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How to hire remote employees in
Found some great remote talent in Colombia, but slightly more confused about how to hire that talent? Well, you’ve got two options: Hiring talent as employees, or hiring talent as contractors. Here are the big differences between the two.
If you want to successfully hire in
Colombia
, you have two options:
Laws about hiring contractors are significantly more simple in
Colombia
. Onboarding talent takes days, not weeks or months. Both you, the company, and your talent have more flexibility. And in many cases, since you’re remote, the talent you’re hiring is better classified as a contractor, anyway. Of course, it’s not possible in every case, but it’s what we built Thera for.
This is the long route. You can either establish a physical presence with an entity and register as an employer, or you can use an Employer-of-Record (EOR) solution. Odds are, you’ll find using an EOR to be the easier route. Still, using an EOR in
Colombia
is expensive—it can often be $500 per month per employee—and sometimes prone to lengthy onboarding times.
Hiring contractors is normally the easier, faster, more flexible choice—but don’t just take it from us. Below are the specific benefits and drawbacks to hiring contractors in
Colombia
.
Hiring employees takes months, at the minimum. When you hire with Thera's locally-generated contracts, it’s a matter of days or weeks. This means you can hire the best talent, fast, without losing them to a hellish procession of paperwork.
It costs just $0 to sign up for Thera, then $25 per month to hire your contractors with Thera. If you hired employees manually (or did contracting on your own), you’d likely be on the hook for thousands of dollars each month. Setting up an entity alone can cost tens of thousands of dollars.
Hiring contractors in
Colombia
means you’re generally not on the hook for things like health insurance and paid time off. This makes hiring flexible for you, and it gives your talent more options.
Hiring employees is a bigger commitment, and can open you up to increased liabilities and regulations. When you hire contractors overseas, your biggest risk is misclassification—but laws surrounding contractor classification are often significantly more straightforward.
The contractor life isn’t for everyone—some people want the security that being an employee often appears to provide. Though it’s rare, this does happen, and it’s one disadvantage of manage an all-contractor team.
Most countries’ contractor-employer relationship laws stipulate that the employer can’t set fixed working hours, among other things. These laws give contractors more freedom over how and when they do their work than an employee would have. In reality, however, most contractors are willing & able to work on the company’s schedule—it’s a matter of setting expectations beforehand.
If you’re hiring contractors in
Colombia
, you can pay them with Thera in a single click. You won’t need to worry about complicated wire transfers, fees, or currency conversions. We’ll take care of it all. Just make a click and your contractor will get paid in their currency of choice. This is a valuable bonus for talent in countries where the local currency is particularly weak—most people appreciate the ability to receive their payment in stronger currencies.
If you’ve read up until this point, you’ll know that it’s easier, cheaper, and more flexible to hire contractors in Colombia than employees. Still, there are valid reasons why you might want to hire employees instead. The content below is for you—we’ll cover employer taxes and obligations in Colombia.
Note: Only applies to employees earning 10 times the minimum wage
PTO is calculated by the:
There are 18 public holidays.
The employer is responsible for paying for the first 2 days of sick leave at the rate of two-thirds of the regular salary.
From the third day on, sick leave is paid by social security at the same rate.
Maternity leave is 18 weeks, paid at a rate of 100% salary. The employer makes the payment to the employee and then claims the money back through social security (EPS).
Paternity leave is 8 working days, paid at a rate of 100% salary. The employer makes the payment to the employee and then claims the money back through EPS.
There are no provisions in the law regarding parental leave.
None.
5 days of paid leave.
5 days. Leave can be paid or unpaid and depends on company policy.
The reason for dismissal must be communicated to the employee in writing upon termination.
The notice period in Colombia is:
The Severance Pay in Colombia depends on the Duration of Employment:
When the termination is without cause, employers are obligated to pay severance. For employees with an indefinite term agreement, the severance will be calculated as follows:
Indefinite contracts- The probation period is 2 months.
Fixed-term contracts- The probation period cannot exceed more than 1/5 of the initially agreed employment term.
Full-time employment is considered 48 hours weekly, and 8 hours daily.
Hours worked in a single day cannot exceed 10.
Overtime pay rates are as follows:
Exemptions on overtime compensation:
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