How to hire remote employees in

Croatia

Croatia’s become a hotspot for remote talent. Old Adriatic vistas, looming fortresses, and favorable policies for remote workers make it a great spot—and if you’ve found someone in Croatia you’d like to hire, this page is for you. We’ll teach you how to hire talent in Croatia without stumbling into a months-long procession of paperwork and thousands in fees.
Book Demo

Country snapshot

CURRENCY
Kuna (HRK)
EMPLOYER TAXES
19.2%
PAYROLL FREQUENCY
Monthly
OFFICIAL LANGUAGE
Croatian

What to know before you hire in 

Croatia

No matter where you’re based out of, we can tell you one thing: Croatia has different labor laws than your home country (well, unless your home country is Croatia, of course). If you don’t do things right, you’ll be putting your company at the risk of fines—and risk losing the talent you brought onboard.

If you want to successfully hire in 

Croatia

, you have two options:

Hire talent as contractors

Laws about hiring contractors are significantly more simple in 

Croatia

. Onboarding talent takes days, not weeks or months. Both you, the company, and your talent have more flexibility. And in many cases, since you’re remote, the talent you’re hiring is better classified as a contractor, anyway. Of course, it’s not possible in every case, but it’s what we built Thera for.

Hire talent as employees

This is the long route. You can either establish a physical presence with an entity and register as an employer, or you can use an Employer-of-Record (EOR) solution. Odds are, you’ll find using an EOR to be the easier route. Still, using an EOR in 

Croatia

 is expensive—it can often be $500 per month per employee—and sometimes prone to lengthy onboarding times.

Why hire independent contractors in 

Croatia

Hiring contractors is normally the easier, faster, more flexible choice—but don’t just take it from us. Below are the specific benefits and drawbacks to hiring contractors in 

Croatia

.

It’s the fastest way to hire globally

Hiring employees takes months, at the minimum. When you hire with Thera's locally-generated contracts, it’s a matter of days or weeks. This means you can hire the best talent, fast, without losing them to a hellish procession of paperwork.

It’s a lot cheaper

It costs just $0 to sign up for Thera, then $25 per month to hire your contractors with Thera. If you hired employees manually (or did contracting on your own), you’d likely be on the hook for thousands of dollars each month. Setting up an entity alone can cost tens of thousands of dollars.

It’s more flexible for you & your team

Hiring contractors in 

Croatia

 means you’re generally not on the hook for things like health insurance and paid time off. This makes hiring flexible for you, and it gives your talent more options.

Can be less risky than hiring employees

Hiring employees is a bigger commitment, and can open you up to increased liabilities and regulations. When you hire contractors overseas, your biggest risk is misclassification—but laws surrounding contractor classification are often significantly more straightforward.

Some people want to be employees

The contractor life isn’t for everyone—some people want the security that being an employee often appears to provide. Though it’s rare, this does happen, and it’s one disadvantage of manage an all-contractor team.

You might not have as much control over your talent

Most countries’ contractor-employer relationship laws stipulate that the employer can’t set fixed working hours, among other things. These laws give contractors more freedom over how and when they do their work than an employee would have. In reality, however, most contractors are willing & able to work on the company’s schedule—it’s a matter of setting expectations beforehand.

How can I pay people in 

Croatia

?

If you’re hiring contractors in 

Croatia

, you can pay them with Thera in a single click. You won’t need to worry about complicated wire transfers, fees, or currency conversions. We’ll take care of it all. Just make a click and your contractor will get paid in their currency of choice. This is a valuable bonus for talent in countries where the local currency is particularly weak—most people appreciate the ability to receive their payment in stronger currencies.

Hiring and paying your team in 

Croatia

Hire and pay with Panther

Pay everyone with a single click
Get great currency conversion rates
Pay $0 in platform fees
Run payroll in seconds
Let Panther automatically create & store invoices
Let Panther automatically write locally-compliant contracts
Let Panther automatically file local tax documents

Hire and pay without Panther

Pay all your contractors individually
Do all currency conversions yourself
Shoulder the burden of platform fees
Spend hours each month making payments
Manually track & store invoices
Manually write & sign contracts
Manually file relevant tax documents

If you want to hire employees in 

Croatia

If you’ve read up until this point, you’ll know that it’s easier, cheaper, and more flexible to hire contractors in Croatia than employees. Still, there are valid reasons why you might want to hire employees instead. The content below is for you—we’ll cover employer taxes and obligations in Croatia

Taxes in 

Croatia

Employer tax

Health

Individual tax

Leave

Paid Time Off (PTO)

PTO is calculated by the:

  • Employees receive 20 days of paid time off. 

Public Holidays

There are 14 public holidays.

