Greece Expands Digital Work Card to 500,000 More Workers

Greece has fully implemented the Digital Work Card system for workers in healthcare services, employment support, telecommunications, hairdressing, beauty centres, dry cleaning and building and outdoor cleaning services, excluding doctors.

The expansion marks the first phase of a new rollout, which began as a pilot programme on 2 June 2026.

Labour and Social Security Minister Niki Kerameus said the latest expansion would protect almost 500,000 additional workers, bringing the total covered by the system to approximately 2.5 million.

She said the Digital Work Card helped ensure workers received payment for their actual working hours, improved transparency, combated undeclared and underreported employment, and promoted fair competition.

According to official data from the ERGANI information system, the system has led to increases of up to 1,200% in declared overtime in certain sectors. Employers also declared 2.7 million more overtime hours in 2025 than in 2024, the minister said.

Second phase begins in November

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

• Consulting, advertising and other office activities
• Repair services
• Warehousing, logistics and transport support services
• Water and wastewater management
• Gambling services

The Ministry of Labour and Social Security reported that businesses in sectors already covered by the Digital Work Card recorded more than 5.7 million overtime hours during the first seven months of 2026.

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

Wholesale trade recorded a 212.8% increase, equivalent to 594,913 additional overtime hours. Administrative and support services in tourism rose by 172.8%, adding 47,991 hours.

The hospitality sector recorded a 67.2% increase, or 323,049 additional overtime hours, while industry reported a 15.4% rise, equivalent to 267,916 hours.