Independent contractors or freelancers are self-employed individuals who provide services to companies as a non-employee. This is one of the most common ways companies tend to hire non-local designers, engineers, support reps, etc.
For legal and tax purposes, independent contractors are not classified as employees. They may work for multiple clients, set their own work hours, negotiate their pay rate, and decide how a job gets done.
For example, the IRS says that if an independent contractor or freelancer does work that can be controlled (what will be done and how it will be done) by an employer then they are, in fact, classified as an employee.
As you can imagine, hiring someone as an independent contractor versus an employee is a fine line to tread.
While there are benefits when you choose the contractor route, there are quite a few drawbacks to consider and you’ll need to weigh them carefully to determine the best fit for your company.
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A foreign subsidiary is a company that operates overseas as part of a larger company who’s HQ is in another country.
Establishing a foreign entity is great for having an international presence and accessing new markets. Though, setting up a subsidiary in Turkmenistan can be expensive, stressful, and time-consuming. It's not for the faint of heart.
To set up a subsidiary in Turkmenistan, you have to:
If you're lucky, this process can take months. If you're not so lucky, it can take up to a year. And on average, it costs about $50k-$80k, all-in-all, to get setup. And that's just for Turkmenistan.
An employer-of-record (EOR) is a company that hires and pays an employee on behalf of another company.
An EOR is typically used to overcome the financial and regulatory hurdles that often come with employing remote workers.
Each country has its own payroll, employment, and work permit requirements for non-resident companies doing business in their jurisdiction. Meeting those demands can be a huge obstacle when it comes to hiring remotely.
At Panther, we help companies employ and pay people in over 160 countries, without having to set up a foreign subsidiary. Payroll, benefits, taxes, compliance, and more are all handled by us, at a fraction of the cost.
Outside of saving you months and tens of thousands of dollars, other advantages of using Panther are:
Because you no longer have to set up your own subsidiary, you’ll save a ton of time and tens of thousands of dollars using Panther.
Paying employees in Turkmenistan is not the same as paying workers in your own country. Employees have to be paid using Turkmenistan’s employment and payroll standards.
This means that you have to know, understand, and keep up with 1) fluctuating currency changes, and 2) local payroll and tax laws in the countries you’re looking to hire in.
Outside of the laws and regulations around payroll, there may be different conditions surrounding leave, overtime, termination, and more. As you can imagine, maintaining this kind of regulatory knowledge can be challenging. But it is crucial and necessary to follow local legislation.
After, you’ll have to determine the best way to pay your international employees. This can be done in a number of ways, including but not limited to:
One of the most challenging (and expensive) parts of paying international employees is setting up the infrastructure to do so.
Before you start to run payroll, you have to register your company as the local employer in the country the worker resides in. As you can see in the “Set up a subsidiary” section, this is a multi-step process that can take up to a year and put you on your way to bankruptcy.
Outside of EORs acting as the full admin employer, many also provide remote payroll.
For example, at Panther, in just 1-click, you’re able to pay your entire global team, anywhere in the world. We send you an invoice each month, charge you in US Dollars, and pay your employees the same amount in their local currency.
We factor in currency fluctuations and use the mid-market rate plus any applicable fee passed on by our provider at cost at the time of billing.
The standard work duration for a full-time employee does not exceed 40 hours per week.
For teenagers (aged between 16 and 18 years), the work hours cannot exceed 36 hours per week and 24 hours a week for persons below sixteen years of age. Typically, office timings in Turkmenistan are from 9 am to 6 pm.
Overtime work must not exceed 4 hours for each employee on 2 consecutive days and 120 hours per year.
Employer
Employees in Turkmenistan receives their salary in monthly basis.
Turkmenistan offers a supplemental benefits including the 13-month bonuses.
PTO is calculated by the:
An employee has the right to postpone or extend the annual basic leave if:
There are 9 public paid holidays in Turkmenistan:
There is no specific statutory right to sick leave in most cases.
However, employees are entitled to unpaid leave to care for a sick family member, with the length of the leave based on the recommendations of the medical institution that is caring for the relative.
Female employees under Article 68 of the Social Security Code receive 112 days of fully paid maternity leave with 56 days before the estimated date of birth and 56 days after giving birth.
The paid maternity leave is extended by 16 days if there are birth complications, and by 40 days in the event of multiple births.
There is no statutory paternity leave beyond the option for the father to take parental leave, except for in a few circumstances where the mother is not present in the child’s life.
A woman, regardless of the length of service, after the expiration of maternity leave, has the right to unpaid parental leave until the child reaches the age of three years.
Leave to care for a child may also be granted to the person actually caring for the child, including the father, guardian of the child, as well as, in cases established by the legislation of Turkmenistan, to another relative.
Parental leave can be used in whole or in parts. A person who is on parental leave until the child reaches the age of three has the right to interrupt the vacation and start work before the expiration of the parental leave, notifying the employer about this two weeks before going to work. In this case, the annual basic leave is provided for the actual time worked.
In Turkmenistan an additional leave for upon reaching the Age of 62 – 3 calendar day is provided to citizens upon reaching the age of 62 years, or such leave can also be added to the main annual leave.
A person injured as a result of a radiation catastrophe shall be granted additional leave of up to fifteen calendar days.
10 calendar days, given 5 days before marriage.
An additional leave of 10 calendar days to complete the funeral rite and commemoration on the basis of a certificate issued by the state civil registry office are provided to two close relatives of the deceased.
Employers can terminate an employment contract for economic or business reasons which render the employee redundant or based on the employee’s conduct or performance.
The employer is obligated to notify the employee in writing.
Special rules and procedures apply to redundancy dismissals and employee misconduct.
The notice period is either two weeks or two months depending on the reason for the termination.
Only three days of notice is required during the probation period.
Severance pay must be paid in most situations when the employer terminates an employment contract for a reason other than the employee’s misconduct.
Probation period does not exceed 3 months.
Once the employment contract ends, the probationary period does not apply to people belonging to the below-mentioned categories:
