Austria offers a skilled, German-speaking workforce with 14 salary payments and collective-agreement pay floors. All-in employer cost runs around 1.3x the gross salary. Here is what to know before your first Austrian hire.
Employment runs under a layered system of statutes and binding collective agreements (Kollektivvertrag) that set minimum pay and conditions by sector. Salaries are usually across 14 payments, with favourably taxed holiday and Christmas bonuses.
There is no statutory minimum wage; sector collective agreements set floors, commonly around €1,500 or more per month*.
Monthly, with a 13th and 14th payment (holiday and Christmas bonuses) that receive favourable tax treatment.
There are around 13 public holidays a year, all paid.
Written terms are standard, often via a Dienstzettel. Probation is typically the first month, with free termination during that time.
Employer costs sit around 29-30%, combining social-security contributions with municipal tax and family-fund levies.
Employers pay 1.53% of pay into the 'Abfertigung neu' severance fund, which replaces the old lump-sum severance for staff who started after 2002.
Employees pay their social-security share plus income tax on a progressive scale, withheld at source. Withholding is the employer's responsibility, which under EOR means ours.
Five weeks (25 working days) of paid leave a year, rising to six weeks after 25 years of service.
Protective leave (Mutterschutz) of eight weeks before and after birth, paid through a maternity benefit.
Parental leave (Karenz) until the child turns two, with childcare allowance from the state.
The employer continues pay for a period that grows with tenure, after which health insurance provides sickness benefit.
Employer notice runs from six weeks up to five months by tenure, with set end dates. Works-council consultation applies where one exists.
Severance is funded through the 'Abfertigung neu' account (1.53% of pay), paid out on qualifying exits.
Typically the first month, during which either side can end the contract at once.
A 'freier Dienstnehmer' or contractor working like an employee can be reclassified, with back social-security contributions.
*All figures are estimates from public sources (2025-26), pending ops verification - same basis as the EOR cost calculator. Not tax or legal advice.
Compliant Austrian employment contract, payroll across 14 payments, social security, and benefits, handled. One invoice, flat $499 per month.