In-house guards or a security company?
With in-house guarding your business becomes the employer: it hires, trains, supervises, covers every absence and carries the legal duties on its own. With outsourcing to a security company a licensed provider takes all of that on and you check the result. For most businesses outsourcing is the more predictable choice, because the costs of in-house guarding — cover, supervision, staff turnover — never show up in the salary.
Updated: 4 min readSources: 2
What does in-house versus outsourced security mean in practice?
In-house, the guard is your employee and every responsibility around them is yours. Outsourced, you buy hours of cover from a security company, which is the guard’s employer.
- Who hires: in-house, you — job ad, interviews, document checks. Outsourced, the security company.
- Who trains: in-house, you or nobody. Outsourced, the provider, against your written post orders.
- Who supervises: in-house, one of your managers who usually has another job. Outsourced, the provider’s supervisors and operations desk.
- Who covers absences: in-house, you — with overtime or an empty post. Outsourced, the provider, with the replacement time written into the contract.
- Who carries the legal duties: in-house, you as the employer. Outsourced, the security company for its own staff.
Do I need a licence to employ my own security guards?
Whether you need one, and which, depends on how the guards are employed, and you should confirm it with the Hellenic Police or a lawyer before hiring. What is certain is that providing security services to others is a licensed activity in Greece.
Security companies operate under Law 2518/1997. A company’s operating licence cannot be transferred, is valid for five years and is renewed if the conditions still hold (art. 2 §3). Security staff need a personal work licence, category A or B, valid for five years (art. 3), and the company reports to the police every month who works where (art. 4).
If you are thinking of hiring your own guards, ask the Hellenic Police or a lawyer what obligations apply to you before you post a job ad. This guide does not answer that question for you.
What are the hidden costs of in-house security guards?
Salary is only the start: you also pay for covering every absence, supervision, training, management time and every new hire when someone leaves.
The Greek Labour Code sets full-time work at 40 hours a week (art. 189). A 24/7 post is 168 hours, so at least 168 ÷ 40 = 4.2 full-time positions — more once leave and sickness are counted. In-house, that gap is yours to fill.
- Cover: who guards the site when the guard calls in sick at 3 a.m.?
- Supervision: who checks the night shift, and when do they sleep?
- Training: every new guard learns the post from scratch.
- Management time: rotas, leave, payroll, discipline.
- Turnover: every resignation means a new ad, new interviews, new training.
Either way, the same hours have to be paid lawfully. If you ask companies for offers, use price only to reject: an offer that cannot show how it covers lawful pay for the hours of cover is missing something. The guide to guarding costs shows how to run that check.
When does in-house security make sense?
When the post is stable, the hours are few and predictable, and the business already has an HR function that can cover absences and supervision.
- A single daytime post, such as an office reception, with cover from existing staff.
- A role that needs deep knowledge of the business and has few security duties.
- A business that has already confirmed its obligations with the police or a lawyer.
When is outsourcing to a security company the better choice?
When you need nights, weekends or 24/7 cover, when you cannot afford an empty post, and when you want proof of supervision without producing it yourself.
- Cover across several shifts or several sites.
- A risk that needs response and escalation, not just presence.
- A need for logged patrols, shift reports and an incident log.
OVIT gives clients one live picture of patrols, incidents and reports through the Guardly platform, with local teams and a real person on the operations desk. For how to pick a provider, see the guide to choosing a security company.
At a glance
- In-house, you become the employer: hiring, training, supervision, absences and legal duties are all yours.
- Providing security services is a licensed activity (Law 2518/1997); for your own guards, ask the police or a lawyer.
- A 24/7 post is 168 hours a week — at least 4.2 full-time positions before leave and sickness.
- The hidden costs of in-house guarding are cover, supervision, training and staff turnover.
- In-house suits one stable daytime post; outsourcing suits nights, 24/7 and multiple sites.
Frequently asked questions
Is it cheaper to hire my own security guard?
Not necessarily, and price should not be what decides it. To the salary you add cover for absences, supervision, training, management time and new hires. The question is who can deliver lawful, supervised cover for every hour; an outside offer too low to pay those hours lawfully is rejected.
How many people do I need to guard one post 24/7?
At least 4.2 full-time positions: 168 hours a week divided by a 40-hour full-time week, before leave and sickness.
Do I need a licence to employ my own guards in Greece?
Confirm it with the Hellenic Police or a lawyer before hiring. Law 2518/1997 licenses companies that provide security services and their staff.
Sources
Every legal or pay point in this guide was checked against the official sources below.
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