The Complete Guide to Hiring Across Multiple European Countries

Expanding your hiring across multiple European countries is one of the most powerful things a growing business can do, and one of the most complex to execute well. Employment law, compensation benchmarks, talent availability, cultural expectations, and operational infrastructure vary significantly from country to country.

The Strategic Decision: Centralise or Distribute?

The first decision any company faces when building across European markets is whether to centralise headcount in one or two hub locations or distribute it across multiple countries.

The centralised model, building teams in hub cities like Barcelona, Dublin, or Amsterdam, offers significant advantages: lower cost per hire, easier team management, faster knowledge transfer, and access to multilingual talent from a single location. Most SaaS companies use this model for their commercial and customer-facing teams.

The distributed model is often more appropriate for enterprise sales roles where face-to-face relationships are strategically important, for leadership roles that need deep local market knowledge, or for companies in industries where local physical presence is a regulatory requirement.

Employment Law: What You Must Know Before Hiring in Europe

Notice Periods

Notice periods in Europe are substantially longer than in the US. In Germany and the Netherlands, senior employees may have statutory notice periods of two to three months. In France, the typical executive notice period is three months. In Spain, notice periods are generally shorter (one month for most roles) but contractual extensions are common.

Employment Contracts and Probation

Employment contracts in most European countries must be in writing and comply with local legal requirements. In Spain, a probation period of 6 months is standard for senior roles. In France, the initial trial period can be up to 4 months for executives. Getting local legal advice before making your first hire in a new country is essential.

Works Councils and Employee Representation

In Germany, France, and several other European countries, companies above certain size thresholds are required to establish works councils, employee representation bodies with consultation rights. Understanding whether and when this applies to your organisation is important for companies scaling their European headcount.

How to Employ People in Multiple European Countries

Setting Up a Legal Entity

Establishing a local entity gives you full control of employment, payroll, and benefits management, and is typically more cost-effective at scale. Setting up a Spanish SL typically takes four to eight weeks; German GmbH setup can take longer.

Employer of Record Services

EoR services allow companies to employ people in countries where they don't have a legal entity, the EoR becomes the legal employer, handling payroll, benefits, and compliance. This is the fastest route to hiring in a new country and is well-suited for test hires or small headcount. At scale, the cost premium becomes significant.

Compensation Strategy Across European Markets

• Local benchmarking: pay to local market rates, accepting that equivalent roles will have different absolute comp in different countries
• Hub-based benchmarking: if centralising in one location, pay to the hub market rate regardless of nationality, cleaner to manage and typically competitive
• Bands with local adjustments: define global pay bands and apply a country-specific multiplier, common in larger organisations