Who employs the staff in a staffed villa?

The Staff in a Staffed House

The staff in a Greek villa are employed by the owner or by the company that manages the house, not by the guest. Greek employment law, not the length of the stay, sets their hours and rest periods. Their employer gives them their instructions. Their duties are whatever the letting agreement says, which is usually narrower than a guest assumes. A written schedule of who does what, and when, prevents nearly every dispute in a staffed house.

In short

Staff in a staffed villa are employed by the owner or the management company. The guest is not their employer and cannot vary their terms.
Greek employment law gives every worker 11 consecutive hours of rest in each 24, and at least 24 hours of uninterrupted rest each week.
Every employee in Greece must have a written contract, be declared through the ERGANI system and be insured with e-EFKA.
Greece’s minimum wage rose to €920 gross a month for salaried employees on 1 April 2026, paid over 14 payments a year.
“Fully staffed” is not a defined term. What it means in a given house is whatever the letting agreement lists, and nothing else.
A staffed house is also the workplace of the people in it, so the schedule is agreed before arrival rather than renegotiated during the stay.

Who the employer is

In almost every staffed house in Greece, the staff work for the owner or for the company that manages the property. They do not work for the guest, and renting the house for a week does not change that.

This decides who gives instructions, who resolves a difficulty and whose insurance covers an accident. It also decides who a guest goes to when something is wrong. That person is the owner’s representative: the house manager, the agent or the management company. It is not the person cooking dinner.

It matters for a second reason. A guest who instructs staff directly on hours, duties or terms is instructing somebody else’s employees on matters their employer has already agreed with them. This rarely leads to a formal problem. It routinely leads to an uncomfortable house.

What Greek law fixes

Some of what a staffed house can and cannot do is not open to negotiation, because it is set by employment law.

Every employee in Greece must have a written contract of employment, be declared by the employer through the ERGANI system and be insured with e-EFKA, the national social security fund. Employers file a monthly declaration of earnings and contributions.

Working time is regulated. Employees are entitled to 11 consecutive hours of rest in each 24-hour period and to at least 24 hours of uninterrupted rest in each week. The law sets working hours, overtime, rest and leave, and a contract cannot sign them away.

Pay has a floor. The minimum wage rose on 1 April 2026 to €920 gross a month for salaried employees. Greece pays salaries in 14 payments a year.

Together, these rules produce the fact that most surprises guests. A household of staff cannot be available for 16 hours a day for 10 days. A house that appears to offer that is either rotating people the guest has not been told about, or its staff will pay for it later.

What “fully staffed” does not tell you

The phrase has no fixed meaning. It describes houses whose arrangements have almost nothing in common.

A cook who prepares breakfast and leaves makes a different house from a chef who cooks three meals. Daily housekeeping is different from a change of linen twice a week. A boatman who runs the tender (the small boat that goes between a larger boat and the shore) on request is different from one attached to the house all day. A house manager who lives on site is different again from one who visits each morning.

Each of those arrangements works well. The words “fully staffed” imply none of them, so ask for a list instead.

The list to have in writing

Six lines settle nearly everything.

Who is in the house, by role.
What each of them does, in specific terms: meals, laundry, cleaning, driving, the boat, the children.
When they are there, including their days off and who covers those days.
Where they sleep, and whether they live on site.
What is outside their duties: the requests where the honest answer is no.
Who to speak to about all of it, with a name and a telephone number.

A well-run house produces that list without difficulty. A house that answers with adjectives has also told you something.

Privacy runs both ways

A staffed house is one group’s workplace and another group’s holiday at the same time. Convention manages the two, not rules.

Staff in good houses are practised at being invisible, and guests rarely realise how much of that is skill. The arrangements that make it work are small and best agreed early: which parts of the house belong to the staff, when the family wants the house to itself, how the day begins, and how and to whom requests are made.

The guest has an obligation in return. The people in the house see everything, and they are professionals who do not talk about it. A household that treats that discretion as owed, rather than earned, loses it.

Gratuities and the end of the stay

Practice varies between houses and between agents. The sensible time to ask is at booking, not on the last morning.

Ask the agent how gratuities are handled in that particular house. Ask whether anything is included in the letting, whether gratuities go to individuals or are shared, and who passes them on. Every good agent has a clear answer. Awkwardness only arises when nobody asked.

What to settle before arrival

The written schedule above: who, what, when, and their days off.
Meals. Which ones, for how many people, and how far in advance the kitchen wants to know.
Dietary requirements and allergies, in writing, before the shopping is done.
Children. Whether anybody in the house looks after them, and whether that person is qualified and insured to do it. This question has one correct answer, and it is not “everyone helps”.
Who holds the budget for provisioning, and how it is accounted for at the end.