error: ISO C++ forbids in-class initialization of non-const static member

Question

this is the header file: employee.h

#ifndef EMPLOYEE_H
#define EMPLOYEE_H

#include 
#include 
using namespace std;

class Empl         


        

Answer 1

The initialization of the static member counter must not be in the header file.

Change the line in the header file to

static int counter;

And add the following line to your employee.cpp:

int Employee::counter = 0;

Reason is that putting such an initialization in the header file would duplicate the initialization code in every place where the header is included.

Answer 2

According to a similar SO answer there is another approach, in particular suited for your current implementation (header-only library):

// file "Employee.h"
#ifndef EMPLOYEE_H
#define EMPLOYEE_H

class Employee {
public:
    Employee() {
        getCounter()++;
    }
    ~Employee() {
        getCounter()--;
    }

    static auto getCount() -> std::size_t {
        return getCounter();
    }
private:
    // replace counter static field in class context,
    //    with counter static variable in function context
    static auto getCounter() -> std::size_t& {
        static std::size_t counter = 0;
        return counter;
    }
};

#endif //EMPLOYEE_H

I took the liberty to use std::size for representing the non-negative employee count and trailing return syntax for functions.

Accompanying test (ideone link):

#include "Employee.h"

int main() {
    std::cout << "Initial employee count = " << Employee::getCount() << std::endl;
    // printed "count = 0"

    Employee emp1 {};
    std::cout << "Count after an employee created = " << Employee::getCount() << std::endl;
    // printed "count = 1"

    {
        Employee emp2 {};
        std::cout << "Count after another employee created = " << Employee::getCount() << std::endl;
        // printed "count = 2"
    }
    std::cout << "Count after an employee removed = " << Employee::getCount() << std::endl;
    // printed "count = 1"

    return 0;
}