Poland: what an employee costs an employer
Gross salary is what the employee sees. This is what leaves the company: the statutory contributions the employer pays on top, the hours a year they are spread over, and what one hour of ten different roles actually costs.
Gross salary × 1.22. Statutory employer contributions add 22% on top of gross pay, over 1,768 working hours a year.
What is added to gross salary
Known locally as koszt pracodawcy.
| Contribution | Covers | Employer rate |
|---|---|---|
| Składka emerytalna up to a ceiling | Pension | 9.76% |
| Składka rentowa up to a ceiling | Pension | 6.5% |
| Składka wypadkowa varies by region or sector | Accident insurance | 1.67% |
| Fundusz Pracy | Unemployment | 2.45% |
| Pracownicze Plany Kapitałowe (PPK) not statutory, standard practice | Pension | 1.5% |
| Fundusz Gwarantowanych Świadczeń Pracowniczych (FGŚP) | Severance | 0.1% |
| Total | ×1.22 | 22% |
40 h a week × 52 − (26 vacation days + 13 public holidays) = 1,768 h a year.
That is the statutory cost and nothing else. Equipment, software, workspace and voluntary benefits sit on top of it, which is why the calculators default to ×1.3 rather than to this figure — a number you can defend line by line is worth more than a rounder one.
Employer cost per hour, by role
| Role | Gross salary | Employer cost / year | Per hour |
|---|---|---|---|
| Software engineer | PLN 154,000 | PLN 187,800 | PLN 106 |
| Senior software engineer | PLN 232,000 | PLN 283,000 | PLN 160 |
| Product manager | PLN 210,000 | PLN 256,200 | PLN 145 |
| Product designer | PLN 129,000 | PLN 157,400 | PLN 89.00 |
| Marketing manager | PLN 135,000 | PLN 164,700 | PLN 93.14 |
| Sales / account executive | PLN 100,000 | PLN 122,000 | PLN 68.99 |
| Customer support | PLN 81,000 | PLN 98,800 | PLN 55.88 |
| Data analyst | PLN 107,000 | PLN 130,500 | PLN 73.82 |
| Engineering manager | PLN 342,000 | PLN 417,200 | PLN 236 |
| Office / admin assistant | PLN 77,000 | PLN 93,920 | PLN 53.12 |
Compared with its neighbours
| Country | Multiplier | Hours / year | Per hour |
|---|---|---|---|
| Poland | ×1.22 | 1,768 | PLN 106 |
| Germany | ×1.24 | 1,760 | €40.85 |
| United Kingdom | ×1.19 | 1,740 | £38.82 |
| Spain | ×1.32 | 1,792 | €31.71 |
Each figure is in that country's own currency, at that country's own multiplier and working year. There is no exchange rate in this table — the multiplier and the hours are what compare directly.
Run it with your own numbers
The meeting, switching and downtime calculators all price an hour of someone's time. This one opens with the multiplier and the working year already filled in: Poland.
Sources
Checked 2026-08