How to hire an employee in the Czech Republic

Hiring in the Czech Republic runs through a fixed sequence: a written pracovní smlouva carrying three mandatory elements, a zkušební doba agreed in writing no later than the day employment arises, registration with Česká správa sociálního zabezpečení (ČSSZ) and with the health insurer the employee has chosen, and the written information that § 37 zákoníku práce requires within seven days of the start.

Two features of that sequence catch foreign employers out. The first is that most of the deadlines run from the employee’s start date rather than from the date the contract was signed, so a contract agreed in October for a January start sets January deadlines and nothing is due in the meantime. The second is that one duty runs before the start date rather than after it: where the new hire is a foreign national, the employer must notify the regional branch of the Úřad práce before they start work, and the ČSSZ registrations must be made before the start as well.

None of it can be papered over later. A zkušební doba agreed a week into the job does not exist, and a fixed term not agreed in writing produces an indefinite contract.

The employing company carries every duty in this post. If the hire is made through our own Czech company, the contract, the registrations and the monthly filings are in its name, and you keep the commercial side of the relationship: who to hire, what the role is, what it pays, and when it ends. Koruna figures below are 2026 figures, with euro equivalents in brackets at 24.350 CZK to the euro, the ČNB fixing for 21 September 2026.

The pracovní smlouva must be in writing and each party must receive a copy, under § 34 odst. 2 a 5 zákoníku práce. Only three things are mandatory content of the contract itself: druh práce, the type of work; místo nebo místa výkonu práce, the place or places of work; and den nástupu do práce, the start date.

That short list surprises employers used to a fifteen-page offer letter. Pay, hours, leave and notice do not have to sit in the contract at all. They may be set in a separate mzdový výměr, in an internal regulation or in a kolektivní smlouva, and then communicated to the employee under the information duty in § 37. Putting them in the contract instead is lawful, and it makes every later change a contract variation that needs the employee’s signature. That is why many Czech employers keep the contract to the statutory three elements and handle pay in a mzdový výměr they can reissue.

Several other terms are void or disregarded unless they are written down. A fixed term must be agreed in writing or the relationship is indefinite (§ 39 odst. 1). Kratší pracovní doba, individually agreed part-time hours, must be agreed in writing (§ 80). A konkurenční doložka must be in writing, as must any withdrawal from it (§ 310 odst. 6). A dohoda o práci na dálku must be in writing (§ 317 odst. 1). Outside probation, a výpověď that is not in writing is disregarded altogether (§ 50 odst. 1).

One safety valve exists before the start. If the employee does not turn up on the agreed den nástupu do práce without an obstacle, or the employer does not learn of the obstacle within a week, the employer may withdraw from the contract in writing, but only until the employee has actually started work (§ 34 odst. 3 a 4). The drafting choices behind all of this are covered in more depth in our guide to Czech employment contracts.

Zkušební doba runs to a maximum of four consecutive months for an ordinary employee and eight consecutive months for a vedoucí zaměstnanec, counted from the day employment arises. Those limits changed on 1 June 2025, when zákon č. 120/2025 Sb. raised them from three and six months. Any page still saying three months, six for managers, is describing the position up to 31 May 2025.

Two conditions decide whether a probation exists at all. It must be in writing, and it must be agreed no later than the day employment arises, including where someone is appointed to a managerial post. There is no way to add it afterwards. On a fixed-term contract it may not exceed half the agreed term, so a six-month contract carries at most three months of probation.

Probation can be extended by written agreement during the probation itself, within the same caps. It is also extended automatically by any working day on which the employee did not work a full shift because of an obstacle, leave or unexcused absence. That automatic extension is in § 35 odst. 4 and it is the reason a probation end date should be recalculated from the attendance record rather than diarised at signing.

Inside probation either side may end the employment for any reason or none. It has to be in writing, and it ends on the day of delivery unless a later day is stated. The one restriction on the employer is that it may not end the employment during the first 14 calendar days of the employee’s temporary incapacity or quarantine (§ 66 odst. 1 a 2).

Within seven days of the employment starting, the employer must give the employee written information about everything § 37 odst. 1 zákoníku práce lists that the contract does not already contain. The list is long and it is specific.

