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How to hire remote employees in
Laws about hiring are complicated enough. Try to research overseas laws (in Ghana, for instance) and it gets unbearably confusing. So we’re here to help. Bottom line is, if you want to hire in Ghana, you’ve got two options: You can hire your remote teammates as regular employees, or you can hire them as contractors. There are some serious differences you should know about, and we’ll cover them below.
If you want to successfully hire in
Ghana
, you have two options:
Laws about hiring contractors are significantly more simple in
Ghana
. 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
Ghana
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
Ghana
.
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
Ghana
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
Ghana
, 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 Ghana 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 Ghana.
Minimum annual leave in Ghana is 15 working days.
There are 13 public holidays in Ghana.
There are no clear labor laws regarding sick pay, except for that sick leave must be certified by a doctor and is independent of annual leave.
Maternity leave is 12 weeks, and in certain cases, this can be extended. After returning from maternity leave, a woman is entitled to one hour during the workday to nurse until the child reaches the age of one year old.
There are no provisions in the law.
There are no provisions in the law.
None.
None.
None.
In Ghana, either the employee or employer is able to terminate the employment contract at any time. Termination must be given in writing.
If termination is deemed unfair, the employee can make a claim with the labor court and in some cases, have their employment re-instated. Reasons for unfair termination include:
Notice period in Ghana is as follows:
For a contract of 3 or more years, one months’ notice or one month pay in lieu of notice.
For an employment contract less than three years, two weeks’ notice or two weeks’ pay in lieu of notice.
In the case of a contract from week to week, seven days’ notice.
A contract determinable at will by either party may be terminated at the end of the day without any notice.
It is possible to pay the employee in lieu of notice unless there is an “at will” clause in the employment contract.
In this case, an employee can be terminated at the end of a working day with no notice.
In the event of an employee being terminated by the employer, the employer is not obliged to compensate the employee with severance pay. However, the employer shall pay to the employee.
Any remuneration earned before the termination
Any deferred pay due the employee
Any compensation due the employee
For expatriates- in addition to the above, an expatriate shall be paid expenses and necessaries for the journey and repatriation expenses (including the expenses of their family members).
Probation period is not outlined in the law, except for that it should be reasonable.
In general, probation periods are agreed upon in collective agreements.
A regular work week in Ghana is 40 hours, or 8 hours a day.
Overtime hours are paid at a rate of 150% of the normal pay rate.
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