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 Guinea Bissau can be expensive, stressful, and time-consuming. It's not for the faint of heart.
To set up a subsidiary in Guinea Bissau, 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 Guinea Bissau.
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 Guinea Bissau is not the same as paying workers in your own country. Employees have to be paid using Guinea Bissau’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 workweek is 45 hours, with eight hours a day over seven consecutive days.
In Guinea Bissau, any overtime work in the evening should be paid at 25%, while weekend overtime work is paid at 50%.
Employer
In Guinea Bissau, employees expect to be paid monthly.
In Guinea Bissau, bonuses are not required by law, but some employers choose to offer performance-based bonuses.
Fixed-term employment contracts with less than one year, the annual leave is paid at 2.5 days for each month of work.
Employees receive 30 days of paid annual leave per year, which cannot be accumulated, and the dates are decided by an agreement between parties.
There are 10 public holidays.
In Guinea Bissau, the employee may receive five days of sick leave under the employment.
Female employees are entitled to receive 60 days of paid leave, which are paid by the employer unless the employee is covered by social security.
There is no statutory paternity leave.
There is no statutory paternal leave.
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Termination of the employment is possible with the following reasons:
The notice period in Guinea Bissau depends on the job role of employees:
In Guinea Bissau, employees under an indefinite contract who have completed at least 12 months of service are generally entitled to receive severance pay of at least 50 hours worth of wages for hourly workers and 25% of one month's wage for monthly paid workers.
The probationary period in Guinea Bissau is 3 months.
