Turkmenistan
Thinking about making a remote hire in Turkmenistan? You’re in the right place. On this page, we’ll teach you how to hire in Turkmenistan—without spending thousands of dollars on EOR fees and legal red tape:
Country snapshot
CURRENCY
Turkmenistani manat
EMPLOYER TAXES
20%
PAYROLL FREQUENCY
Monthly
OFFICIAL LANGUAGE
Turkmen
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, and the same is true in Turkmenistan. But there are ways to sidestep the headaches—if your company hasn’t already established a physical presence in Turkmenistan, you have two real options when it comes to hiring. We’ll detail both below.
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 Turkmenistan 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 Turkmenistan.
Employer tax
Pension Insurance
Paid Time Off (PTO)
PTO is calculated by the:
- The right to receive annual basic leave during the first year of work comes after eleven months of continuous work from the date of the conclusion of the employment contract.
- Annual basic leave for the second and subsequent years of work is provided in accordance with the vacation schedule established at the organization.
An employee has the right to postpone or extend the annual basic leave if:
- temporary incapacity for work;
- granting maternity leave;
- the coincidence of the annual basic leave with leave in connection with studies, additional leave for marriage or the ceremony of burial and commemoration;
- fulfillment of state duties or duties in an elected body.
Public Holidays
There are 9 public paid holidays in Turkmenistan:
- New Year (31st December - 1st Jan)
- International Women’s Day (8th March)
- Navruz (21-22 March)
- Oraza Bayram (13th May)
- Constitution and State Flag Day (18th May)
- Kurban Bayram (20-22 July) Independence Day (27 September)
- Memorial Day (6th October)
- International Day of Neutrality (12th December)
Sick Days
There is no specific statutory right to sick leave in most cases.
However, employees are entitled to unpaid leave to care for a sick family member, with the length of the leave based on the recommendations of the medical institution that is caring for the relative.
Maternity Leave
Female employees under Article 68 of the Social Security Code receive 112 days of fully paid maternity leave with 56 days before the estimated date of birth and 56 days after giving birth.
The paid maternity leave is extended by 16 days if there are birth complications, and by 40 days in the event of multiple births.
Paternity Leave
There is no statutory paternity leave beyond the option for the father to take parental leave, except for in a few circumstances where the mother is not present in the child’s life.
Parental Leave
A woman, regardless of the length of service, after the expiration of maternity leave, has the right to unpaid parental leave until the child reaches the age of three years.
Leave to care for a child may also be granted to the person actually caring for the child, including the father, guardian of the child, as well as, in cases established by the legislation of Turkmenistan, to another relative.
Parental leave can be used in whole or in parts. A person who is on parental leave until the child reaches the age of three has the right to interrupt the vacation and start work before the expiration of the parental leave, notifying the employer about this two weeks before going to work. In this case, the annual basic leave is provided for the actual time worked.
Other Leave
In Turkmenistan an additional leave for upon reaching the Age of 62 – 3 calendar day is provided to citizens upon reaching the age of 62 years, or such leave can also be added to the main annual leave.
A person injured as a result of a radiation catastrophe shall be granted additional leave of up to fifteen calendar days.
Marriage Leave
10 calendar days, given 5 days before marriage.
Bereavement Leave
An additional leave of 10 calendar days to complete the funeral rite and commemoration on the basis of a certificate issued by the state civil registry office are provided to two close relatives of the deceased.
Termination Process
Employers can terminate an employment contract for economic or business reasons which render the employee redundant or based on the employee’s conduct or performance.
The employer is obligated to notify the employee in writing.
Special rules and procedures apply to redundancy dismissals and employee misconduct.
Notice Period
The notice period is either two weeks or two months depending on the reason for the termination.
Only three days of notice is required during the probation period.
Severance Pay
Severance pay must be paid in most situations when the employer terminates an employment contract for a reason other than the employee’s misconduct.
Probation Period
Probation period does not exceed 3 months.
Once the employment contract ends, the probationary period does not apply to people belonging to the below-mentioned categories:
- Persons below the age of 18 years
- Persons with disabilities
- Seasonal workers
- Pregnant employees
- Persons who have graduated from secondary vocational and higher education institutions and are coming to work in their specialty for the first time.
- Persons working in public paid jobs.
Working Hours
The standard work duration for a full-time employee does not exceed 40 hours per week.
For teenagers (aged between 16 and 18 years), the work hours cannot exceed 36 hours per week and 24 hours a week for persons below sixteen years of age. Typically, office timings in Turkmenistan are from 9 am to 6 pm.
Overtime
Overtime work must not exceed 4 hours for each employee on 2 consecutive days and 120 hours per year.
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