Once a company is formed, hiring staff in Spain means registering as an employer with Social Security, choosing a valid contract type under the Estatuto de los Trabajadores, respecting the minimum wage (SMI), and meeting a set of registration and notification deadlines tied to each new hire.
Spain's labor rules are enforced through specific, short deadlines (registering a worker before their first day, notifying the employment office within 10 business days) and a default presumption that contracts are indefinite. Missing these steps or misusing temporary contracts creates real legal and financial exposure for a new employer.
Key Facts
SMI (salario mínimo interprofesional) for 2026: €1,221/month (paid in 14 payments) or €40.70/day, per Real Decreto 126/2026 (BOE-A-2026-3815), effective from 1 January 2026 — a 3.1% increase over 2025. The decree frames €17,094/year as the minimum annual comparison figure and states the minimum wage must be paid entirely in cash (payment in kind cannot reduce it).
An employment relationship is presumed to be indefinite (contrato por tiempo indefinido) by default under the Estatuto de los Trabajadores (Real Decreto Legislativo 2/2015).
Following the 2021 labor reform (Real Decreto-ley 32/2021), the main contract types are: indefinido (standard, including indefinido fijo-discontinuo for seasonal/recurring work), temporal (restricted to justified "circunstancias de la producción" or substitution of a worker with job-reservation rights), contratos formativos (training contracts), part-time (tiempo parcial), and relevo (relay contracts linked to phased retirement).
Contracts must be in writing when: the relationship exceeds 4 weeks, or they are training, part-time, fijo-discontinuo, or relevo contracts.
Employers must first register themselves with the Tesorería General de la Seguridad Social (TGSS) to obtain a Contribution Account Code (Código Cuenta de Cotización, CCC) before hiring anyone, and are required to use the Sistema RED for contribution and affiliation procedures regardless of headcount.
Employer obligations after hiring (per Ministerio de Trabajo guidance): register the worker with Social Security before they start work; notify the Servicio Público de Empleo (SEPE) of the contract's content within 10 business days of signing; give workers written information on essential contract terms within 2 months of the start date if not already documented; employers may not charge workers for selection, training, or hiring costs.
2026 Social Security employer contribution rates (Orden PJC/297/2026, BOE-A-2026-7296, effective 1 January 2026): contingencias comunes 28.30% total (23.60% employer / 4.70% employee); Mecanismo de Equidad Intergeneracional (MEI) 0.90% total (0.75% employer / 0.15% employee); accidentes de trabajo y enfermedades profesionales (AT/EP) — employer-only, variable by activity tariff under Additional Provision 61 of the Social Security Law; FOGASA 0.20% (employer); formación profesional 0.70% total (0.60% employer / 0.10% employee).
Unconfirmed: the exact desempleo (unemployment) contribution percentage was not itemized in the BOE order text as fetched this session, and the reported 2026 maximum monthly contribution base of €5,101.20 came from secondary sources rather than a direct fetch of that specific figure — both should be re-checked against seg-social.es before being treated as final.
Steps
1. Register as an employer with the TGSS — Obtain a Contribution Account Code (CCC) before hiring anyone.
2. Enroll in the Sistema RED — Mandatory for all employers, regardless of number of staff.
3. Choose and sign the correct contract type — Indefinido is the legal default; temporal contracts are only valid for specific, justified circumstances since the 2021 reform.
4. Register the worker with Social Security — The "alta" must be completed before the worker's first day, via Sistema RED/Sede Electrónica.
5. Notify SEPE of the contract — Within 10 business days of signing.
6. Run monthly payroll contributions — Pay contingencias comunes, MEI, AT/EP, FOGASA, formación profesional, and desempleo via the Sistema RED.
Costs
SMI floor: €1,221/month gross (14 payments), or the daily equivalent of €40.70.
Employer-side Social Security contributions add roughly 29-31%+ on top of gross salary once contingencias comunes (23.60%), MEI (0.75%), FOGASA (0.20%), and formación profesional (0.60%) are combined — the exact all-in figure depends on the variable AT/EP tariff and the unconfirmed desempleo rate (see Key Facts).:
Timelines
Worker Social Security registration: before the start of work.
SEPE contract notification: within 10 business days of signing.
Written notice of essential contract terms: within 2 months of the start date, if not already documented in the contract.
Required Documents
Written employment contract (where legally required)
Contribution Account Code (CCC)
Worker's Social Security affiliation number and NIE/NIF
Sistema RED registration records
Common Mistakes
Hiring before completing TGSS employer registration and obtaining a CCC.
Defaulting to temporary contracts as a matter of convenience — post-2021 reform, temporal contracts are restricted to specific justified circumstances.
Missing the 10-business-day SEPE notification deadline.
Treating the SMI figure as a net (take-home) amount rather than gross.