum notice depends on length of service with the employer:

• Less than 6 months — 2 weeks
• At least 6 months — 1 month
• At least 3 years — 3 months

Employers must have valid grounds for termination (organisational change, redundancy, performance or disciplinary reasons), and employees can challenge a dismissal before a labour court. Where severance applies — notably in collective redundancies at employers of 20+ staff — it is typically 1 to 3 months’ salary, depending on service and legal basis. Your EOR manages the full process, from notice letters to final settlement, to reduce legal risk.

What changed recently: 2025–2026 updates foreign employers should know

• Pay transparency in recruitment (from 24 December 2025): employers must tell candidates the proposed salary or salary range in writing before the employment relationship is formed, and cannot ask about current or past pay. Recruitment wording must be non-discriminatory.
• Stable minimum wage: the 2026 minimum wage of PLN 4,806 gross holds for the whole year — unlike 2023 and 2024, there is no mid-year increase, giving a single budgeting baseline.
• Residence legalisation for foreign hires (from 27 April 2026): Poland is rolling out the MOS 2.0 platform for residence applications, relevant when sponsoring non-EU staff.

EOR vs. opening your own Polish entity

Frequently asked questions