Hire Employees in Spain

An SL is the usual vehicle and can be incorporated in three to six weeks, though the NIE and bank account for foreign directors often add time. A branch is possible but rarely simpler.

Either way the employer must register with the Seguridad Social, obtain a CCC contribution account code, and enrol each employee before their first day.

Your own entity means incorporating a local company or registering a branch. Either can employ staff and sponsor permits, and either commits you to local corporate tax, accounting and annual filings. Budget 2 to 4 months before the first hire, and remember that the obligation continues even in months with no payroll.

An Employer of Record removes that lead time. The EOR is the legal employer in Spain, runs payroll and statutory filings, and carries the employment liability, while day-to-day direction stays with you. It is the faster route for the first hires and for testing a market before committing to an entity.

Engaging someone as a contractor is a third option, but only where the work is independent. Where it is not, reclassification brings back contributions, interest and penalties, see the risk check further down this page.

EOR for speed and for the first hires. Entity once Spain is settled, typically past 15 to 20 people.

Contractors need real care. A falso autónomo, an autonomo economically dependent on one client and working under direction, is the Labour Inspectorate’s most common finding, and requalification brings back contributions with surcharges of 20% plus an indefinite contract.

Break-even rule of thumb: EOR fees begin to exceed the running cost of a small Spanish entity somewhere between 15 and 20 employees. Model both before committing, see EOR vs Entity for the full comparison, and plan any later migration so employees keep seniority.

Already paying someone in Spain as a contractor? Run the risk check before the arrangement is tested by an audit.

Not sure which model fits? A GX specialist will cost EOR vs entity for your exact headcount, free, within two business days. Get a model recommendation

The contribution base ceiling is €5,101.20 a month for 2026, with a floor of €950.98, both set by Orden PJC/297/2026 published in the BOE on 31 March 2026.

Two changes matter for 2026. The solidarity contribution now applies in stepped bands to pay above the ceiling, so high salaries are no longer free of employer contributions beyond the cap. And the MEI rose again to 0.90%, of which the employer pays 0.75%.

Fixed-term contracts cost more: unemployment is 6.70% rather than 5.50%, and each contract shorter than 30 days attracts a flat €33.62 charge on termination.

The minimum wage for 2026 is €1,221 a month in 14 payments, €17,094 a year, under Real Decreto 126/2026, applied retroactively to 1 January. Compliance is tested on the annual total, not the monthly figure, and only cash pay counts: benefits in kind cannot be used to reach it.

The contribution ceiling no longer ends employer cost, and the charge above it is rising fast. The maximum base rose to €5,101.20 a month for 2026, but pay above it attracts the cotización adicional de solidaridad in three brackets: 1.15% on the band up to 10% above the ceiling, 1.25% from 10% to 50% above, and 1.46% beyond. Each rose by roughly a quarter of a point on 2025, and they are legislated to climb every year toward a range of 5.5% to 7% by 2045, so any multi-year model for senior staff needs the escalation built in. The MEI rose to 0.90% too, of which 0.75% falls on the employer, on its way to 1.2% in 2029. Neither charge generates any additional pension entitlement for the employee. One procedural quirk is worth knowing: the 2026 contribution order was not published until 31 March, after an earlier decree was repealed in Parliament, yet takes effect from 1 January, so the first quarter ran on provisional figures and was regularised without surcharge.

Four representative profiles, costed with the 2026 rates above plus the two extra annual payments. Salaries are illustrative market midpoints, not GX operating data. Spanish on-costs are unusually flat because the ceiling sits at €5,101.20, above it only the new solidarity contribution applies. For real market data on your roles, ask for a costing.

Four representative profiles costed on 2026 statutory rates. Salaries are illustrative market midpoints, to be replaced with GX operating data.

Fourteen payments a year is the Spanish norm, twelve monthly plus pagas extraordinarias, typically in summer and at Christmas. Many collective agreements permit prorating them across twelve months, which smooths cash flow but does not reduce cost. Budget the extra payments as roughly a sixth on top of monthly gross.

IRPF withholding is personalised: the rate depends on family circumstances, contract type and expected annual pay, and must be recalculated when circumstances change.

IRPF withholding is personalised: the rate depends on expected annual pay, contract type, family circumstances and disability status, and must be recalculated when any of those change.

