Guide · HR and payroll
Updated: · 9 min read · By Agnieszka Saladra, Certified Accountant
The first full-time post in a company is a set of obligations that must be carried out in a specific order and within set deadlines. Hiring your first employee involves concluding a contract, referring them for an initial medical examination and OHS (occupational health and safety) training, registering them with ZUS (the Social Insurance Institution) within 7 days, setting up personnel files, determining the PIT (personal income tax) advance (including PIT-2), and accounting for contributions and PPK. Below we go through these stages one by one, with current figures for 2026.
In short
Employment begins with establishing the form of cooperation and the terms, and then concluding the contract. For an employment contract, the written form is most often used. If the contract was not concluded in writing, the employer is required, no later than before allowing the employee to start work, to confirm to them in writing the arrangements as to the parties, the type of contract, and its terms. Additionally, within 7 days of being allowed to start work, the employee should receive written information about the terms of employment.
Before the first day of work, two safety-related obligations must be fulfilled: referring the employee for an initial medical examination and providing initial OHS training. Without a current medical certificate of no contraindications and without completed OHS training, the employee may, as a rule, not be allowed to perform work. This is a stage that cannot be 'made up for' later without risk.
The employer may not allow an employee to start work without a current medical certificate confirming no contraindications to work at the given post. The referral for an initial examination is based on a referral form describing the post and the working conditions. The cost of the examination is borne by the employer. An exception applies, among other things, to a situation where the employee takes up work at the same post they held immediately before concluding a subsequent contract with the same employer.
The second condition for being allowed to work is initial OHS training - general and job-specific instruction. The employer is obliged to provide the employee with training in occupational health and safety before allowing them to start work, and to provide periodic training. Completion of training and being allowed to work must be documented. Allowing an employee to work without current examinations or without OHS training is an offence punishable by a fine.
An employee hired on an employment contract is registered for social and health insurance using the ZUS ZUA form. The time for registration is 7 days, counted in calendar days from the day the insurance obligation arises - that is, usually from the start date of work resulting from the contract. If, together with hiring the employee, the company itself becomes a contribution payer, it must also register itself as a payer.
The ZUA form is used for full insurance (social and health) - the typical situation with an employment contract. On the employer's side, an obligation arises to account for and pay contributions every month and to submit settlement declarations. Failing to register the employee on time entails liability towards ZUS. The registration rules and codes are worth verifying on an ongoing basis at zus.pl and biznes.gov.pl.
As an employer, you are the payer of advances on the employee's income tax. Income from an employment contract is taxed according to the tax scale (12% up to PLN 120,000 of the tax base and 32% above), and each month you withhold and pay the advance. In 2026, the tax-free amount is PLN 30,000, and the tax-reducing amount is PLN 300 per month (PLN 3,600 per year).
For the advance to be reduced by the tax-reducing amount, the employee submits a PIT-2 declaration. On its basis, the employer reduces the monthly advance by 1/12 of the tax-reducing amount (that is, by PLN 300). Without a submitted PIT-2, the advance is higher, and the employee will recover the overpayment only in the annual settlement. Submitting PIT-2 at the start affects the employee's take-home pay throughout the year.
Gross pay is not the full cost of a post. From the employee's gross amount, the employer finances part of the contributions from its own funds: pension (9.76%), disability (6.5%), accident (for smaller payers, standardly 1.67%), the Labour Fund and the Solidarity Fund (2.45% in total), and the Guaranteed Employee Benefits Fund (0.10%). On top of this, PPK contributions may apply, if the employee has not opted out.
For the minimum wage in 2026 (PLN 4,806 gross), the total cost on the employer's side - excluding PPK - is roughly about PLN 5,790 per month, that is nearly PLN 1,000 more than the gross amount. The accident contribution for some payers may differ from 1.67% (it depends, among other things, on the type of activity and the number of insured persons), which is why the exact amount is worth calculating individually and confirming the current rates with ZUS.
For each employee, separate personnel files must be created and kept, with documents arranged chronologically and numbered. The files are currently divided into parts A-E. Part A contains, among other things, documents related to applying for employment and referrals and certificates from examinations; part B contains documents concerning the establishment of the employment relationship and the course of employment. The remaining parts cover, among other things, documentation related to disciplinary liability and the termination of employment.
