Hire employees in Italy

Quick answers

The questions leadership teams ask first, answered directly. Detail follows below.

Hiring routes compared

Weigh speed, capital, notary overhead and labour court exposure. Here is how the three routes stack up.

What an employee costs in Italy

Italy funds pensions, unemployment (NASpI), sickness, maternity and wage guarantee schemes through INPS, insures workplace accidents through INAIL, and requires every employer to set aside a severance reserve (Trattamento di Fine Rapporto, TFR) for every employee. The governing CCNL then adds extra monthly salaries and supplementary funds. Pension contributions for people who joined the system after 1996 are capped at an annual ceiling.

For an employee on €60,000 gross, budget roughly €83,000 to €89,000 all-in. Ask us for a country-specific cost model with your CCNL applied.

Payroll and tax

Italian payroll runs monthly, with net pay usually landing between the 27th and the last day of the month (some CCNLs allow the 5th to 10th of the following month). Every employee receives a payslip (Cedolino) from the digital Single Employment Ledger showing base pay, allowances, overtime, INPS deductions, IRPEF withholding, surcharges and net. Contributions and withheld tax are settled on Form F24 by the 16th of the following month; the UniEmens report reaches INPS by the last day of that month.

IRPEF withholding

The employer is the withholding agent (sostituto d'imposta) for the Agenzia delle Entrate. National income tax is progressive: 23% up to €28,000, 35% from €28,001 to €50,000 and 43% above €50,000. A regional surcharge of 1.23% to 3.33% and a municipal surcharge of 0% to 0.8% are added depending on where the employee lives. Qualifying people who move their tax residence to Italy may claim the inpatriate regime, which halves taxable employment income up to €600,000 a year.

Minimum wage

Italy has no statutory national minimum wage. Wage floors are set instead by each sector's CCNL as minimum tabular pay (minimo tabellare) for every job level, backed by Article 36 of the Constitution. On top of the tabular minimum come cost-of-living elements, mandatory seniority increments (scatti di anzianità) and any individual super-minimum. Unless the contract says otherwise, future CCNL rises absorb the individual super-minimum.

Leave and mandatory benefits

• Paid vacation (Ferie). Minimum 4 weeks a year: 20 working days on a 5-day week, 24 on a 6-day week. At least 2 weeks must be taken in the accrual year and the rest within 18 months. Vacation cannot be cashed out while employed.
• Paid hours off (ROL and Ex Festività). The CCNL adds 32 to 104+ paid hours a year on top of vacation. Unused ROL can be paid out.
• Public holidays. 11 national holidays plus one local patron saint day (Sant'Ambrogio in Milan, Saints Peter and Paul in Rome).
• 13th and 14th month. The 13th (Tredicesima) is paid in December in every sector. The 14th (Quattordicesima) is paid in June or July where the CCNL requires it.
• Sick pay (Malattia). Days 1 to 3 paid by the employer under CCNL rules. Days 4 to 180 paid by INPS at 50% to 66.6%, with most CCNLs requiring the employer to top up to 100%.
• Maternity. 5 months of mandatory leave (2 before and 3 after birth, or 1 and 4), paid at 80% by INPS with most CCNLs topping up to 100%.
• Paternity and parental leave. 10 working days of mandatory paternity leave at 100%. Up to 10 or 11 months of parental leave shared between parents, usable until the child is 12. Marriage leave is 15 consecutive days at full pay.
• Working time. 40 hours a week standard (some CCNLs set 38 or 39), 48 hours average maximum including overtime, 11 hours daily rest and 24 hours weekly rest. Overtime is capped at 250 hours a year and paid with CCNL premiums of 15% to 50%+. Executives (Dirigenti) are exempt from the caps.

Termination and notice periods

Probation (patto di prova) must be agreed in writing on or before day one and is capped at 6 months; most CCNLs set 1 to 3 months for junior staff. After probation, at-will dismissal does not exist. You need a justified objective reason (Giustificato Motivo Oggettivo, GMO), a justified subjective reason (GMS) or just cause (Giusta Causa), and each carries its own procedure. Notice itself is not fixed by statute: the CCNL sets it by tenure and grade, from 15 days to 6 or more months, and you can pay salary in lieu.