Sick Days

The duration of sick leave entitlement provided to workers is dependent on how long they have been employed by their employer:

  • Sick leave is paid by the employer for the first 42 days. 
  • The amount paid depends on the collective agreement, but cannot be less than 70% of the employee’s average salary over previous 6 months.  
  • After 42 days, employer pays, but receives reimbursement from the Croatian Health Insurance Fund (HZZO).

Maternity Leave

Mandatory paid maternity leave starts 28 days (or 45 days, if necessary) before the due date for the child and goes until 70 days after birth. After that, the mother may continue with paid maternity leave until the baby is six months old, but it is not mandatory.   

In all, paid maternity leave goes for 208 days. 

Paternity Leave

In special circumstances, the father can take over the mother’s mandatory leave if the mother is unable to care for the child.

After the 70th day after birth, the mother can transfer the remainder of the leave to the father.

Parental Leave

Each parent has the right to paid parental leave for each child, usable until the child turns 8. It goes for 8 months (for the first and second-born child) or 30 months (for twins, third and each subsequent child).

Both parents use parental leave for 4 or 15 months, but if only one parent takes it, it goes for 6 or 30 months.  

Other Leave

None. 

Marriage Leave

None.

Bereavement Leave

None.

Termination

Termination Process

Employers can terminate a fix term contract by giving the following reasons – business, personal or worker’s’ misconduct. It requires notice and a written explanation for the termination. If the reason is misconduct, a warning needs to be given and the employee gets a chance to explain actions.  

Severance is paid, and all statutory obligations, such as paid time off, are compensated. 

Notice Period

The notice period in Croatia  is:

2 weeks for employees with a year of service
6 weeks for employees with two years of service
8 weeks for employees with five years of service
10 weeks for employees with 10 years of service
12 weeks for employees with over 20 years of service

Add 2 weeks for an employee over 50. Add four weeks for an employee over 55.  

Severance Pay

An employee with two or more years of service with a company has the right to severance pay in the event of termination. Minimum severance is one-third of the regular monthly pay per year at the company.

Probation Period

The probation period cannot be longer than one year.

Employee requirements in 

Croatia

Working Hours

Full Time employment is considered 40 hours weekly – however can be extended to 50, and if agreed to in a collective agreement up to 60.

Overtime

Employees generally cannot work more than 180 hours overtime annually (unless agreed to in collective agreement in which case the maximum is 250 hours).

Overtime work is paid at a higher rate, though the government does not specify how much extra. 

How to hire remote employees in

Croatia

Croatia’s become a hotspot for remote talent. Old Adriatic vistas, looming fortresses, and favorable policies for remote workers make it a great spot—and if you’ve found someone in Croatia you’d like to hire, this page is for you. We’ll teach you how to hire talent in Croatia without stumbling into a months-long procession of paperwork and thousands in fees.
Sign Up

Country snapshot

CURRENCY
Kuna (HRK)
EMPLOYER TAXES
19.2%
PAYROLL FREQUENCY
Monthly
OFFICIAL LANGUAGE
Croatian

What to know before you hire in 

Croatia

No matter where you’re based out of, we can tell you one thing: Croatia has different labor laws than your home country (well, unless your home country is Croatia, of course). If you don’t do things right, you’ll be putting your company at the risk of fines—and risk losing the talent you brought onboard.

If you want to successfully hire in 

Croatia

, you have two options:

Hire talent as contractors

Laws about hiring contractors are significantly more simple in 

Croatia

. Onboarding talent takes days, not weeks or months. Both you, the company, and your talent have more flexibility. And in many cases, since you’re remote, the talent you’re hiring is better classified as a contractor, anyway. Of course, it’s not possible in every case, but it’s what we built Panther for.

Hire talent as employees

This is the long route. You can either establish a physical presence with an entity and register as an employer, or you can use an Employer-of-Record (EOR) solution. Odds are, you’ll find using an EOR to be the easier route. Still, using an EOR in 

Croatia

 is expensive—it can often be $500 per month per employee—and sometimes prone to lengthy onboarding times.

Why hire independent contractors in 

Croatia

Hiring contractors is normally the easier, faster, more flexible choice—but don’t just take it from us. Below are the specific benefits and drawbacks to hiring contractors in 

Croatia

.

It’s the fastest way to hire globally

Hiring employees takes months, at the minimum. When you hire with Panther’s locally-generated contracts, it’s a matter of days or weeks. This means you can hire the best talent, fast, without losing them to a hellish procession of paperwork.

It’s a lot cheaper

It costs just $0 to sign up for Panther, then $49 per month to hire your contractors with Panther. If you hired employees manually (or did contracting on your own), you’d likely be on the hook for thousands of dollars each month. Setting up an entity alone can cost tens of thousands of dollars.

It’s more flexible for you & your team

Hiring contractors in 

Croatia

 means you’re generally not on the hook for things like health insurance and paid time off. This makes hiring flexible for you, and it gives your talent more options.