• The leave entitlement and how its length is determined
• The duration and conditions of any zkušební doba
• The termination procedure for both sides, and the running and length of the výpovědní doba
• The set weekly working time, how it is scheduled, and the extent of overtime
• Pay, the method of remuneration, when pay is due, the pay date, and the place and method of payment
• Which social security authority the employer pays contributions to

Most of those items may be given as a reference to the relevant legislation, collective agreement or internal regulation rather than restated in full (§ 37 odst. 2). That is what makes the duty workable: a short information sheet pointing to the zákoník práce and to the employer’s own internal regulation satisfies it, provided the references are accurate.

Changes must be notified in writing without undue delay and at the latest on the day the change takes effect, other than changes in legislation, collective agreements and internal regulations. If the information is given electronically it must reach the employee in a form they can save and print, and the employer must keep proof of delivery (§ 37 odst. 4). On starting, the employee must also be acquainted with the work rules, the health and safety rules, the collective agreement and the internal regulations.

A parallel duty in § 77a applies to workers engaged on a dohoda o provedení práce or a dohoda o pracovní činnosti, with essentially the same list and the same seven days. Those two agreements are employment relationships under the zákoník práce, so the duty is not a formality that can be skipped because the engagement is small.

Three registrations follow the start date, and each of them runs on eight days. The employer enters itself in the ČSSZ evidence zaměstnavatelů within eight days of the first employee starting work. The employee goes into the ČSSZ evidence zaměstnanců within eight days of starting. And the start is reported to the health insurer the employee has chosen, on the Hromadné oznámení zaměstnavatele, within eight days of the event.

Two of those flip for a foreign national: both the employer registration and the employee registration must be made before the start date rather than within eight days of it. Separately, the employer must notify the regional branch of the Úřad práce before a foreign national starts work. Since 2026 a failure to do so is its own offence, nehlášená práce, under § 5 písm. j) zákona č. 435/2004 Sb. It carries a fine of up to 500,000 CZK (approximately EUR 20,534) for enabling unreported work, and up to 100,000 CZK (approximately EUR 4,107) for not holding copies of the documents evidencing the employment relationship at the workplace.

Citizens of EU and EEA states and of Switzerland, and their family members, have free access to the Czech labour market. They need no work permit, no zaměstnanecká karta and no modrá karta.

Statutory accident insurance is the registration employers forget, because it is not a registration anyone applies for. Cover against the employer’s liability for occupational injury and occupational disease arises by operation of law on the day the first employment relationship starts, and the employer notifies Kooperativa without undue delay. Premiums are quarterly, by 31 January, 30 April, 31 July and 31 October.

Filing is electronic. ČSSZ registrations go in by e-podání only, through the ČSSZ data box, the ePortál or the APEP and VREP interfaces. From 1 January 2026 the health insurers’ Hromadné oznámení zaměstnavatele and the monthly Přehled o platbě pojistného zaměstnavatele are electronic only as well, and paper is no longer accepted. In practice an employer needs a Czech datová schránka, because there is no paper route left. What happens in the months after registration is set out in our post on Czech payroll explained.

Yes, by hiring through a company that already has one. That is what Employer of Record Czech Republic does: our own Czech company employs your hire on a Czech pracovní smlouva under the zákoník práce, and every statutory employer duty in this post sits with it. You are not the employer and your company does not become one.

Czech law regulates the activity of employing people in order that they work for another company, a uživatel. Under § 14 odst. 1 písm. b) zákona č. 435/2004 Sb. that activity requires a licence from the Ministerstvo práce a sociálních věcí, a povolení ke zprostředkování zaměstnání, and a deposit of 1,000,000 CZK. Our Czech company holds that licence. Czech employment law itself does not use the term employer of record; what the licence covers is agenturní zaměstnávání, governed by §§ 307a až 309a zákoníku práce. An assigned employee’s working and pay conditions must be no worse than those of a comparable employee of the user company (§ 309 odst. 5).

The alternative is your own Czech company, which means a notarial deed, a živnostenské oprávnění, registration in the obchodní rejstřík, a datová schránka and then all of the filings above in your own name, every month, for one employee or for fifty. What the two routes cost is set out in our post on the cost of hiring in the Czech Republic.

Either way the Czech rules are the same. The contract carries the three mandatory elements, probation is agreed by the first day or not at all, the information duty is discharged within seven days, and ČSSZ and the health insurer hear about the hire within eight.

None of this depends on where your own company is registered. A UK company can put someone on a Czech contract without opening anything in the Czech Republic, and our post on whether a UK company can hire in the Czech Republic explains who the employer actually is in that arrangement.