Global PEO Services (GPS) helps companies hire employees in Austria without establishing a legal entity. All human resources, benefits, payroll, and tax needs for the employees are managed by the Global PEO, while the new hires and headquarter teams focus on your business goals.
When hiring employees in Austria, establishing a subsidiary or branch office is not always the best route, as it’s often a lengthy and expensive process. Hiring via a Professional Employer Organization (PEO), or Employer of Record (EOR), is a faster and often more effective option – especially when starting up in a new country.
Global PEO Services hires the employees on your behalf, legally contracting them through our subsidiary in accordance with Austria labor laws. As a result, the burden of compliance is on us and the employees can begin work for your company in a matter of days. PEOs/EORs provide you with a streamlined option for hiring employees, testing markets, and responding to growing business needs in Austria. With Global PEO Services, you get control without taking on legal entity liabilities, contractor risks, or sacrificing on talent or speed to market.
Country Overview
Overview
Austria consists of nine independent federal states, each with its own provincial government. The well-developed economy of the country is driven by the services sector which constitutes nearly two-thirds of the economy worth 284 billion Euros. Trade and industry comprise nearly a third of the GDP while agriculture contributes 1.5% to the GDP.
The average per capita GDP is nearly 32,800 Euros, which makes Austria one of the developed countries in the European Community. Exports are vital to Austrian economy, and main export commodities include motor vehicles and parts, machinery and equipment, paper, chemicals, metal goods, iron and steel, and food products.
Currency: Euro
Principal Language: German
Government: Federal Republic
Capital City: Vienna
Major Cities: Vienna, Graz, Linz, Salzburg, Innsbruck
Employment Contracts
Written employment contracts are not mandatory, but employers are required to provide a written statement specifying the job duties and terms.
In most cases, the probationary period is not more than 1 month. Temporary agency workers are entitled to the same rights as permanent employees, both during and between work assignments.
Work/Time Regulations
Normal work schedule is 8 hours per day and 40 hours per week, subject to collective agreements. Shift workers may be asked to work up to 12 hours a day. Nursing mothers, pregnant women, and individuals under the age of 18 are not required to perform night work (work done between 10 pm and 5 am). Employees who work for at least 6 hours per day are entitled to a rest period of 30 minutes under the Working Time Act.
Leave
Holidays
Austria has 13 statutory public holidays. Employees who work on holidays are entitled to a 100% premium over their regular wages. The holidays are:
- January 1 - New Year's Day
- January 6 - Epiphany
- Easter Monday
- International Workers' Day (May 1)
- Ascension Day
- Whit Monday
- Corpus Christi
- Assumption (Aug. 15)
- Austrian National Holiday (Oct. 26)
- All Saints' Day (Nov. 1)
- Immaculate Conception (Dec. 8)
- Christmas (Dec. 25)
- St. Stephen's Day (Dec. 26)
Employers should provide 5 weeks of paid leave to employees for every 6 consecutive months of employment. Employees who have worked for 25 years, receive an additional week, i.e., 6 weeks of paid leave for every 6 consecutive months of employment. Days on which employees fall sick while on leave are not factored in the annual paid leave allowance.
Sick Leave
Employers must provide 6 weeks’ sick leave at full pay and 4 weeks’ leave at half pay. After exhausting their
sick leave, employees receive extra sick leave paid for by the health insurance provider.
If the sick leave is taken due to a work-related illness or accident, employers should provide 8 weeks’ sick leave at full pay. After 15 years of employment, employers should provide 10 weeks’ sick leave.
Compassionate Leave
Employers must permit employees to take unpaid compassionate leave to care for terminally ill children or close
relatives.
Maternity Leave
Pregnant employees can take paid maternity leave, beginning 8 weeks before birth and ending 8 weeks after child
birth. For multiple births or cesarean, the work restrictions post-delivery are extended to a minimum 12 weeks.
In case the maternity leave was reduced before delivery, the paid leave is extended accordingly after delivery
to a maximum 16 weeks. Maternity pay is 100% of employees’ average wages in the last 13 weeks of employment.
Following maternity leave, employees can also take parental leave.
Benefits
Both employers and employees make contributions to social insurance to fund accident, sickness, unemployment, and pension benefits.
Current rates:
- For employees: 18.12% of average wages up to 4,860 Euros
- For employers: 21.48% of average wages
Old age pensions can be collected by men at the age of 65 and women at 60 years with a total of minimum 300 months’ coverage or at least 180 months of coverage in the last 30 years. The age for women to start receiving the pension will be raised gradually to 65 from 2024 to 2033.
Workers' Compensation
After a period of work incapacity (27 weeks at the latest) due to illness or injury, concerned employees will
receive a disability pension if their earning capacity has been reduced by at least 20%. The reduction has to be for
more than 3 months and must be a result of occupational disease or an accident at work. In the event of total loss of earning capacity, employees may receive a monthly pension which is two-thirds of the average insured earnings over the previous year.
How GPS can Help
With our Global PEO/Employer of Record services, companies can expand into Austria and hire their employees without having to establish a branch office or subsidiary in Austria .
- Your candidate is hired via our Austria PEO. If needed, we can also help you find the right talent in any country with our comprehensive global staffing services.
- Your new employee begins work quickly as we take care of employment contracts, statutory and non-statutory benefits, and running their payroll - all in full compliance with Austria laws.
- Global PEO Services experts manage all day-to-day operational issues such as employee expenses, and severance/termination if required.
- With no contractor risks, pass on the compliance burden to Global PEO Services.
Spin Off/M&A Support
- Ensure continuity of payroll, benefits and HR support when acquiring or spinning off a business with employees overseas.
24/7 Support in 150+ Countries
- Empower your teams with 24/7 support and a single point-of-contact model in which experienced client services directors are in continuous communication with information and advice.
- We are backed by a mix of 300+ multidisciplinary experts from HR, Payroll, Finance, Tax, and Legal domains who are ready to respond to the expected and unexpected needs of your business on the shortest notice.
Easy Visibility into Your Employee Time & Attendance and Benefits Data
With our Global PEO, you get access to Mihi, our proprietary SaaS solution for time and attendance, vacation, leave management and benefits enrollment and management. Mihi enables clients to have easy access to employee data in real time. It is designed specifically for companies with a global workforce, especially when working in multiple countries with low headcount.
Ready for Growth When You Are
When ready, we can seamlessly transition you from the PEO/EOR model to your own legal entity and provide ongoing international HR, finance, legal, compliance and staffing support. Learn more about our end-to-end international expansion services.