How to hire remote employees in

Ghana

Found someone you’d like to hire in Ghana? First, you’ll need to understand how you can legally hire someone there—without signing yourself up for thousands of dollars in fees. On this page, we’ll teach you the fastest, easiest, most flexible way to hire talent in Ghana. Shall we?

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Employment requirements

Country snapshot

CURRENCY

GHANAIAN Cedi (GHS)

EMPLOYER TAXES

16.2%

PAYROLL FREQUENCY

Monthly

OFFICIAL LANGUAGE

English

Why hire independent contractors in Ghana

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 Ghana.

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

HHiring contractors in Ghana 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.

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.

What to know before you hire in Ghana

Laws about hiring are complicated enough. Try to research overseas laws (in Ghana, for instance) and it gets unbearably confusing. So we’re here to help. Bottom line is, if you want to hire in Ghana, you’ve got two options: You can hire your remote teammates as regular employees, or you can hire them as contractors. There are some serious differences you should know about, and we’ll cover them below.

If you want to successfully hire in Ghana, you have two options:

Hire talent as contractors

Laws about hiring contractors are significantly more simple in Ghana. 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.

Hire talent as employees

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 Ghana is expensive—it can often be $500 per month per employee—and sometimes prone to lengthy onboarding times.

Hire contractors in a couple clicks with Thera

How can I pay people in Ghana

If you’re hiring contractors in Ghana, 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 want to hire employees in Ghana

If you’ve read up until this point, you’ll know that it’s easier, cheaper, and more flexible to hire contractors in Ghana 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 Ghana.

Taxes in Ghana

Employer tax

Employer Contributions

16.2%

Leave

Paid Time Off (PTO)

Minimum annual leave in Ghana is 15 working days.

Public Holidays

There are 13 public holidays in Ghana.

Sick Days

There are no clear labor laws regarding sick pay, except for that sick leave must be certified by a doctor and is independent of annual leave.

Maternity Leave

Maternity leave is 12 weeks, and in certain cases, this can be extended. After returning from maternity leave, a woman is entitled to one hour during the workday to nurse until the child reaches the age of one year old.

Paternity Leave

There are no provisions in the law.

Parental Leave

There are no provisions in the law.

Other Leave

None.

Marriage Leave

None.

Bereavement Leave

None.

Termination

Termination Process

In Ghana, either the employee or employer is able to terminate the employment contract at any time. Termination must be given in writing.

If termination is deemed unfair, the employee can make a claim with the labor court and in some cases, have their employment re-instated. Reasons for unfair termination include:

The employee intends to join a trade union.
If the employee is pregnant or is absent due to maternity leave.
If the employee is terminated for the reason of race or religion.
If the employee is disabled.
If the employee is forced to terminate due to inaction of the employer if the employee has lodged multiple harassment complaints.

Notice Period

Notice period in Ghana is as follows:

For a contract of 3 or more years, one months’ notice or one month pay in lieu of notice.

For an employment contract less than three years, two weeks’ notice or two weeks’ pay in lieu of notice.

In the case of a contract from week to week, seven days’ notice.

A contract determinable at will by either party may be terminated at the end of the day without any notice.

It is possible to pay the employee in lieu of notice unless there is an “at will” clause in the employment contract.

In this case, an employee can be terminated at the end of a working day with no notice.

Severance Pay

In the event of an employee being terminated by the employer, the employer is not obliged to compensate the employee with severance pay. However, the employer shall pay to the employee.

Any remuneration earned before the termination

Any deferred pay due the employee

Any compensation due the employee

For expatriates- in addition to the above, an expatriate shall be paid expenses and necessaries for the journey and repatriation expenses (including the expenses of their family members).

Probation Period

Probation period is not outlined in the law, except for that it should be reasonable.

In general, probation periods are agreed upon in collective agreements.

Employee requirements in Ghana

Working Hours

A regular work week in Ghana is 40 hours, or 8 hours a day.

Overtime

Overtime hours are paid at a rate of 150% of the normal pay rate.

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