How to hire remote employees in

Serbia

Serbia is one of many European countries filled with great remote talent. If you’ve found someone you want to hire in Serbia—or if you’re just curious—you’re in the right place. We’ll teach you about the legal obligations and risks of hiring in Serbia: As well as the easiest way to hire the remote talent you find.

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Employment requirements

Country snapshot

CURRENCY

Serbian Dinar (RSD)

EMPLOYER TAXES

16.65%

PAYROLL FREQUENCY

Monthly

OFFICIAL LANGUAGE

Serbian

Why hire independent contractors in Serbia

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 Serbia.

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

HHiring contractors in Serbia 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.

What to know before you hire in Serbia

So you want to hire in Serbia. That’s great. But you should know that hiring in Serbia is different from hiring in your home country. There’s a whole laundry list of labor laws to catch up on, lawyers to contract, compliance issues to navigate… And it can get complex. So we’ll break it down in simple terms.

If you want to successfully hire in Serbia, you have two options:

Hire talent as contractors

Laws about hiring contractors are significantly more simple in Serbia. 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 Serbia is expensive—it can often be $500 per month per employee—and sometimes prone to lengthy onboarding times.

Hire contractors in a couple clicks with Thera

How can I pay people in Serbia

If you’re hiring contractors in Serbia, 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.

If you want to hire employees in Serbia

If you’ve read up until this point, you’ll know that it’s easier, cheaper, and more flexible to hire contractors in Serbia 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 Serbia.

Taxes in Serbia

Employer tax

Pension and disability

Health insurance

Leave

Paid Time Off (PTO)

PTO is calculated by the:

Employees get 20 days of paid vacation each year.

Public Holidays

There are 12 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:

Paid sick leave is unlimited as long as needed, with a certificate from a physician filed with the health insurance authority.
During the first 30 days, employees receive 65% of salary if sickness/injury not related to work, and 100% if it was work-related.
After 30 days, payment comes from the state, not the employer.

Maternity Leave

Combined pregnancy/maternity leave goes for 365 days.

Paternity Leave

No specific paternity leave but under certain circumstances, the father could use maternity leave if mother unable to care for the baby during that period.

Parental Leave

None.

Other Leave

None.

Marriage Leave

None.

Bereavement Leave

None.

Termination

Termination Process

In the event of a termination of a local employee, the employee’s salary must be paid:

Employers must provide an explanation in writing and at least 8 days’ notice if the termination is based on performance.

The explanation must include the reason for dismissal, evidence, and an opportunity for the employee to respond.

Failure to follow the procedure could result in a court invalidating the dismissal.

Notice Period

The notice period in Serbia is:

The employer must give at least 8 days.

An employee terminating the employment must give 15 days.

In the event of layoffs, a notice period of 30 days is required.

Severance Pay

In the case of layoffs, a severance payment of at least 1/3 of regular salary for each year worked is required.

Probation Period

Not more than 6 months, during which either party could end the relationship with five days’ notice.

Employee requirements in Serbia

Working Hours

A work week is 40 hours for five days of 8 hours each.

Overtime

Overtime is work over 8 hours per day or 40 hours a week.

Overtime is limited to 8 hours per week and 4 hours per day and paid at 126% of regular salary.

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