Hiring procedures

Are you looking to make your first hire or getting ready to expand your existing teams? As an employer, you must comply with certain formalities. What procedures must be followed and what costs should you expect? Will you be eligible for any support when hiring staff? This article covers the key points to bear in mind.

Your business is growing and you need support to ensure your company’s expansion. You’ve defined the profile of your ideal candidate and the tasks that will be assigned to them. Now’s the time to get started on recruitment. What is the best way to go about this and what costs should you expect?

For a first hire, you must register as an employer

If you are recruiting your first employee, you must register as an employer with the Luxembourg Centre Commun de la Sécurité Sociale (CCSS). To do this, you must file a “Déclaration d’exploitation” form with the CCSS. You will then receive your registration number (“matricule-employeur”) and will be automatically affiliated with the following three bodies.

• • The Accident Insurance Association (Association d’Assurance Accident): this is the body dealing with the prevention of and compensation for workplace accidents, travel and sickness. The level of contributions varies on the basis of the risk classification of your business and a premium/discount factor related to the cost of workplace accidents.
  • The Mutualité des Employeurs: this body covers part of the financial cost of salary payments during periods of employee sickness. You will be classified in one of the four contribution classes based on your financial absenteeism rate (reimbursements by the Mutualité des Employeurs as a proportion of the total payroll subject to contributions).
  • An occupational health organisation: the aim of this organisation is to prevent risks related to the health and safety of employees in the workplace. You will be registered with the Service de santé au travail multisectoriel (STM), unless you provide a certificate of adhesion to a different occupational health organisation. The contribution rate for the STM is published annually in the Official Journal of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.

Before publishing your job advertisement you must declare the vacancy to ADEM using a “déclaration de poste vacant” form.

Declaring a job vacancy

Before publishing your job advertisement you must declare the vacancy to the Agence pour le développement de l’emploi (ADEM) using a “déclaration de poste vacant” form. There is no charge for this declaration, which must be made at least three days before any advertisement in the press. The declaration can be completed on the MyGuichet.lu platform or using the PDF available on the Portail de l’emploi.

→ Useful info: ADEM organises recruitment workshops to help employers find candidates when several people are sought for similar positions. In certain circumstances, it may also cover the training costs to ensure that young recruits are operational from the start of their contracts.

Once the vacancy has been declared, you can go ahead and advertise your vacancy wherever you wish: on your company’s website, social media, specialised websites, newspapers, etc. You can also use the services of a recruitment agency. And don’t forget to put out feelers with your professional network! Note that some forms of advertising cost money: check the terms and conditions and the cost of such services in advance.

Compulsory hiring procedures

Once you’ve held interviews and found the ideal candidate to support your business, there are certain compulsory procedures that must be carried out before hiring.

Draw up an employment contract

Employees must sign an employment contract that complies with labour laws, at the latest, on the day that they start their new position. There are different types of contract in Luxembourg: a permanent contract (CDI), fixed-term contract (CDD), assignment contract, etc. This document is drawn up in two copies and signed by both parties and details the official terms and conditions of the working relationship. Of course, any contract must comply with applicable law.

CCSS declaration

You have eight days after hiring a new employee to declare them to the CCSS. For this, make a declaration of start of employment (“déclaration d’entrée”) by filling in the form on the CCSS website or using the SECUline online service. This declaration is obligatory and means that the employee is covered for sickness, maternity, workplace accidents, disability and retirement.

Initial medical examination

You must organise an initial medical examination for your new employee by sending an employer’s request (“demande patronale”) to your occupational health organisation. This medical examination aims to assess the aptitude or otherwise of your new recruit for the position. It must be made in advance for high-risk positions or night work, and at least two months after starting for all other positions.

Tax card

As an employer, you are responsible for deducting provisional tax on your employee’s salary and paying it to the Luxembourg tax authorities (ACD). For this you will need the employee’s tax card showing their tax class or tax rate. If you don’t have this document, you must deduct tax based on tax class 1 at the rate of 33%. The files have been made available to employers on MyGuichet.lu from 1 January 2022. You must download this and check its validity each month.

Once you have hired a new employee, you are subject to legal obligations related to labour laws. You must budget for the additional costs that this may entail.

The employer’s commitments and costs

Once you have hired a new employee, you are subject to legal obligations related to labour laws. You must budget for the additional costs that this may entail.

Costs incurred include costs related to remuneration. You are free to negotiate the salary when the employment contract is signed, but it must respect the applicable minimum wage or the pay scale under the collective agreement (if one exists for your business sector). Going forward, you will also have to comply with any salary indexations and any benefits (13th month of salary, meal vouchers, etc.).

Each month, you must declare the gross remuneration and exact number of hours worked by your employee to the CCSS. Based on this information, the CCSS calculates the total social security contributions to be paid. You will then pay the CCSS the employee contributions that you have deducted from your employee’s salary, together with your employer contributions.

You must also pay the tax deducted from your employee’s salary to the tax authorities. To do this, you should use the form on the ACD website or MyGuichet.lu (“Déclaration de retenue d’impôt sur les rémunérations et des crédits d’impôt bonifiés”). The frequency of such declarations depends on the amount deducted at source.

In addition, you must issue a payslip each month, respect the rules on working hours, and keep a register of paid leave and overtime hours, etc. These formalities will mean extra administration costs. Don’t forget the cost of equipment and fittings to accommodate your new colleague: office, PC, telephone, etc.

You will find all of the obligations in relation to human resources management on the Guichet.lu website 

As an employer, you may, in certain circumstances, be entitled to financial support from the government if you hire a jobseeker.

Hiring incentives

As an employer, you may, in certain circumstances, be entitled to financial support from the government if you hire a jobseeker who is older, has been unemployed for a long time, is retraining, disabled or under 30 years old, etc.

As the case may be, you may be exempt employer social security contributions, be reimbursed part of the gross salary, or, for disabled employees, the cost of certain expenses such as training fees, adaptation of the workstation, etc.

→ Useful info: if you have at least 25 employees in your company, you are obliged to employ at least one full-time employee who is recognised as disabled. If you employ at least 50 staff, this rises to 2% of total employees, and to 4% if you have more than 300 employees.

There are also special contracts (employment reintegration contracts (CRE), employment support contracts (CAE), or employment initiation contracts (CIE)) which entitle the employer to a contribution to salary costs and/or reimbursement of the employer’s social security costs.

Finally, you are entitled to a tax credit if you recruit a jobseeker registered with ADEM for at least six months. This represents 10% of the employee’s gross monthly salary, which is deductible as an operating expense for a maximum period of 12 months. NB: tax credits cannot be combined with other employment incentives.

To find out more on existing support and eligibility conditions, take a look at the ADEM website or contact their employers department.

That covers the main procedures that must be followed when hiring staff. Whatever stage of development your business is at, hiring a new employee is an important milestone for an employer, which may influence the smooth running of your business. Take the time to plan in advance and anticipate the various costs and formalities. We wish you every professional success!