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How to hire remote employees in
Laws about hiring are complicated. Especially when they’re in countries you’re not used to hiring in. But we’re here to make things simple. Below, you’ll learn the two options you have for hiring in Kenya—and the advantages and disadvantages of each.
If you want to successfully hire in
Kenya
, you have two options:
Laws about hiring contractors are significantly more simple in
Kenya
. 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
Kenya
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
Kenya
.
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
Kenya
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
Kenya
, 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 Kenya 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 Kenya.
PTO is calculated by the:
There are 13 public holidays. If a holiday falls on a Sunday, then the proceeding Monday is observed.
The duration of sick leave entitlement provided to workers is dependent on how long they have been employed by their employer:
Women are entitled to 91 days of maternity leave paid at 100% of the regular pay rate.
To be eligible, the woman has to give at least 7 days’ notice to their employer when the leave is intended to be taken and must be able to provide a medical certificate.
Fathers are entitled to 2 weeks paid paternity leave.
In the event of adoption for married employees, the same laws for maternity and paternity leave apply, however, instead of 7 days’ notice for the mother, 14 days’ notice must be given to the employer.
None.
None.
None.
The employer must first conduct a hearing when termination is being considered for misconduct, performance, or physical incapacity to perform duties. The employee is entitled to have a union representative or another employee present in the hearing.
A termination letter with just cause must be provided.
When the employer initiates the termination of an employment agreement, final wages must be paid out on the termination date.
If the employee has been employed for more than 4 weeks, the employer is obligated to provide a certificate of employment after the employment agreement has ended.
The notice period in Kenya is:
When the employee receives wages on a daily basis, no notice is required.
When the employee is paid on a monthly basis, a 28-day written notice must be given by either the employee or employer. It is also possible to give payment in lieu of notice.
There are no provisions in the law regarding severance pay except for when the reason for termination is redundancy.
In this case, severance pay is 15 days of wages for every year of employment.
The probation period in Kenya is 6 months. If the employer dismisses the employee during this time, 7 days’ notice or payment in lieu must be given.
A full work week is 52 hours for daytime employees and 60 for employees who work nights.
Hours worked cannot exceed more than 116 hours in any 2– week period for daytime employees and 144 hours for nighttime employees.
Overtime is paid at the rate of 150% of the regular pay.
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