Can be less risky than hiring employees

Hiring employees is a bigger commitment, and can open you up to increased liabilities and regulations. When you hire contractors overseas, your biggest risk is misclassification—but laws surrounding contractor classification are often significantly more straightforward.

Some people want to be employees

The contractor life isn’t for everyone—some people want the security that being an employee often appears to provide. Though it’s rare, this does happen, and it’s one disadvantage of manage an all-contractor team.

You might not have as much control over your talent

Most countries’ contractor-employer relationship laws stipulate that the employer can’t set fixed working hours, among other things. These laws give contractors more freedom over how and when they do their work than an employee would have. In reality, however, most contractors are willing & able to work on the company’s schedule—it’s a matter of setting expectations beforehand.

How can I pay people in 

Croatia

?

If you’re hiring contractors in 

Croatia

, you can pay them with Panther in a single click. You won’t need to worry about complicated wire transfers, fees, or currency conversions. We’ll take care of it all. Just make a click and your contractor will get paid in their currency of choice. This is a valuable bonus for talent in countries where the local currency is particularly weak—most people appreciate the ability to receive their payment in stronger currencies.

Hiring and paying your team in 

Croatia

Hire and pay with Panther

Pay everyone with a single click
Get great currency conversion rates
Pay $0 in platform fees
Run payroll in seconds
Let Panther automatically create & store invoices
Let Panther automatically write locally-compliant contracts
Let Panther automatically file local tax documents

Hire and pay without Panther

Pay all your contractors individually
Do all currency conversions yourself
Shoulder the burden of platform fees
Spend hours each month making payments
Manually track & store invoices
Manually write & sign contracts
Manually file relevant tax documents

Let Panther save you from hiring headaches.

Sign up today for $0

If you want to hire employees in 

Croatia

If you’ve read up until this point, you’ll know that it’s easier, cheaper, and more flexible to hire contractors in Croatia than employees. Still, there are valid reasons why you might want to hire employees instead. The content below is for you—we’ll cover employer taxes and obligations in Croatia

Taxes in 

Croatia

Employer tax

Health

Individual tax

Leave

Paid Time Off (PTO)

PTO is calculated by the:

  • Employees receive 20 days of paid time off. 

Public Holidays

There are 14 public holidays.

Sick Days

The duration of sick leave entitlement provided to workers is dependent on how long they have been employed by their employer:

  • Sick leave is paid by the employer for the first 42 days. 
  • The amount paid depends on the collective agreement, but cannot be less than 70% of the employee’s average salary over previous 6 months.  
  • After 42 days, employer pays, but receives reimbursement from the Croatian Health Insurance Fund (HZZO).

Maternity Leave

Mandatory paid maternity leave starts 28 days (or 45 days, if necessary) before the due date for the child and goes until 70 days after birth. After that, the mother may continue with paid maternity leave until the baby is six months old, but it is not mandatory.   

In all, paid maternity leave goes for 208 days. 

Paternity Leave

In special circumstances, the father can take over the mother’s mandatory leave if the mother is unable to care for the child.

After the 70th day after birth, the mother can transfer the remainder of the leave to the father.

Parental Leave

Each parent has the right to paid parental leave for each child, usable until the child turns 8. It goes for 8 months (for the first and second-born child) or 30 months (for twins, third and each subsequent child).

Both parents use parental leave for 4 or 15 months, but if only one parent takes it, it goes for 6 or 30 months.  

Other Leave

None. 

Marriage Leave

None.

Bereavement Leave

None.

Termination

Termination Process

Employers can terminate a fix term contract by giving the following reasons – business, personal or worker’s’ misconduct. It requires notice and a written explanation for the termination. If the reason is misconduct, a warning needs to be given and the employee gets a chance to explain actions.  

Severance is paid, and all statutory obligations, such as paid time off, are compensated. 

Notice Period

The notice period in Croatia  is:

2 weeks for employees with a year of service
6 weeks for employees with two years of service
8 weeks for employees with five years of service
10 weeks for employees with 10 years of service
12 weeks for employees with over 20 years of service

Add 2 weeks for an employee over 50. Add four weeks for an employee over 55.  

Severance Pay

An employee with two or more years of service with a company has the right to severance pay in the event of termination. Minimum severance is one-third of the regular monthly pay per year at the company.

Probation Period

The probation period cannot be longer than one year.

Employee requirements in 

Croatia

Working Hours

Full Time employment is considered 40 hours weekly – however can be extended to 50, and if agreed to in a collective agreement up to 60.

Overtime

Employees generally cannot work more than 180 hours overtime annually (unless agreed to in collective agreement in which case the maximum is 250 hours).

Overtime work is paid at a higher rate, though the government does not specify how much extra. 

Want to hire contractors, anywhere? Start with Panther today for $0.

Start for $0
No credit card required

Try Thera Today

Get started with a seamless way to run payroll.

Run your global workforce on autopilot with Thera

Book a demo to get started.