Last updated: 15 October 2026
A first international hire costs the salary, plus about 16% to 32% in employer contributions depending on the country, plus the Teamed fee. In the three examples below, the fee is 7.6% to 11.3% of the year’s bill.
Three worked examples below: £60,000 in the United Kingdom, €40,000 in Spain and €60,000 in Germany, from salary to all-in cost. Every statutory rate comes from Teamed’s 2026 compliance research and the country hiring guide it sits beside; the fee is the Teamed fee.
Want the person, not the arithmetic? Read who handles your first international hire.
The reaction a first quote often gets is some version of “six hundred a month on a fifty thousand salary is expensive”. This page answers that with the numbers, not a discount. The companion page, how to get finance to approve your first overseas hire, names the seven cost lines and deliberately gives no country figures. This page gives the figures for three countries and does not re-explain the lines.
What is the monthly cost formula for one international hire?
Salary, plus the employer contributions the country requires, plus the employer of record fee. The fee is the only line that belongs to the provider.
First-time employers underestimate the contributions and overestimate the fee, because the fee is the only number on the quote. The contributions are set by each country’s law, they sit on top of the gross salary, and they are owed whether you use an employer of record or run an entity of your own. Seen as a share of the whole year, the fee is small, and the three examples below show how small.
Illustrative throughout: your hire’s role, contract type and personal circumstances move the contribution lines. Run your own salary through the employer cost calculator, which covers 94 countries and all 50 US states.
What does a £60,000 hire cost in the United Kingdom?
About £75,300 a year all in, of which the Teamed fee is 7.6%.
| Line | Basis | Illustrative amount |
|---|---|---|
| Gross salary | Your offer | £60,000 |
| Employer National Insurance | 15% on earnings above the £5,000 secondary threshold | £8,250 |
| Employer pension, auto-enrolment minimum | 3% of qualifying earnings between £6,240 and £50,270 | £1,321 |
| Total before the fee | 116% of salary | £69,571 |
| Teamed fee | £479 per employee per month, 12 months | £5,748 |
| All in | About 126% of salary | £75,319 |
| Fee as a share of the year | £5,748 of £75,319 | 7.6% |
Employer National Insurance is the big line, and it has no upper ceiling. Pension auto-enrolment is on by default at the 3% employer minimum; the employee can opt out, and many employers pay more. The United Kingdom cost breakdown carries the rates and their sources, last reviewed 7 October 2026.
What does a €40,000 hire cost in Spain?
About €59,600 a year all in, of which the Teamed fee is 11.3%.
| Line | Basis | Illustrative amount |
|---|---|---|
| Gross salary | Your offer, paid in 14 instalments with the same annual total | €40,000 |
| Employer social security | 32.2% of gross for an office role on an indefinite contract: common contingencies 23.6%, unemployment 5.5%, accident cover about 1.5%, training 0.6%, wage guarantee fund 0.2%, intergenerational equity 0.75% | €12,860 |
| Total before the fee | 132% of salary | €52,860 |
| Teamed fee | €560 per employee per month, 12 months | €6,720 |
| All in | About 149% of salary | €59,580 |
| Fee as a share of the year | €6,720 of €59,580 | 11.3% |
Spain is the heaviest of the three on contributions, which is why the fee shows as a larger share of a smaller salary. The exact employer rate moves with the contract type and the accident risk of the role; the 2026 contributions order puts the typical total between 31.35% and 33.75% of gross. The Spain cost breakdown carries the lines and their sources.
What does a €60,000 hire cost in Germany?
About €79,400 to €79,900 a year all in, of which the Teamed fee is about 8.4%.
| Line | Basis | Illustrative amount |
|---|---|---|
| Gross salary | Your offer | €60,000 |
| Employer social insurance | About 21% to 22% of gross: pension 9.3%, health 7.3% plus half the insurer’s additional rate (1.45% at the 2026 average of 2.9%), unemployment 1.3%, long-term care 1.8%, which is 21.15% before accident insurance, set by sector | €12,690 to about €13,200 |
| Total before the fee | 121% to 122% of salary | €72,690 to about €73,200 |
| Teamed fee | €560 per employee per month, 12 months | €6,720 |
| All in | About 132% to 133% of salary | About €79,400 to €79,900 |
| Fee as a share of the year | €6,720 of about €79,400 to €79,900 | About 8.4% |
Germany is a range on purpose. The pension share is a single statutory number, 9.3% of gross, and the health, unemployment and care rates are set nationally, but each insurer adds its own additional rate and the accident scheme depends on the sector. The Germany cost breakdown gives the 21% to 22% range and its sources. Both apply up to the contribution ceilings, which a €60,000 salary does not reach.
Is 600 a month on a 50,000 salary expensive?
No, once the whole year is on the page. Take a €50,000 salary in Spain. Employer social security at the 2026 rates is €16,075 a year. The Teamed fee is €560 a month, €6,720 a year. The year’s bill is about €72,795, and the fee is 9.2% of it.
The social security you would owe under any model, including your own Spanish company, is more than twice the fee. The fee is the price of not having that company: no incorporation, no local payroll registration, no monthly filings, and someone accountable when a payslip looks wrong. It is also the only line on the quote that a provider controls, which is why it gets the attention. Compare the bill, not the headline.
Teamed charges zero FX markup, there is no setup fee and no exit fee, and you can cancel any month. That is the whole answer, and it is the same answer for a second hire and a tenth.
What are the one-off costs?
At Teamed there is no setup fee and no exit fee. The one upfront item is a deposit of one month’s gross salary, held to protect your hire’s pay and refundable. It is not a fee, so it belongs in a cash-flow line, not in the annual cost. Invoices are on Net-7 terms. The pricing page sets out what the fee covers, and a 90-day satisfaction guarantee covers the service: not a fit, you’re not locked in.
Is an EOR or your own entity cheaper for one hire?
For one hire, an employer of record. Your own entity means incorporation, a registered address, a bank account, payroll and tax registration, then bookkeeping, filings and annual accounts for as long as the company exists. Those costs are the same whether it employs one person or twenty, which is why an entity gets cheaper per head as headcount grows and is rarely the cheaper answer for a first hire.
There is no single headcount that flips the answer. It depends on the country’s setup cost, its running cost, the EOR fee and how fast you grow, not on salary. The Crossover Calculator finds the month your own entity becomes the cheaper path for your country. Teamed tells you when you reach it, and shows the maths.
What does currency conversion add to the bill?
With Teamed, nothing: zero FX markup on any currency. Elsewhere, the rate used to turn your hire’s local salary into your invoice can carry a margin that never appears as a line, and over twelve months of payroll it adds up. Ask any provider how the rate on your invoice is set and whether anything is added to it, and get the answer in writing. The honest invoice shows what a conversion looks like when it is itemised, and the unbundling calculator backs the margin out of an invoice you already have.