Here at JobRack, we make the process of finding a great employee simple. However, many business owners come to us with one important question:
How much should I pay my remote workers?
This guide is to help you decide on a fair and competitive salary.
Eastern Europe is an extremely attractive option for outsourcing for many reasons – including excellent quality of work, big talent pool, and lower cost of living. The lower the cost of living, the lower are the average salaries for that country, which means that you can have a happy, talented, and well-paid team for a lower cost than if you hire in the US.
So, let’s look at the cost of living across Eastern European countries.
- The Baltic Countries
Among the three states placed on the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, Estonia is the most expensive one, while Latvia has the lowest cost of living. According to Numbeo, monthly rent for a one-bedroom apartment in the city center would cost $600 in Lithuania, $500 in Estonia, and only $350 in Latvia. For comparison, that’s over 10x lower than if you were to get a place in New York!
- The Balkans
The Balkans include eleven countries in the southeast of Europe: Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Romania, Slovenia, Bulgaria and Greece. The cost of living is similar in most of these countries, especially for those areas that used to be a part of former Yugoslavia.
Albania is one of the countries with the lowest cost of living in Europe, meaning that you can get an espresso for only $1 or rent a great place in the city centre for only $500. Croatia and Slovenia are the most expensive countries of this group (you would need to pay around $2 for that coffee, and the same apartment would cost about $650).
- Eastern Slavic Countries
With a low cost of living and an amazing talent pool, Russia, Ukraine and Belarus are among the top outsourcing destinations with technical talent. That means that extremely talented developers and IT specialists from these countries can get a nice meal for around $12 or a delicious cappuccino for $2!
- Western Slavic Countries
If you decided to rent a great one-bedroom apartment in Poland, Czech Republic, or Slovakia, you would have to pay around $600.
- Other Areas in Eastern Europe
Other than these areas, we also offer remote workers from Moldova, Cyprus, Hungary, and Georgia. The cost of living varies according to country (in Moldova a one-bedroom apartment would cost $300, in Hungary $450, in Georgia $600 and in Cyprus $700).
These numbers vary from city to city, but the prices are significantly lower than in the UK and in the US. It's also important to remember that quality remote workers also have an access to many remote opportunities from different areas of the world, and tend to go for opportunities that offer them a fair salary and a comfortable lifestyle.
The map below shows the average salaries in Eastern Europe:
Different socioeconomic factors make the official average salaries much lower than you might expect. However, the kind of remote talent that you’re likely to want to hire such as high-quality developers, designers, content writers, SEO specialists, and virtual assistants are usually paid more than the national average, especially if they choose to find remote work.
Although the cost of living is one of the factors when determining a salary, it is not always the most important one. For example, although Belarus has a relatively low cost of living, the success of its tech-industry makes their developers among the highest-paid in the region.
With offers from all around the world, talented remote workers can find well-paid positions regardless of where they live.
Here at JobRack, we gathered information from thousands of our remote workers and our satisfied clients, and found the average figures for paying remote workers from Eastern Europe:
| Role | Junior Position | Mid-Level | Senior Position |
| Developer | $1,500 - $2000 | $3500 | $5000 - $8000 |
| Graphic Designer | $1,000 | $2,000 | $4,500 |
| Content Writer | $900 | $1,300 | $2,700 |
| Project Manager | $1,500 | $2,500 | $3,500 |
| Sales / Marketing | $1,000 | $2,000 | $3,000 |
| Virtual Assistant | $900 | $1,300 | $2,200 |
| Customer Support | $1,000 | $1,500 | $2,500 |
As you can see, the average salary depends on the experience and skills of your workers and the position you’re looking to fill.
It's important to note that this is a gross salary offered to the employees, so they'll be responsible for paying taxes and their insurance. If you're serious about having a loyal and strong team, you can offer benefits on top of the base salary. Receiving a monthly amount dedicated to health insurance or a pension fund will definitely make a huge difference for your team, and they'll be more likely to stay with your company for a long time!
To help you decide what you’re looking for, let’s also take a look at some of the job posts we had here at JobRack, and how our clients decided on the salaries for the positions they were offering.
- Software Developer
With a serious talent shortage in the US (there are around a million unfilled job openings for tech jobs!), this is THE role to outsource to regions of the world with a surplus of high-quality technical talent.
Here is an example of a job post where one of our clients wanted to fill a junior position with a negotiable salary. They outlined that they are still a relatively small, self-funded company looking for a WordPress developer and explained that the candidates do not need previous experience as long as they are resourceful and willing to learn. On the other hand, here is an example of a job post where a company needed a senior lavarel developer, a key role for which they offered a salary of around $6500.
- Designer
This company looking for a junior graphic designer offered a salary of $8 per hour (around $1,300 per month). The responsibilities included building landing pages, with no coding skills needed.
On the other hand, we had a client looking for someone with 3+ years of professional experience creating interfaces for websites or applications, and they offered a salary of $2,500 to $3,500 per month.
- Project Manager
If you’re not sure of the exact salary you’re offering, you can list it as negotiable.
However, it’s always a good idea to give some clue as to what the figure would be since a lot of remote workers would be more inclined to apply for the position if they know it’s in the right ballpark for them.
This ad said that the salary was negotiable, but listed that it would be between $2600 – $3400 per month, depending on the skills and the experience of the new hire. This second post is one of our own ads. We offered $3,000 as we needed a really senior lead operation and project manager who would coordinate all of our teams.
- Customer Support
Customer Support salaries usually range from $1,000 to $2,500. In this example, the starting salary was $1,500. On our own job post, we offered a salary of $1000 for a flexible position of a customer support manager who would help us ensure that our clients have an excellent experience.
- Content Writer
One of the great things about Eastern Europe is that remote workers from these countries have excellent English skills. The salaries range from $900 to $3,700 for full-time positions, and you can check out one of our clients’ job posts for a content writer here, or a job post for a more senior position of a content manager here.
- Sales & Marketing
Sales and marketing roles include a variety of different positions, so let's just take a look at a few positions.
In this job post, one of our clients offered 2,500 to 3,000 euros per month to find an Amazon PPC Specialist with experience in Amazon Ads and Google Ads. Another client was looking for an Outreach Coordinator who would handle research and communication with website owners, offering between $1,500 and $2,500 per month.
For a Senior Digital Manager, this client offered a salary between $3000 and $3500. Also, note that this job post also offers many benefits that are likely to attract many quality applicants.
- Virtual Assistant
This is the most versatile role of all, as you can find an assistant to help you with almost everything you need in your business and personal life. Virtual assistants usually get paid between $900 and $2,200, depending on the tasks you need them to do. You can check our own ad right here
In the chart below, you can find salary comparisons between our recommended average salaries for Eastern European remote workers and the average salaries in the United States according to sources like Glassdoor and Payscale.
As you can see, hiring from Eastern Europe means that you get to save a lot of money while getting great quality of work.
If you pay an Eastern European remote worker only half of what you would pay to a US worker, this automatically means that you have more money to invest in growing your business. At the same time, you will have a satisfied, talented team that’s going to stay with your company for a long time.
Lower cost is just one of the many reasons hundreds of satisfied clients have successfully hired through JobRack.
Hiring a new employee is an investment, and you will want the best value for a good cost.
With strong educational systems, a rising tech industry, compatible time zones and great internet connections and infrastructure, remote workers from Eastern Europe are reliable, well-educated and talented individuals that have proved their worth again and again.
Once they get a good opportunity, they become dedicated and loyal members of the team.
That’s why Eastern Europe is the perfect place for outsourcing.
Here at JobRack, we have thousands of high-quality remote workers just waiting to help you in your business. Click here to find out more.
