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 Zimbabwe can be expensive, stressful, and time-consuming. It's not for the faint of heart.
To set up a subsidiary in Zimbabwe, 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 Zimbabwe.
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 Zimbabwe is not the same as paying workers in your own country. Employees have to be paid using Zimbabwe’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 standards working hours are 8.5 hours a day and 44 hours a week.
Overtime may be regulated under Collective Bargaining Agreement. No such regulation could be located. In accordance with the Labour Act, Minister for Labour may issue regulations regarding overtime, shift work and night work.
The minimum overtime rate is 150% of the normal salary/wage rate when employees are required to work beyond the normal working hours. When an employee works on a public holiday, then a premium of 200% of the normal salary/wage is normally paid.
For breakdown, continuous work, emergency and for every hour or part thereof worked by an employee in excess of his/her ordinary hours of work, the employer shall pay the employee not less than one and a half times his/her ordinary rate.
For every hour or part thereof worked by an employee between midnight on Saturday and midnight on Sunday, or midnight of the day before their day off, the employer shall pay the employee not less than twice their ordinary rate.
An employee can only be required to work a maximum of 10 hours per day.
In Zimbabwe, employee receive their salary in monthly basis.
In Zimbabwe, 13th month pay is not mandatory.
Employees are entitled to a rate of 30 days or one-month leave after a continuous employment period of one year. Weekends and public holidays are counted as part of the vacation leave days.
There are 17 public holidays.
Sick leave is only granted by a duly registered medical practitioner.
An employee may enjoy 90 days of sick leave in a year on full pay (before the employer can consider medical termination)
If the employee has exhausted the 90 days of sick leave in any one-year period of service, they may request a further 90 days of sick leave at half pay. Again the request needs to be accompanied by a signed certificate from a registered medical practitioner.
During any one-year period of service, if the sick leave exceeds 90 days of full pay and 180 days of full and half pay, the employer may terminate the employment of the employee concerned.
Female employees are protected under law and are entitled to 98 working days’ leave on full earnings. (There is a compulsory entitlement of 21 days before confinement included in the 98 days.)
A female employee may proceed on maternity leave not earlier than the forty-fifth day and not later than the twenty-first day prior to the expected date of delivery.
There is no paternity leave.
There is no parental leave.
In Zimbabwe it is managed under Section 14B of the Labour Act 28:01
The maximum number of days each employee MAY proceed on this type of leave is twelve (12) days per year.
These days cannot be demanded or enjoyed unless the following circumstances obtain:
-when an employee has been authorized by a registered medical practitioner to be away from work due to an infectious disease.
-when an employee has been subpoenaed to attend court proceedings ONLY as a witness.
-when an appointed employee is attending trade union meetings.
-when an employee has been detained by the police ONLY for the purposes of questioning.
None.
In Zimbabwe it is managed under Section 14B of the Labour Act 28:01, the employer may grant the special leave when an employee has lost a spouse, parent, child or legal dependent. The duty to prove the existence of the circumstances rests on the affected employee.
According to the Code of Conduct, a contract of employment can be terminated if the employer and employee mutually agree to it in writing.
This is also the case if an employee is engaged in a fixed-term contract or for performance of a specific task and the
contract has expired after the mandated period or the task is completed.
Employers CAN terminate contracts on the following grounds:
If an employee:
The notice period in Zimbabwe is:
Notice of termination of the contract of employment to be given by either party shall be:
Employers may be required to pay severance pursuant to a collective agreement or employees dismissed due to redundancy. Severance generally is one month of salary for every two years of service to the employer.
In Zimbabwe, the contract includes a probationary period, it may not last longer than three months, except for casual or seasonal work, for which the probationary period may be only one day.
