Spain · hiring guide

Employer of Record in Spain

How employment works in Spain through an Employer of Record: contributions, mandatory benefits, contracts, notice and termination.

An Employer of Record (EOR) in Spain legally employs your hire on your behalf, so you can pay them compliantly without setting up a local entity. On top of gross salary, expect at least ~30.6% in the modelled scenario in quantified mandatory employer contributions (social security, healthcare, pension, payroll tax); the effective rate varies by salary band.

Salary is agreed in your billing currency and paid locally in EUR (€). This page covers the employment rules: statutory contributions, mandatory benefits, notice and termination.

Want the numbers instead? Open the Spain EOR cost calculator and platform comparison.

Known statutory subtotal. This is not the final employer cost. Additional charges may apply where required information or employer-specific rates are not yet known. How to read these figures.

Spain employer cost at a glance

Employer statutory cost: About 30.6% of annual base salary in the displayed scenario, excluding the charges named below; this is a known subtotal, not a final cost
Employer contributions: Employer social security contributions
Contribution ceiling: Applies
Mandatory additional pay: Unknown
What this estimate includes: The employer costs we can calculate. Not included: Occupational accident and illness contribution, employer only, Statutory extraordinary payments, minimum two per year. It depends on facts not supplied here (the employer's industry), so the figure is a known subtotal.
Scope of this figure: Spanish labour reform made the permanent contract the default form, and an employer-of-record engagement is normally permanent. The assumption is material because the fixed-term rate is 1.2 points higher, so it is disclosed rather than hidden.
The occupational tariff depends on the activity code and spans roughly six points. Office and professional activities sit near the bottom and describe almost every employer-of-record hire, so that is the defensible default while the span is disclosed.
Evidence depth: Charge-by-charge statutory evidence and sources shown below
Statutory evidence last verified: 2026-09-06

Worked example: employing in Spain

For this €51,498 EUR Spain example, EOR Lens can verify €15,784 of employer cost on top of annual base salary, but Occupational accident and illness contribution, employer only, Statutory extraordinary payments, minimum two per year depends on facts not supplied here (the employer's industry), so the result is shown as a known subtotal.

Illustrative annual employer cost for one employee in Spain, in EUR
Annual base salary	€51,498
Employer contributions	€15,784
Known statutory employer cost	€15,784
Annual known subtotal	€67,282

The salary is a fixed illustrative input used identically on every country page, not a market pay benchmark. 4 providers have verified availability in Spain. Statutory evidence last verified 2026-09-06.

TL;DR, Hiring in Spain

Fully-loaded employer cost: ~30–32% on top of gross salary
Social security cap: ~€61,214/year (€5,101.20/mo Base Máxima de Cotización, 2026)
14 pay periods, 12 monthly + 2 extra (June + December)
Severance for unfair dismissal: 33 days/year of service, capped at 24 months

Last reviewed: June 22, 2026

Statutory employer costs in Spain

In Spain, employers contribute roughly 30–32% on top of gross salary: 23.6% common contingencies (pension, health, sickness), 5.5% unemployment insurance, 0.6% professional training, 0.2% FOGASA wage guarantee, plus 0.75% Mecanismo de Equidad Intergeneracional (MEI) introduced 2023. Contribution bases are capped at ~€5,101.20/month (€61,214/yr, Base Máxima de Cotización 2026); above the cap the ~5.5% solidarity surcharge (Ley 21/2021) applies instead.

Contribution	Employer rate	Notes
Common contingencies (pension, healthcare, sickness)	23.6%	Capped at €4,909/mo Base Máxima de Cotización
Unemployment (desempleo)	5.5%	For permanent contracts; 6.7% for temporary
FOGASA (wage guarantee fund)	0.2%	Government-backed wage protection in insolvency
Professional training (formación)	0.6%	Funds national vocational training
MEI (intergenerational equity mechanism)	0.75% (rises to 1.2% by 2029)	Pension reform contribution introduced 2023
Accident insurance (AT/EP)	1.0–6.7%	Industry-dependent; office work ~1%

Mandatory employee benefits

Beyond statutory contributions, Spain law requires the following benefits the employer must fund.

14 pay periods: 12 monthly + 2 'pagas extraordinarias' in June and December. Can be prorated across 12 months if contract allows.
Vacation: Minimum 30 calendar days (≈22 working days) per year, statutory.
Maternity leave: 16 weeks fully paid by Social Security; same for paternity (equalized 2021).
Public holidays: 14 per year (9 national + regional + local); paid days off.

