Malawi
Malawi’s a great place to hire remote talent. But labor laws are complicated and it’s easy to get confused. By the end of this page, you’ll know exactly how you can hire remote talent in Malawi—without spending thousands in fees.
Country snapshot
CURRENCY
Malawian Kwacha (MWK)
EMPLOYER TAXES
10.0%
PAYROLL FREQUENCY
Monthly
OFFICIAL LANGUAGE
English
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.
Laws about hiring are complicated. Especially when they’re in countries you’re not used to hiring in. But we’re here to make things simple. Below, you’ll learn the two options you have for hiring in Malawi—and the advantages and disadvantages of each.
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 Malawi 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 Malawi.
Employer tax
National Pension Scheme
Paid Time Off (PTO)
PTO is calculated by the:
- Minimum annual leave is 15 days for an employee who works a 5- day work week and 18 days for an employee who works a 6-day workweek.
Public Holidays
There are 12 public holidays.
Sick Days
The duration of sick leave entitlement provided to workers is dependent on how long they have been employed by their employer:
- If the employee has completed for 12 months of employment, they are entitled to 4 weeks of sick leave at 100% pay and an additional 8 weeks at 50% pay.
Maternity Leave
Women are entitled to 8 weeks of maternity leave every 3 years and receive their full salary.
Paternity Leave
There is no statutory paternity leave in Malawi.
Parental Leave
There is no statutory parental leave.
Other Leave
Work-related injury leave: For temporary disability, the employee is entitled to a percentage of their regular salary.
For employees who are deemed to be permanently disabled, a lump sum of 54 months is paid out to the employee.
For employees who are partially disabled, a percentage of the 54 months will be paid out to the employee, depending on the degree to which they are assessed to be disabled.
In addition to this, it is the responsibility of the employer to pay for all medical expenses associated with the injury.
If the injury results in death, a sum totaling 42 months excluding any disability benefit paid before the passing of the employee is paid out to the family.
Marriage Leave
None.
Bereavement Leave
None.
Termination Process
Termination needs to be submitted in writing to the other party.
The employee must be given the opportunity to present their counterargument.
The employer is obligated to provide a termination certificate to the employee stating the reason for termination.
Notice Period
The notice period depends on the frequency the employee is paid:
If the employee is paid monthly: 30 days’ notice
If the employee is paid every 2 weeks: 15 days if they have been employed for less than 5 years and 30 days if they have been employed for more than 5 years
If the employee is paid monthly: One week if the employee has been employed for less than 2 years; 2 weeks if the employee has been employed between 2-5 years; one month if the employee has been employed for more than 5 years.
If the employee is paid on an hourly or daily basis: 1 day for less than 6 months of employment, 1 week for 6 months-2 years of employment; 15 days for 2-5 years of employment, 1 month for 5+ years of employment.
Severance Pay
An employee is only eligible for severance pay if they are let go due to economic reasons (i.e. redundancy ore retrenchment) or if they are terminated unfairly. In addition, the employee must have completed one year of employment.
- 1-5 years of service: 2 weeks’ pay for every year of employment
- 6-10 years: 3 weeks’ pay for every year of employment
- 11+ years: 4 weeks’ pay for every year of service.
Probation Period
Depending on the contract, the probation period can last up to 12 months.
Working Hours
A full workweek in Malawi is 48 hours.
Overtime
Overtime hours during the regular workday are paid at a rate of 150% of the normal pay. In addition, the employee is entitled to receive the hours of overtime back in compensatory rest for at least the equivalent amount overtime worked.
For work over a weekend or public holiday, the overtime pay rate is 200%.
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