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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 Malawi—and the advantages and disadvantages of each.
If you want to successfully hire in
Malawi
, you have two options:
Laws about hiring contractors are significantly more simple in
Malawi
. 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
Malawi
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
Malawi
.
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
Malawi
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
Malawi
, 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 Malawi 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 Malawi.
PTO is calculated by the:
There are 12 public holidays.
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 8 weeks of maternity leave every 3 years and receive their full salary.
There is no statutory paternity leave in Malawi.
There is no statutory parental leave.
Work-related injury leave: For temporary disability, the employee is entitled to a percentage of their regular salary.
For employees who are deemed to be permanently disabled, a lump sum of 54 months is paid out to the employee.
For employees who are partially disabled, a percentage of the 54 months will be paid out to the employee, depending on the degree to which they are assessed to be disabled.
In addition to this, it is the responsibility of the employer to pay for all medical expenses associated with the injury.
If the injury results in death, a sum totaling 42 months excluding any disability benefit paid before the passing of the employee is paid out to the family.
None.
None.
Termination needs to be submitted in writing to the other party.
The employee must be given the opportunity to present their counterargument.
The employer is obligated to provide a termination certificate to the employee stating the reason for termination.
The notice period depends on the frequency the employee is paid:
If the employee is paid monthly: 30 days’ notice
If the employee is paid every 2 weeks: 15 days if they have been employed for less than 5 years and 30 days if they have been employed for more than 5 years
If the employee is paid monthly: One week if the employee has been employed for less than 2 years; 2 weeks if the employee has been employed between 2-5 years; one month if the employee has been employed for more than 5 years.
If the employee is paid on an hourly or daily basis: 1 day for less than 6 months of employment, 1 week for 6 months-2 years of employment; 15 days for 2-5 years of employment, 1 month for 5+ years of employment.
An employee is only eligible for severance pay if they are let go due to economic reasons (i.e. redundancy ore retrenchment) or if they are terminated unfairly. In addition, the employee must have completed one year of employment.
Depending on the contract, the probation period can last up to 12 months.
A full workweek in Malawi is 48 hours.
Overtime hours during the regular workday are paid at a rate of 150% of the normal pay. In addition, the employee is entitled to receive the hours of overtime back in compensatory rest for at least the equivalent amount overtime worked.
For work over a weekend or public holiday, the overtime pay rate is 200%.
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