Alongside the personnel files, the employer keeps documentation on matters related to the employment relationship (including working-time records, leave and payroll documents). For employment relationships established from 1 January 2019, the documentation is kept, as a rule, for the period of employment plus 10 years counted from the end of the calendar year in which the employment relationship ended. The documentation must be kept in a way that guarantees its confidentiality, integrity, and availability.
Employee Capital Plans (PPK) is a programme into which employees are, as a rule, enrolled automatically. The basic contribution is 2% of pay on the employee's side and 1.5% on the employer's side (additional contributions are also possible). The employee may opt out of making contributions by submitting an appropriate declaration to the employer - in which case contributions are not calculated.
The opt-out is not, however, indefinite. Under so-called re-enrolment, opt-out declarations lapse periodically (every 4 years), and contributions are resumed unless the employee opts out again. For the employer, this means an obligation to inform participants on time, calculate contributions, and transfer them to the financial institution within the required deadlines. The details and current deadlines are worth checking at mojeppk.pl.
Your first co-worker can be hired on various bases - most often an employment contract, a contract of mandate (umowa zlecenia), or B2B cooperation are involved. Each of these distributes contributions, taxation, the scope of protection, and the obligations on the hiring party's side differently. We do not point to the 'best' form - we will compare and present the differences using figures from your situation, and you make the decision. We describe the details in a separate guide on the employment contract, contract of mandate, and B2B.
With an employment contract, additional employee rights arise, including paid annual leave - 20 days for a length of service shorter than 10 years and 26 days for service of at least 10 years. A broader catalogue of periods counts towards leave-qualifying service, including running a business and performing a contract of mandate - in public finance sector entities from 1 January 2026, and with all other employers from 1 May 2026 (Dz.U. 2025 item 1423). Ongoing obligations also include the timely payment of remuneration, keeping working-time records, and monthly settlements with ZUS and the tax office.
Given the number of deadlines and the changing regulations, the current state of obligations is worth confirming at the source - at zus.pl, biznes.gov.pl, and pip.gov.pl. At Luno-Group, as an online accounting firm, we run HR and payroll, watch registrations and deadlines, and calculate costs - so that your first hire goes through without any formalities being missed.
Sources and legal basis
An employee on an employment contract is registered for insurance using the ZUS ZUA form within 7 calendar days of the day the insurance obligation arises, that is, usually from the start date of work indicated in the contract. If the company is only now becoming a contribution payer, it must also register itself as a payer. The current codes and rules are worth checking at zus.pl and biznes.gov.pl.
Yes. The employer may not allow an employee to work without a current medical certificate of no contraindications or without completed initial OHS training (general and job-specific instruction). The cost of the examination is borne by the employer, and completion of the training must be documented. Allowing someone to work without examinations or training is an offence punishable by a fine.
In 2026, the minimum wage is PLN 4,806 gross, and the minimum hourly rate is PLN 31.40. The total cost on the employer's side at the minimum wage (excluding PPK) is roughly about PLN 5,790 per month - the difference from the gross amount consists of employer-funded contributions. The exact cost depends, among other things, on the accident rate and PPK, which is why it is worth calculating individually.
PIT-2 is an employee declaration on the basis of which the employer reduces the monthly PIT advance by 1/12 of the tax-reducing amount, that is, by PLN 300 (the tax-free amount is PLN 30,000, PLN 3,600 per year). Submitting PIT-2 is not mandatory, but without it the advance is higher, and the employee recovers the overpayment only in the annual settlement.
From the gross amount, the employer finances from its own funds the following contributions: pension (9.76%), disability (6.5%), accident (for smaller payers, standardly 1.67%), the Labour Fund and the Solidarity Fund (2.45%), and the Guaranteed Employee Benefits Fund (0.10%). For each employee, personnel files (parts A-E) are kept, and employee documentation for employment from 2019 is kept, as a rule, for the period of employment plus 10 years from the end of the year in which the employment relationship ended.
Most often an employment contract, a contract of mandate, or B2B is involved - each distributes contributions, taxes, the scope of protection, and the hiring party's obligations differently. We do not point to the best form, because the outcome depends on the specific situation. We can compare and present the differences using figures, and you make the decision. Remember too that the choice of form has a legal dimension (the State Labour Inspectorate, labour law) that goes beyond accounting settlements.