Hire and pay employees in
Croatia, hassle-free

With Deel, your business can easily hire employees in Croatia. No more worrying about local laws, complex tax systems, or managing international payroll. Deel takes care of everything in 150+ countries.

The average onboarding time frame in Croatia is 3 days with Deel.

Currency

EUR

Capital

Zagreb

Official Language

Croatian

Payroll Cycle

Monthly

Onboard, pay and manage employees in Croatia with Deel.

Usually, to hire in Croatia, your business needs an entity. That means a local office, an address registered as a subsidiary, and an account with a local bank. All of this, plus navigating regional benefits, payroll, tax, and HR laws, can take months.

Deel lets you hire employees in Croatia quickly, easily, and compliantly. We even automate tax document collection, payroll, benefits, and more. For your existing direct employees, we can manage your entire payroll operation from end-to-end.

Download the Guide

All the necessary benefits for Croatia
built right in

Deel allows you to provide localized benefits for employees in Croatia within minutes. All in one manageable online dashboard.

  • Private Healthcare - Unisure (optional)
  • Private Healthcare - Allianz (optional)

Our quickstart guide to hiring in Croatia

Navigate the tabs below to learn everything you need to know about hiring an employee in Croatia

Minimum Wage Requirements

The minimum wage for full-time employees in 2024 is EUR 840 gross a month. The amount is prorated for part-time employees.

Individual Income Tax

Income tax rates in Croatia vary based on the residence of the employee. The following tax rates apply to monthly income:

 

2024 Tax Rate

Monthly Income up to €4,200

15% - 23.6%

Monthly Income €4,201 and over

25% - 35.4%

Tax Free Allowance

€560

Payroll Cost

The employer cost is generally estimated at 16.5% of the employee salary.

  • Health insurance - 16.5%

Conditional Costs:
Expenses Tax Gross-up: Variable depending on the employee’s salary. This is an additional amount of money added to cover the income taxes the employee will owe on the payment of reimbursed expenses.

These costs are provided as estimates and are intended solely for general informational purposes. To fully comprehend all associated costs and fees related to the terms of any employment agreement for this country, please contact our Sales team for a quote.

Overtime Pay & Maximum Hours

Standard working hours are 8 hours per day, 40 hours per week. The standard workweek is from Monday to Friday.

Maternity Leave

Pregnant employees are entitled to 98 days of paid leave. 28 days must be taken before the child's birth. 70 days must be taken after the child's birth. The employee will receive 100% of their average salary during this period (based on the last 6 months), and the Croatian Health Insurance Fund (HZZO) will be responsible for this pay.

The employee can extend leave through parental leave.

Paternity Leave

There is no paternity leave currently required by law.

Parental Leave

Employees are entitled to 8 months for the first and second child and 30 months for twins or every child after the first two of parental leave. Both parents can use parental leave, each for 4 or 15 months. If this right is used by only one parent, then leave can last only 6 or 30 months. Salary compensation during the first 6 months of parental leave is paid 100% of their average salary (based on the last 6 months) with a maximum limit of HRK 5,654.20 per month. For the remaining leave, employees will receive 70% of their average salary.

The Croatian Health Insurance Fund (HZZO) is responsible for this payment.

Parental leave can't be extended.

Sick Leave

Employees are entitled to paid sick leave for up to 42 days and long-term illness benefits after 42 days. This leave is paid at different rates and by different payers:

Period Pay (% of base salary) Payer
First 42 days A minimum of 70%, based on the employment agreement Employer
After 42 days Income replacement benefit is calculated Employer reimbursed by Croatian Health Insurance Fund (HZZO)

Termination Requirements

Terminations must respect complex rules and the rules of an employee’s employment country. The off-boarding is always handled by the Employer with the primary stakeholders. It may include ad-hoc fees as well as required or recommended steps on specific termination cases.

Terminations in Croatia can be complex. There is no at-will termination in Croatia for employers, outside the probation period, and termination must be done for just cause.

Compliant terminations include:

  • Voluntarily by the employee
  • By mutual agreement
  • Unilaterally by the employer based on:
    • Economic, technical, or organizational reasons the need for Employee's work position ceases to exist
    • Employee ceases to be capable of performing his/her duties, due to his/her ability or character
    • Employee breaches his/her obligations arising from the employment relationship
  • By the expiration of the contract

Notice Period

The minimum notice period is 2 weeks and will be increased according to the length of the employment.

Length of Employment Notice Period
Probation Period 7 days
Less than 1 year 14 days
Consecutively worked for 1 year 14 days
Consecutively worked for 2 years 42 days
Consecutively worked for 5 years 56 days
Consecutively worked for 10 years 70 days
Consecutively worked for 20 years* 90 days
  • The stated deadlines are reduced by half if the employee's employment contract is terminated due to a breach of the employment obligation, i.e. if it is a case of dismissal due to the employee's misconduct
  • If the employee terminates the employment contract, the notice period is one month

* If the worker has reached 50 years of age this period is extended for another 2 weeks, and if the worker has reached 55 years of age for one month.

Severance for Employees

In Croatia, employees are entitled to severance pay if the following conditions are met:

  • The employer terminates the employment contract
  • The dismissal is not conditioned by the behavior of the worker
  • The worker has spent at least 2 years continuously working for the employer terminating the contract

Severance payment is based on the length of employment with the same employer. The statutory minimum severance payment is one-third of the monthly salary (average of the last 3 months) per year of employment. The maximum payment is 6 months salary unless otherwise provided for by law, by-law, collective agreement, or work contract.

Paid Time Off

Both full-time and part-time employees are entitled to 20 working days of paid time off (PTO) a year. PTO accrues monthly at 1.67 days per month which is pro-rated for part-time employees.

Public Holidays

Croatia celebrates 13 national holidays. National holidays include:

  • New Year’s Day
  • Epiphany
  • Easter Monday
  • Labor Day
  • National Day
  • Corpus Christi
  • Day of Anti-Fascist Struggle
  • Victory Day & Patriotic Gratitude & Veteran’s Day
  • Assumption Day
  • All Saints' Day
  • Memorial Day for the Victims of the Homeland War
  • Christmas Day
  • St. Stephen’s Day

Onboarding

Onboarding takes 3 business days.

Employment Contract Details

Contracts must be in Croatian and can be bilingual. They must be in writing and signed by both parties.

A contract must include:

  • Name
  • Position and job description
  • Obligations
  • Place of work
  • Commencement and duration of employment
  • Working hours
  • Salary and other benefits
  • Additional remuneration and reimbursement of expenses
  • Vacation and leave
  • Termination conditions

Probation Period

Probation periods are not mandatory. There is no minimum probation period. The maximum probation period is 6 months.
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Hiring in Croatia, hassle-free

With Deel, your business can easily hire employees in Croatia with our EOR solution. If you have an entity, our Global Payroll solution takes care of payroll and compliance for your direct employees. Our 250+ in-house experts handle everything from managing local laws, complex tax systems, or your payroll in Croatia and 150+ countries.

Group (8)

Starting at 599 USD

Management fee

Group (9)

16.5%

Estimate Employer Cost

*of employee salary

Want to learn the cost of hiring an employee in Croatia?

View our Employee Cost Calculator

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