Termination, notice and severance

Probation

Permanent contracts: 6 months for qualified technicians, 2 months for other workers. Can't be longer than what the applicable convenio colectivo allows.

Notice period

Objective dismissal (redundancy): 15 days' written notice. Disciplinary dismissal: immediate.

Severance

Fair objective dismissal (redundancy): 20 days' salary per year of service, capped at 12 months. Unfair dismissal (despido improcedente): 33 days' salary per year for post-2012 contracts, capped at 24 months. Spanish labor courts side with employees ~75% of the time when challenged.

Common compliance pitfalls

Convenios colectivos (sector-level collective bargaining agreements) set minimum salaries and benefits per industry, often higher than the statutory minimum wage (SMI €1,184/mo in 2024). Your EOR must apply the correct convenio.
Temporary contract reform (2022) drastically limited fixed-term contracts. Most hires must be permanent (indefinido) from day 1, increasing severance exposure.
Plan de igualdad (equality plan) is mandatory for companies with 50+ employees. The EOR is the legal employer but doesn't aggregate across clients, generally not a problem.
Two pagas extraordinarias trip up foreign employers. They are instalments of the same annual salary, not extra pay: a €60K/year salary is €60K/14 = €4,286 per payment, not €5,000/mo on top. Confirm whether 'salary' in an offer is the annual figure divided by 12 or 14.

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Frequently asked questions

For a €50,000 gross annual salary, fully-loaded employer cost is approximately €65,000–66,000: €50K gross + ~€15K employer social security (capped at Base Máxima for higher earners) + EOR platform fee.

What it costs to employ someone in Spain

Spanish payroll splits annual salary across 14 'pagas': 12 monthly + extra payments in June and December (pagas extraordinarias). The contract can prorate these into 12 equal monthly payments instead, but the annual total is the same (Estatuto de los Trabajadores art. 31). Because they are instalments and not additional pay, the calculator adds nothing on top of the annual base salary you enter.

It can be. Unfair dismissal (despido improcedente) triggers 33 days' salary per year of service, capped at 24 months, for a 5-year tenure at €60K, that's roughly €27K severance. Spanish labor courts rule for the employee in ~75% of contested cases.

Convenios colectivos are sector-level collective bargaining agreements that set minimum salaries, working hours, vacation, and benefits per industry (tech, hospitality, construction, etc.). Reputable EORs auto-apply the correct convenio based on the employee's CNAE activity code. Confirm this in your service agreement.

Yes, with no severance and no required cause, but the probation period must be in writing in the original contract and cannot exceed the maximum set by the applicable convenio (typically 2 months for general workers, 6 months for qualified technicians).

Sources

Statutory rates and rules verified against the following authorities. We update this page when rates change.

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How this cost is calculated

Figures for Spain are calculated charge by charge from the published statutory rules, each with its own rate, ceiling and source shown below. Not included: Occupational accident and illness contribution, employer only, Statutory extraordinary payments, minimum two per year. It depends on facts not supplied here (the employer's industry), so the figure is a known subtotal. Scope: Spanish labour reform made the permanent contract the default form, and an employer-of-record engagement is normally permanent. The assumption is material because the fixed-term rate is 1.2 points higher, so it is disclosed rather than hidden. The occupational tariff depends on the activity code and spans roughly six points. Office and professional activities sit near the bottom and describe almost every employer-of-record hire, so that is the defensible default while the span is disclosed. Last checked against source on 2026-09-06.

Every statutory charge behind this rate, with its rate, ceiling, effective date and issuing authority, is set out on the Spain employer cost and evidence page.

Where to go next

Compare EOR providers that cover Spain Compare Spain with other locations See how these figures are calculated

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Provider metadata (FX terms, deposit, entity ownership) and statutory tax brackets are sourced from public materials and official government publications. Provider headline pricing last re-verified 22 October 2026; statutory data last reviewed 28 August 2026; bundled fallback exchange rates dated 28 August 2026 (live rates are used when available). Some providers publish an FX method, timing rule or markup, while others do not. Provider-specific currency-conversion cost is excluded from every total and ranking rather than guessed; exclusion does not mean zero. Confirm conversion terms in writing with the provider before signing.