Greek Digital Work Card to Cover 2.5 Million Workers

by · Greek City Times

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Greece will extend the full implementation of its Digital Work Card system to around 500,000 additional workers in several new sectors, bringing the total number of workers covered by the measure to approximately 2.5 million.

The General Secretary for Labour Relations at the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, Nikos Milapidis, issued a circular clarifying how employers should implement the Digital Work Card in the new sectors, which will join the system in two phases.

Labour and Social Security Minister Niki Kerameus said the Digital Work Card ensures that employees receive pay for their actual working hours while helping combat under-declared and undeclared work.

She said the measure also increases social security revenues and protects both workers and compliant businesses from unfair competition.

According to official data from Greece’s ERGANI information system, the use of the Digital Work Card has led to increases of up to 1,200% in declared overtime in certain sectors. In 2025, employers declared 2.7 million more overtime hours than in 2024.

The two new expansion phases will add approximately 500,000 workers to the system.

First phase

The first phase entered a pilot period on June 2, 2026, which will run until October 11. Full implementation will begin on October 12 for workers in:

  • Human health activities, including hospitals, treatment centres and diagnostic centres, excluding doctors
  • Employment support activities
  • Telecommunications
  • Selected service sectors, including hair salons, beauty centres and laundries
  • Services provided to buildings and outdoor areas, mainly cleaning services

Second phase

The second phase began its pilot period on June 29, 2026, and will continue until November 15. Full implementation will begin on November 16 for workers in:

  • Consultancy, advertising and other office activities
  • Repair services
  • Warehousing and transport-support activities, including logistics
  • Water supply and sewerage activities
  • Gambling activities

During the pilot periods, the Ministry of Labour and Social Security held extensive discussions with employee and employer representatives from the sectors concerned. The ministry said it considered the conclusions of those discussions, along with the specific characteristics of each sector, when preparing the new guidance circular.

Overtime increases

The ministry said sectors already covered by the Digital Work Card recorded more than 5.7 million overtime hours during the first seven months of 2026.

That represents approximately 1.54 million more overtime hours than during the same period in 2025, an increase of 36.8%.

The largest increases included:

  • Wholesale trade: 212.8%, or 594,913 additional overtime hours
  • Administrative and support services in tourism: 172.8%, or 47,991 additional overtime hours
  • Hospitality: 67.2%, or 323,049 additional overtime hours
  • Industry: 15.4%, or 267,916 additional overtime hours

The ministry said the figures demonstrate the impact of the Digital Work Card in recording actual working hours and declared overtime.

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