What Is Temporary Employment Through an Agency (EPA) and How Does It Work in Greece?

Temporary agency employment is one of the most useful — and most misunderstood — staffing tools available to Greek businesses. Used correctly, it gives you workforce flexibility with less administrative burden. Here is how the model actually works, in plain language.

The triangular relationship

Temporary agency work involves three parties. The temporary employment agency (in Greece, an ΕΠΑ — a company licensed by the Ministry of Labour specifically for this activity) is the formal employer: it signs the employment contract with the worker. The client business — called the indirect employer — is where the worker actually performs the job, under the client’s day-to-day direction. The worker is employed by the agency but works inside your operation. This triangle is what makes the model flexible: the employment relationship and the workplace are deliberately separated.

What the agency handles

The agency carries the employment administration: payroll, social security contributions, hiring declarations and the related paperwork, plus recruitment and screening before the worker ever reaches you. Crucially, a serious agency also handles replacements — if a worker does not show up or does not perform, the agency provides a substitute, which is a guarantee direct employment simply does not offer.

What remains your responsibility

As the indirect employer you direct the daily work and you are responsible for the working environment: health and safety conditions at your facility, proper equipment, and lawful working hours for the work performed on your premises. You cannot outsource the safety of your own warehouse floor. Practically, you also owe the worker what you owe any team member: clear instructions, a named supervisor and a proper induction.

The worker’s rights: equal treatment

A cornerstone of the framework, in Greece as across the EU, is the principle of equal treatment: temporary agency workers are entitled to the essential working and employment conditions that would apply if they had been hired directly by the client for the same job. A business hoping to use agency work to pay people less for identical work is using the wrong tool and taking on legal risk. The legitimate value of the model is flexibility and administrative relief — not wage arbitrage.

When the model fits

Temporary agency employment fits seasonal peaks, projects with a defined end, sudden volume increases, absence cover and trial periods before permanent hiring (temp-to-perm). It fits less well for roles requiring months of specialised training or for permanently stable core positions — those are usually better served by direct employment.

How to choose an agency

Three checks separate serious agencies from the rest. First, licensing: temporary employment agencies in Greece require registration and approval by the Ministry of Labour — ask for it. Second, transparency: a serious agency explains exactly what its rate includes and how premiums for nights, holidays and overtime are handled. Third, replacement speed: ask specifically how quickly a no-show is replaced, because that answer is where staffing partners genuinely differ. Choose on those three criteria and the model delivers what it promises: a workforce that scales with your business, without the administrative weight.