The Beckham regime lets qualifying inbound employees be taxed as non-residents at 24% on Spanish employment income up to €600,000 for six years, a material factor when relocating senior staff.

The Estatuto de los Trabajadores plus the applicable convenio colectivo (collective bargaining agreement). There are thousands of agreements, sectoral and provincial, and the right one is determined by the employer’s activity and location rather than by choice.

The agreement sets minimum pay by professional category, and paying below it is recoverable for up to a year.

Since the 2021 labour reform the indefinite contract is the default. Temporary contracts are lawful only for specified production or substitution reasons, must state the justification, and are penalised when misused. The fijo-discontinuo (permanent discontinuous contract) contract now covers seasonal work.

Probation is up to six months for qualified technical staff and two months otherwise, or three in firms under 25 employees, subject to the collective agreement.

The statutory maximum is 40 hours a week averaged over the year, with the collective agreement often setting less. A reduction to 37.5 hours was put before parliament in 2025 and did not pass, so 40 remains the statutory position, treat any source stating 37.5 as premature.

Employers must keep a daily record of hours worked for every employee, retained for four years. This is a standalone obligation and its absence is penalised in its own right, independently of any working-time breach.

Overtime is capped at 80 hours a year and is compensated in pay or time off as the agreement provides.

Thirty calendar days of paid holiday a year, not working days, which is a common misreading. In practice that is about 22 working days, and most collective agreements express it that way.

Leave cannot be replaced by payment except on termination, and the dates are agreed between employer and employee with at least two months’ notice of the period.

Fourteen public holidays a year: nine set nationally, with the remainder fixed by the autonomous community and the municipality. Two of the fourteen are local, so the calendar differs between Madrid and Barcelona and again between towns within a region.

For a distributed Spanish team this matters operationally, there is no single national holiday calendar to plan against.

Spain observes 10 paid public holidays in 2026. Dates that fall at a weekend and any substitution rules are set out below; entitlement is separate from annual leave.

Birth and childcare leave: 16 weeks for each parent, non-transferable, paid by Social Security at 100% of the contribution base. The first six weeks must be taken immediately after the birth and full-time; the remainder can be taken flexibly within the first year.

That symmetry is unusual in Europe and is a real planning factor: both parents are absent for six weeks at full pay, funded by the State rather than the employer.

Sick leave: incapacidad temporal is paid by the employer for days four to fifteen, then by Social Security, at rates rising with the length of absence.

Dismissal requires cause. Objective dismissal, economic, technical, organisational or production grounds, carries 20 days of pay per year of service, capped at twelve months, with 15 days’ notice. Disciplinary dismissal carries no compensation if upheld.

If a dismissal is ruled unfair, compensation is 33 days per year of service capped at 24 months, with a higher legacy rate for service before February 2012. The employer chooses between paying compensation and reinstating, except for employee representatives.

EU, EEA and Swiss nationals need no permit. For others, the highly qualified professional authorisation under the Startups Law is the practical route, twenty working days to a decision, with positive silence if the deadline passes.

The general work authorisation requires proof that no suitable candidate was available and takes considerably longer.

The Inspección de Trabajo pursues false self-employment, misuse of temporary contracts after the 2022 reform, and failure to keep the daily working-time record.

That record is a standalone obligation: every employee’s daily start and finish times, kept four years, produced on demand. Its absence is penalised in its own right, whatever the underlying hours.

Spanish inspectors look at economic dependence, whether the person uses their own means of production, whether they bear commercial risk, and whether they work under the client’s direction and timetable.

Answer for the Spain-based person you currently pay on invoice. Indicative only, not legal advice.

Enrolment with the Seguridad Social must be complete before the first working day, not on it. Late enrolment is penalised per employee and can reach several thousand euros.

The contract must be registered with the SEPE within ten days, and the employee given a copy of the applicable collective agreement.

Work backwards from the start date. For a local hire through an EOR, 2 to 3 weeks is realistic once identity documents, bank details and the signed contract are in hand. For a foreign national requiring a permit, add the immigration timeline set out above before promising a date.

Confirm three things before making an offer: that the candidate has the right to work in Spain; that the salary clears any statutory or sector minimum that applies to the role; and whether the work involves concluding contracts locally, which can create a taxable presence for the client entity.

Collect the statutory registrations early. Social security enrolment, tax registration and any mandatory insurance generally must be in place before the first payroll runs, not after it.