Denmark
Denmark, and Copenhagen in particular, is a magnet for people who work remotely—it’s a magical part of Northern Europe. And, if you’ve found someone you’d like to hire there, you’re in the right place. By the end of this page, you’ll learn how to hire someone remotely in Denmark, no matter where your company’s based. And you’ll learn how to do it without paying thousands in fees.
Country snapshot
CURRENCY
Danish Krone (DKK)
EMPLOYER TAXES
Approximately 1,241 DKK per month
PAYROLL FREQUENCY
Monthly
OFFICIAL LANGUAGE
Danish Dansk
It’s the fastest way to hire globally
Hiring employees takes months, at the minimum. When you hire with Thera's locally-generated contracts, it’s a matter of days or weeks. This means you can hire the best talent, fast, without losing them to a hellish procession of paperwork.
It’s a lot cheaper
It costs just $0 to sign up for Thera, then $25 per month to hire your contractors with Thera. If you hired employees manually (or did contracting on your own), you’d likely be on the hook for thousands of dollars each month. Setting up an entity alone can cost tens of thousands of dollars.
It’s more flexible for you & your team
Can be less risky than hiring employees
Hiring employees is a bigger commitment, and can open you up to increased liabilities and regulations. When you hire contractors overseas, your biggest risk is misclassification—but laws surrounding contractor classification are often significantly more straightforward.
Some people want to be employees
The contractor life isn’t for everyone—some people want the security that being an employee often appears to provide. Though it’s rare, this does happen, and it’s one disadvantage of manage an all-contractor team.
You might not have as much control over your talent
Most countries’ contractor-employer relationship laws stipulate that the employer can’t set fixed working hours, among other things. These laws give contractors more freedom over how and when they do their work than an employee would have. In reality, however, most contractors are willing & able to work on the company’s schedule—it’s a matter of setting expectations beforehand.
It doesn’t matter where your HQ is, we can tell you one thing: Denmark has different labor laws than your home country (well, unless your home country is Denmark, of course). If you don’t do things right, you’ll be putting your company at the risk of fines—and risk losing the talent you brought onboard.
Hire talent as contractors
Hire talent as employees
If you’ve read up until this point, you’ll know that it’s easier, cheaper, and more flexible to hire contractors in Denmark than employees. Still, there are valid reasons why you might want to hire employees instead. The content below is for you—we’ll cover employer taxes and obligations in Denmark
Employer tax
- Approximately 1,241 DKK per month
Paid Time Off (PTO)
Denmark has a “concurrent holiday” system, meaning that employees can use their holiday as they earn the days each month. Employees earn 2.08 days of paid holiday every month, for a total of 25 days per year. In general, employees accrue 12.5% of your salary in holiday allowance.
The holidays begin to accumulate on September 1, and run through August 31 of the following year. Employees who wish to take days before they earn them can do so with the agreement of the employer.
Employees who were unable to take their holiday leave due to Covid-19 can postpone it to the current year.
Public Holidays
There are 10 public holidays.
Sick Days
Salaried employees receive payment during sickness from employers for the first 30 days. After this period, social benefits pay employees for up to 22 weeks.
Non-salaried employees are not guaranteed paid sick leave. Any sick benefits should be stated in the employment contract.
Maternity Leave
Expecting mothers are entitled to leave of 4 weeks before birth, and 14 weeks after. Salaried employees receive 50% of their wages for this time. Employees who are covered by agreement may be entitled to full pay.
Paternity Leave
New fathers are entitled to 2 weeks’ leave which must be taken during the first 14 weeks following birth.
Parental Leave
Following the initial 14 weeks of maternity leave, each parent has the right to take up to 32 weeks of leave. This time can be extended by either 8 or 14 weeks, however, this will decrease the amount of parental allowance received monthly. One of the parents may choose to defer between 8 to 13 weeks of leave which can be kept for a continuous period before the child is one year old.
Other Leave
Work-related injury leaves: Employers are covered for work accidents from contributions made to social security (ATP). Also, most employers have additional private workers compensation insurance. Work accidents should be reported no later than nine days after the first day of absence. See sick leave for time off and compensation.
Marriage Leave
None.
Bereavement Leave
None.
Termination Process
In order to terminate an employee, sufficient reasoning must be provided. A written notice is not required but is recommended to avoid any disagreements
Notice Period
Under the labor law in Denmark, salaried employees are entitled to a notice period of 1-6 months, depending on the length of employment.
Severance Pay
There is no general statutory regulation on severance pay, but salaried employees who have been in continuous employment for between 12 to 17 years are entitled to a severance payment of between 1 to 3 months’ salary. Some collective bargaining agreements also include rules on severance pay that depend on seniority.
Probation Period
None.
Working Hours
Full-time employment is 37 hours weekly. A workweek should not exceed 48 hours, including overtime.
Overtime
Denmark does not have a mandatory or general overtime regulation. Rules for overtime should be stated in the collective bargaining agreement. The typical overtime pay rate is 150% of the regular pay for the first three hours, and 200% for subsequent hours, holidays, or Sunday work.
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