Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the southeast. It also shares a maritime border with Italy. Croatia has an area of roughly 56,594 km2. The country’s economy relies on tourism with 66.14% of employment being in the service sector, 27.67% in industry, and 6.19% in agriculture.
*Please note that the official currency is the currency of remuneration when employed through WorkMotion in Croatia.
Capital : Zagreb | Currency : Euro (€, EUR) | Languages spoken : Croatian |
Population : 3.90 million (2021 est.) | Minimum wage 2023 : €700 (monthly) | Cost of Living index : $$$ (59 of 139 nations) |
Payroll Frequency : Monthly | VAT - standard rate : 25% | GDP - real growth rate : 10.4% (2021 est.) |
The national holidays mentioned below are valid for the year 2023.
Croatia has 14 non-working Public holidays.
The approximate time for sharing the contract with an employee in Croatia is 7 business days assuming no special requests or changes to our standard employment contract. Any such requests or changes would need to undergo internal and external review, directly leading to a time delay.
NOTE: This number is subject to change and is only an estimation of the Contract Sharing Time. The estimated Contract Sharing Time begins from the moment that WorkMotion has received all required information from both the client and the employee.
Employers employing at least 20 employees are obliged to employ persons with disabilities in an appropriate job with appropriate working conditions, in the amount of 3% of the total number of employees on the basis of which the quota is determined, regardless of the activity performed by the employer.
For remote work, the employer should provide the employee with the machines, tools, and equipment necessary for remote work. If the employee uses their own machines, tools, and equipment for work, the matter of reimbursement of associated costs should be regulated in the employment contract.
Please note that we cannot offer indefinite employment contracts in Croatia with the WorkMotion entity. We offer fixed-term contracts (Ugovor o radu na određeno vrijeme) with a maximum duration of three years.
The full working hours of a worker may not exceed 40 hours per week.
If a worker works overtime, the total duration of the worker’s work may not exceed:
The probationary period may not last longer than six months. If fixed term employment is concluded, the probationary period must be proportional to the duration of the FTC.
The notice period begins to run on the day of delivery of the termination of the employment contract.
In the case of regular termination (ordinary dismissal), the length of notice periods depends on employment length as follows:
| Employment Length | Termination Notice Period |
| During Probation | At least 7 weeks |
| Less than 1 year | At least 2 weeks |
| At least 1 continuous year | At least 1 month |
| At least 2 consecutive years | At least 1 month and 2 weeks |
| At least 5 consecutive years | At least 2 months |
| At least 10 consecutive years | At least 2 months and 2 weeks |
| At least 20 Years | At least 3 months |
A worker is entitled to an annual leave of at least four weeks (or 20 days) for each calendar year.
An employee is entitled to a maximum of 42 days of employer-paid sick leave per year. The amount of pay the employee receives depends on their employment agreement, but cannot be less than 70% of the average gross daily wage in the six months preceding the sick leave.
Parents are entitled to up to eight months (for the first and second child) or 30 months (for twins, third, and each subsequent child). The leave is paid for by the Croatian Health Insurance Fund (HZZO).
Mothers are entitled to a compulsory maternity leave of continuous 98 days (28 days before the expected date of birth and 70 days after the birth of the child).
There is no statutory entitlement to paternity leave except where after the 70th day after the child’s birth (ie after the expiration of compulsory maternity leave), the child’s mother can transfer the use of the remaining part of the maternity leave (additional maternity leave) in full or in part to the child’s father.
Adoptive parents are entitled to six months of adoption leave for a child up to 18 years of age starting from the day the decision on adoption becomes final.
Employees are entitled to employer-paid leaves of up to seven days per calendar year for important personal needs, especially in connection with marriage, childbirth, serious illness, or the death of a close family member.
Employees are entitled to paid leave when receiving occupational or general schooling, training, or advanced training, as well as schooling for the needs of the employees’ council or union work. The leave period is considered part of service at work and is paid by the employer.
Employees on the basis of blood donation are entitled to one paid day off.
The Croatian social seuciry system covers health, pension insurance, unemployment insurance, family benefits, social benefits, and child benefits.
Employers are only required to contribute to health insurance at 16.5% of the employee’s gross salary.
Compulsory primary health insurance is administered by the Croatian Health Insurance Fund (Hrvatski zavod za zdravstveno osiguranje, HZZO) and covers the costs of health services prescribed by law.
Accident insurance benefits are paid by employers’ mandatory health insurance contributions (16.5%, included in the social security comprehensive) and employees’ mandatory pension contributions.
Employers do not contribute to unemployment insurance.
Employees who lost their jobs involuntarily are entitled to unemployment benefits paid by the Croatian Employment Service (Hrvatski zavod za zapošljavanje, HZZ). The benefits are calculated on the basis of the average gross wage employees earned over the previous three months before their termination of the employment contract.
There are three pillars of pension insurance in Croatia. The first pillar is the generational solidarity system, the second pillar is individual pension insurance, and the third pillar is voluntary pension insurance. The last two pillars represent individual capitalized savings by the insured person.
Only the employee contributes to the pension insurance at 20% of their gross salary (15% to Pillar I, 5% to Pillar II), but the employer must withhold the contribution for the employee and pay it to the State Treasury.
An employee whose capacity for work is reduced or lost partially or fully may be entitled to an invalidity pension and income-replacement benefit in the pension insurance system.
The information contained in this Country Guide is provided for informational purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice on any subject matter. The contents of this Country Guide contain general information and may not reflect current legal developments or address your situation. You should not act or refrain from acting on the basis of any content included in this Country Guide without seeking the advice or representation of a licensed attorney. WorkMotion Software GmbH disclaims all liability for actions you take or fail to take based on any content included in this Country Guide.
Information provided in this Country Guide is provided “as is” without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including without limitation warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement. WorkMotion Software GmbH periodically adds, changes, improves, updates, or removes information without notice, and assumes no liability or responsibility for any errors or omissions in the contents of this Country Guide. This Country Guide may contain links to other websites. WorkMotion Software GmbH disclaims all liability for the privacy practices or the content of such websites.