Egypt
There’s some great remote talent in Egypt. Want to know how you can hire there, legally, without wading into months of paperwork and thousands of dollars in fees? In the next few minutes, we’ll teach you.
Country snapshot
CURRENCY
Egyptian Pound (EGP)
EMPLOYER TAXES
27%
PAYROLL FREQUENCY
Monthly
OFFICIAL LANGUAGE
Modern Standard Arabic
It’s the fastest way to hire globally
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’s a lot cheaper
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.
It’s more flexible for you & your team
Can be less risky than hiring employees
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.
Some people want to be employees
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.
You might not have as much control over your talent
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.
Hiring in Egypt? That’s excellent. But if your company’s HQ isn’t already in Egypt, things can get complicated—though they don’t need to. Here’s the deal: You can hire your talent as employees, or you can hire them as contractors. Because of Egypt’s labor law structure, there are benefits and disadvantages to each approach.
Hire talent as contractors
Hire talent as employees
If you’ve read up until this point, you’ll know that it’s easier, cheaper, and more flexible to hire contractors in Egypt 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 Egypt.
Employer tax
Employer Contributions
- 27%
Paid Time Off (PTO)
In Egypt, annual leave is 21 days. Entitlement begins after 6 months of service.
If the employee has been employed for over 10 years, annual leave is 30 days.
Employees over the age of 50 are entitled to 30 days of leave.
Public Holidays
There are 13 public holidays.
Sick Days
An employee is able to claim up to 6 months of paid sick leave and must provide a certificate of sickness.
- For the first 90 days of sick leave, the employee entitled to 75% of their salary.
- For the following 90 days, the employee is entitled to 85% of their salary.
- If necessary, the employee may convert their annual leave days to sick leave.
Maternity Leave
Female employees that have been contributing to social insurance to the past 10 months are entitled to up to 3 months’ maternity leave for each child up to three children and are entitled to 75% of the last salary.
Upon return to the workplace, the woman is entitled to 2- half-hour nursing breaks or a combined hour each day for 24 months after the date of birth.
For workplaces with more than 100 employees, it is mandatory that the employer provide an in-house nursery or is responsible for placing the child in nursery care until the age of schooling.
Paternity Leave
There are no provisions in the law regarding paternity leave.
Parental Leave
If there are more than 50 employees in the company, the mother is entitled to 24 months of unpaid leave for each child.
For employees who have dependents, the ability to work flexible hours is not mandatory, however, in many cases, will be stipulated in the employment contract.
Other Leave
Work-related injury leave: For temporary disability, 100% of the wage is paid from the first day of injury until the employer is cleared to return to work or is declared permanently disabled.
Marriage Leave
None.
Bereavement Leave
None.
Termination Process
It is very difficult to terminate an employment contract before the expiry date of the contract and is generally considered wrongful termination unless the dismissal is based on a “fundamental breach” of contract which is outlined as follows:
- Falsifying/forging identification
- Violation of safety instructions
- Absence of 20 or more non – consecutive days or 10 consecutive days in a year
- Disclosure of employer secrets that cause significant loss
- Competing with the employer in the same field of work
- Intoxication during work hours
- Physical altercations with the employer or other employees
- Professional incompetence
Termination for a definite employment contract without a justified cause: The employer must pay the employee what they would have received if they would have fulfilled their employment contract.
Termination of employment of an indefinite contact without a justified clause: Employer is obligated to pay compensation of no less than 2 month’s salary for each year that the employee served.
In the case of unfair dismissal, compensation shall be agreed upon, however, cannot be less than 2 months’ salaries.
Notice Period
The length of the notice period depends on how long the employee has been in service:
- Less than 10 years - 2 months
- More than 10 years - 3 months
Severance Pay
Severance payment is not mandatory in Egypt unless outlined in the employment contract.
Probation Period
Up to 3 months.
Working Hours
A full workday in Egypt is 8 hours.
Overtime
Overtime is paid at the rate of 135% of the normal pay during daytime hours and 170% during night hours.
%5B1%5D.avif)
Run your global workforce on autopilot with Thera
Book a demo to get started.