How to hire employees in Poland with an Employer of Record

Poland is one of the most attractive markets in Europe for foreign employers, with a large, skilled, cost-competitive workforce and strong demand in IT, engineering, and shared services. You can hire there without setting up a Polish company. An Employer of Record becomes the legal employer of your worker and handles the contract, payroll, social security, and tax under the Polish Labour Code. As in some other markets, the Employer of Record model in Poland operates through a temporary agency licence, so the provider you choose must hold one.

This guide explains how hiring through an Employer of Record works in Poland, what it costs in 2026, and the employment rules that shape the arrangement. For the full statutory detail, our guide to hiring and compliance in Poland covers the country rules in depth.

An Employer of Record holds the legal infrastructure to employ people in Poland on your behalf. The provider signs the Polish employment contract, registers the worker with the Social Insurance Institution, known as ZUS, runs payroll in zloty, withholds the employee’s social and health contributions and income tax, pays the employer social contributions on top, and administers statutory leave and benefits. Your team directs the work day to day.

Because the standard Employer of Record arrangement in Poland is delivered through a temporary agency licence, a compliant provider holding that licence is the legal employer as far as ZUS, the tax authority, and the labour authorities are concerned. A provider without the correct licensing is a compliance risk, which makes provider choice more important in Poland than in markets where the model is simple.

Once you have agreed the salary, role, and start date with your candidate, the process moves quickly.

The Employer of Record drafts a written Polish employment contract. Poland recognises three contract types, a trial-period contract of up to three months, a fixed-term contract, and an indefinite contract. There are limits on fixed-term use, a maximum of three consecutive fixed-term contracts up to a combined 33 months, after which the relationship converts to indefinite. The worker is then registered with ZUS and payroll is set up.

From the first pay cycle, the Employer of Record withholds the employee’s 13.71% social contributions, the 9% health contribution, and the income tax advance, pays the employer social contributions, and remits everything to ZUS and the tax authority. Salaries are paid monthly, no later than the 10th of the following month. The provider then manages the employment lifecycle, including leave, sick pay, benefits, and changes to terms.

Employing in Poland costs meaningfully more than the gross salary. On top of gross, the employer pays social contributions in a range of roughly 19.21 to 22.41%, covering pension, disability, accident insurance, the Labour Fund, and the Guaranteed Employee Benefits Fund. The accident insurance element varies by sector and headcount, which is why the employer rate sits in a range rather than at a fixed figure.

A few 2026 figures anchor the budgeting. The minimum wage is 4,806 zloty gross per month, with a minimum hourly rate of 31.40 zloty for relevant civil-law contracts, and unusually for Poland there is no mid-year increase in 2026. Pension and disability contributions are capped once annual earnings reach 282,600 zloty, above which those elements stop applying. As a rough guide, the total cost to the employer of a Polish hire runs around 20% above the gross salary.

We do not publish a fixed cost table here because the total depends on salary, sector, and accident rate, and the figures move. To model a specific salary, use the Boundless cost calculator for Poland. For the full tax breakdown, see our tax guide for Poland, and to benchmark pay, our guide to minimum wage and salary in Poland.

A few rules under the Polish Labour Code shape what hiring through an Employer of Record looks like in practice.

The standard working week is 40 hours, 8 hours a day over five days, with overtime capped at 150 hours a year and total working time not exceeding an average of 48 hours a week. Annual leave is 20 working days for employees with under 10 years of qualifying experience and 26 days at 10 years or more, with education counting toward that seniority. Sick leave is generous, with employees able to receive sick pay for up to 182 days. Trial periods are permitted up to three months.

Termination is formal. Notice by either party must be in writing, and an employer’s notice on an indefinite contract must include written justification and inform the employee of their right to appeal to the Labour Court. The full detail sits in our guide to employment law and working hours in Poland and in the Boundless country guide.

An Employer of Record fits when you want to employ a small number of people in Poland without committing to a local entity, when you need to move quickly, or when you want the licensing and compliance risk carried by a specialist. Given the temporary agency licensing requirement, using a provider that holds the correct licence is the cleanest compliant route for most foreign employers.

It is less suited to very large, long-term headcounts in a single country, where the ongoing cost of an Employer of Record eventually outweighs the cost of running your own entity. A good provider will tell you honestly where that crossover sits for your numbers.

In Poland the provider choice carries an extra compliance dimension, so a few questions matter.