From March 1, 2025, the full implementation of the Digital Work Card in tourism and catering will begin, following a pilot phase that took place over the previous six months. This was done to provide businesses with sufficient time to adapt to the new regulations.

The Digital Work Card has already been applied in banks, major supermarkets, insurance companies, security companies, public utilities, the industrial sector, and retail. With this new extension to tourism and catering, approximately 1.5 million employees in the private sector will now be included in the system.

The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs aims to fully track actual working hours, ensure full wages for each hour worked, address illegal changes and overtime violations, help combat undeclared and underreported labor, tackle social security fraud, and facilitate labor inspection checks with the implementation of this measure.

Increase in Overtime
According to the latest available data from the Ministry of Labor, the measure is deemed effective, as data from the “ERGANI” Information System show a significant increase in recorded overtime in sectors where the Digital Work Card is implemented.

For example, overtime hours in these sectors have increased by a cumulative total of 815,509 hours compared to the years before the implementation of the measure.

Specifically, the recorded overtime has increased as follows:

• In supermarkets by 60% (216,731 hours in 2024, compared to 135,466 hours in 2021),
• In banks by 38.3% (82,236 hours in 2024, compared to 59,470 hours in 2021),
• In security companies by 27.8% (454,547 hours in 2024, compared to 355,584 hours in 2022),
• In the industry by 34.3% (2,019,082 hours in 2024, compared to 1,503,813 hours in 2023),
• In retail by 28.1% (474,999 hours in 2024, compared to 370,883 hours in 2023).

As part of this development, as announced by the Minister of Labor and Social Affairs, Niki Kerameos, in public statements, the possibility of further reducing non-wage labor costs for workers and businesses is being examined.

The Ministry of Labor is also considering a legislative initiative that would potentially reduce social security contributions for overtime, extra hours, night shifts, and holidays, particularly in light of the steady increase in recorded overtime in sectors already included in the Digital Work Card system.