How to hire remote employees in

Myanmar

Myanmar’s a beautiful SE Asian country with some of the world’s best remote talent. If you’re thinking about hiring in Myanmar (or if you’ve already found someone), read on—we’ll teach you how to hire in Myanmar without paying thousands in legal fees or spending months buried under paperwork.

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Employment requirements

Country snapshot

CURRENCY

Burmese Kyat (MMK)

EMPLOYER TAXES

PAYROLL FREQUENCY

Monthly

OFFICIAL LANGUAGE

Burmese

Why hire independent contractors in Myanmar

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 Myanmar.

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 Myanmar 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 Myanmar

Want to hire someone in Myanmar? Excellent. But, no matter where you’re from, labor laws in Myanmar are different from those in your home country (unless you’re from Myanmar, of course). Read on to learn about your options, plus as the easiest way to make remote hires in Myanmar.

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

Hire talent as contractors

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

If you’re hiring contractors in Myanmar, 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 Myanmar

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

Taxes in Myanmar

Employer tax

Social Security

Leave

Paid Time Off (PTO)

PTO is calculated by the:

Employees are entitled to 10 days of paid annual leave.

Public Holidays

There are 16 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:

26 weeks per year, where the first 30 days are paid.
An employee must be able to produce a medical certificate.
To be entitled to this leave, the employee must have completed at least 6 months of employment.

Maternity Leave

Mothers are entitled to 14 weeks of paid maternity leave. The leave can begin 6 weeks from the expected due date and 8 after.

Paternity Leave

Fathers are entitled to 15 days of paid paternity leave for the birth of a child.

Parental Leave

There are no provisions in the law.

Other Leave

Childcare Leave– For multiple births, mothers can take 4 weeks of paid childcare leave immediately after maternity leave ends.

Adoption Leave– Parents can take up to 8 weeks of paid childcare leave for the adoption of a child less than 12 months old.

Casual Leave– Up to 6 days per year. The maximum amount of time that can be taken is 3 days at a time. Unused leave cannot be carried over to the next year.

Marriage Leave

None.

Bereavement Leave

None.

Termination

Termination Process

In the event of a termination of a local employee, the employee’s salary must be paid:

The employer must provide a termination letter in writing.

Before the termination for misconduct, an employee must receive 1 written and 2 verbal warnings. If another violation is made within 12 months of the third warning, an employee can be dismissed without notice or severance pay.

If the employer initiates the dismissal, then wages must be paid within 2 working days from the last day of employment.

Notice Period

The notice period in Myanmar is:

One months’ notice.

Severance Pay

Severance pay is determined by the length of employment:

6 months to 1 year- half a month’s wages
1-2 years- 1 months’ salary
3-4 years- 2 months’ salary
4-6 years- 4 months’ salary
6-8 years- 5 months’ salary
8-10 years- 6 months’ salary
10-20 years- 8 months’ salary
20 to 25 years- 10 months’ salary

Over 25 years- 13 months’ salary

Probation Period

Probation period is up to 90 days.

Employee requirements in Myanmar

Working Hours

A full-time workday is 8 hours. Total hours worked in a week cannot exceed 48.

Overtime

Overtime is limited to up to 12 hours per week and is paid at the rate of 200% of the regular pay.

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