• The redeployment burden (obbligo di repêchage). For any economic dismissal you must show the labour court that the employee could not be moved to any other available role, including a lower one.
• Article 7 procedure. Disciplinary dismissals need a written letter of charges, a 5-day window for the employee to respond (with union assistance if they want it), then a reasoned written dismissal letter. Miss a step and the dismissal is invalid.
• Tutele Crescenti. For hires from 7 March 2015, an unlawful economic dismissal is compensated with 6 to 36 months of salary (3 to 6 months for employers with 15 or fewer staff). Discriminatory, retaliatory or null dismissals still mean reinstatement with back pay.
• Protected categories. Dismissals based on gender, age, religion, sexual orientation, disability or union activity are void and mean reinstatement.
• TFR on every exit. Resignation, dismissal or mutual agreement, the full accrued TFR balance must be paid within the statutory deadline.

Can I use independent contractors?

Only for genuinely independent professionals, and Italian law looks at the facts, not the contract title. Under Article 2 of Legislative Decree 81/2015, any personal, continuous collaboration whose time and place are organised by the client is treated as employment automatically. A Partita IVA contractor is presumed to be an employee if at least two of these apply: the engagement lasts more than 8 months a year for 2 consecutive years, more than 80% of their income comes from you for 2 consecutive years, or they have a fixed desk at your premises. If a contractor is reclassified, the relationship converts to a permanent contract from day one and you owe roughly 30% in back INPS contributions plus interest and evasion surcharges, CCNL wage differentials, accrued 13th and 14th months, unpaid TFR and vacation indemnities. An EOR is the compliant alternative for anyone who works like an employee.

The legal framework in brief

Italian employment law layers the Constitution, the Civil Code, the Workers' Statute, the Jobs Act and EU directives, then delegates wages, grades and much of the detail to sector CCNLs. The sources you will hear referenced most:

• Constitution, Articles 35 to 40. Fair pay, maximum hours, paid rest and vacation, union freedom.
• Civil Code (Codice Civile), Art. 2094 onward. Defines subordinate employment, managerial power, the four employee categories (Art. 2095), probation (Art. 2096), vacation (Art. 2109) and TFR (Art. 2120).
• Workers' Statute (Statuto dei Lavoratori, Law 300/1970). Worker dignity, union rights, the ban on covert surveillance (Art. 4) and the disciplinary procedure (Art. 7).
• Jobs Act (D.Lgs. 81/2015 and 23/2015). Contract types, fixed-term limits, hetero-organised collaboration (Art. 2) and the Tutele Crescenti dismissal regime.
• Transparency Decree (Decreto Trasparenza, D.Lgs. 104/2022). Mandatory written terms on hiring, including disclosure of any algorithmic management, implementing EU Directive 2019/1152.
• Smart Working Act (Lavoro Agile, Law 81/2017). Individual written remote-work agreements, uploaded to the Ministry portal, with a right to disconnect.
• Safety Code (D.Lgs. 81/2008). Risk assessment (DVR), safety roles (RSPP, RLS) and the occupational doctor.
• Equal Opportunities Code (D.Lgs. 198/2006) and Whistleblowing Decree (D.Lgs. 24/2023). Anti-discrimination, and internal reporting channels for employers with 50+ staff.
• GDPR and Privacy Code (D.Lgs. 196/2003). Enforced by the Garante; monitoring tools need a union agreement or INL authorisation, and continuous email or keystroke monitoring is prohibited.

Where the talent is

Italy is the third-largest economy in the EU, with world-class industrial engineering, a fast-growing software and fintech scene, and strong technical universities in Milan, Turin and Bologna. Teams work on Central European Time. English is common in tech and multinational offices, but Italian is the language of contracts, filings and statutory notices.

This guide is general information, not legal, tax or immigration advice. Italian employment, social security and tax rules change regularly through legislation, CCNL renewals and court interpretation. Confirm current figures with a qualified adviser or with Dryft before acting. Last reviewed September 2026.