Cost of an employee in Poland for employers: 2026 and 2027

The cost of an employee for an employer in Poland in 2026: on the minimum wage it is PLN 5,790.28 a month without PPK, i.e. PLN 4,806 gross plus PLN 984.28 of contributions. From 1 January 2027 the same position will cost PLN 5,963.77. Below we cover calculations for the minimum wage, PLN 6,000 and 8,000 gross, the reliefs that reduce contributions, and the costs you don’t see on the payslip.

What makes up the cost of an employee

The cost of an employee is the gross pay in the contract plus the contributions the employer pays on top of it. The employee’s own contributions (13.71% of gross), the health contribution and the income tax advance are deducted from the gross pay, so they don’t affect the employer’s cost.

Employer contributions for an employee on an umowa o pracę (employment contract) in 2026, paid to ZUS (social security) and the funds:

• pension (emerytalna) – 9.76%;
• disability (rentowa) – 6.5%;
• accident insurance (wypadkowa) – 1.67% in firms that report up to 9 insured persons to ZUS; in larger firms the rate of 0.67% to 3.33% is set by type of business (PKD) and workplace safety indicators, and the new contribution year started on 1 April 2026;
• Fundusz Pracy and Fundusz Solidarnościowy (Labour Fund and Solidarity Fund) – 2.45% together;
• Fundusz Gwarantowanych Świadczeń Pracowniczych (FGŚP, Guaranteed Employee Benefits Fund) – 0.10%;
• PPK – 1.5% if the employee takes part in Pracownicze Plany Kapitałowe (Employee Capital Plans).

For work in special conditions or of a special nature, a further 1.5% goes to the Fundusz Emerytur Pomostowych (Bridging Pension Fund).

Employee cost in Poland in 2026: three examples

Employer contributions come to 20.48% of gross pay at an accident insurance rate of 1.67%. If your rate is different, change only that row: every 0.1 percentage point is PLN 4.81 a month at the minimum wage.

What an employee will cost in 2027

From 1 January 2027 the minimum wage is PLN 4,950 gross. If contribution rates stay the same, the employer will pay PLN 1,013.77 in contributions, and the full cost will be PLN 5,963.77 a month without PPK and PLN 6,038.02 with PPK. That is +PLN 173.49 a month and +PLN 2,081.88 a year per minimum-wage employee.

For positions above the minimum wage, the cost in 2027 changes only if you raise the gross pay, provided the contribution percentages stay the same. What else rises with the minimum wage – the night work allowance, minimum pay for downtime, deduction limits – we set out in the article Minimum wage 2027.

When contributions are lower: reliefs and the annual cap

• No FP and FGŚP: for women aged 55+ and men aged 60+, and for 36 months after an employee returns from maternity, parental or childcare leave. The same exemptions apply for 12 months if you hire certain registered unemployed people – under 30 and aged 50+ – on the conditions set by law.
• No FP if the monthly gross pay is below the minimum wage, e.g. part-time.
• Annual cap: in 2026 pension and disability contributions are charged on income up to PLN 282,600 a year. This concerns salaries above PLN 23,550 a month: once the cap is exceeded, these two contributions are not paid for the rest of the year. The cap for 2027 will be announced separately.
• The under-26 relief exempts the employee from income tax but does not reduce employer contributions.

The accident insurance rate and how it is calculated are explained in the ZUS guide.

Costs you don’t see on the payslip

• Paid holiday: 20 days a year with under 10 years of service and 26 days with at least 10 years. On those days you pay wages, and someone else has to do the work.
• Sick leave: for the first 33 days of illness in a calendar year (14 days for an employee over 50) the employer pays wynagrodzenie chorobowe (sick pay), usually 80% of salary, and in some cases, e.g. illness during pregnancy, 100%.
• Medical checks: pre-employment, periodic and follow-up (after more than 30 days of sick leave). The employer pays for them in full, including the time the employee spends at the check.
• BHP (health and safety) training before work starts and periodically – during working hours and at the employer’s expense.
• Workwear and protective equipment where working conditions require it.
• Recruitment and onboarding: job ads, interviews, document checks, a supervisor’s time training the newcomer.
• Staff turnover: every replacement means recruitment, a medical check and BHP training again.
• HR and payroll: calculating pay, ZUS returns, working-time records, PIT-11.

How big these costs are depends on your company. So when comparing options, calculate the cost of one hour actually worked, not just the gross pay.

Your own staff or staff leasing

Your own staff give you full control over people and suit a stable need. In that case everything above is yours: contributions, holiday, sick leave, medical checks, recruitment and HR.

In staff leasing, workers are formally employed by an employment agency. The agency signs the contracts and calculates pay and contributions, and the client pays the agency’s invoice. This works well when the volume of work fluctuates or people have to be found and replaced quickly. How duties are split between the agency and the client is described in the article How staff leasing works.

How STARKO helps

In staff leasing from STARKO, people are formally employed by us: contracts, pay, ZUS and paperwork are handled by STARKO, and you receive one invoice. We put forward the first candidates within a few days, the first people start their shifts within a week, and we replace a worker who isn’t a good fit free of charge. Details of how we work are on our for employers page.