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Employ in South Africa with ease.

Remote makes employment in South Africa easy. With our localized contracts, easy invoice management, and best-in-class compliance, you can grow your global team with confidence.

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  • Capital city

    Pretoria (executive), Bloemfontein (judicial), and Cape Town (legislative)

  • Currency

    South African Rand
    (R, ZAR)

  • Languages spoken

    English and 10 others

  • Services available

    Services available:

Facts & Stats

South Africa, Republic of South Africa, is the southernmost country in Africa. With over 59 million people, it is the world's 24th-most populous nation. South Africa is a developing country and ranks 113th on the Human Development Index, the seventh-highest in Africa. It has been classified by the World Bank as a newly industrialised country, with the second-largest economy in Africa, and the 33rd-largest in the world.

  • Capital city

    Pretoria (executive), Bloemfontein (judicial), and Cape Town (legislative)

  • Currency

    South African Rand
    (R, ZAR)

  • Languages spoken

    English and 10 others

  • Population size

    59,622,350 (2019 est.)

  • Ease of doing business

    Easy

  • Cost of living index

    $$ (77 of 139 nations)

  • Payroll frequency

    Monthly

  • VAT - standard rate

    15%

  • GDP - real growth rate

    0.7871% (2018 est.)

Grow your team in South Africa with Remote

Looking to employ workers in South Africa? Companies hiring in South Africa must either own a legal entity in the country or work with a global employment solutions provider, usually one that provides employer of record services.

Remote can employ your team in South Africa on your behalf through our local legal entity in the country and handle payroll, benefits, taxes, and compliance for your South Africa team. You can also pay contractors now in South Africa with Remote.

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Risks
of misclassification

South Africa, like many other countries, treats self-employed individuals or contractors and full-time workers differently and there are risks associated with misclassification.

Employing in South Africa

Employment law in South Africa is not contained under a single law and is informed by the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, common law and specific labour legislation. In general, South African labour law is divided into two areas: collective labour law and individual employment law.

Collective labour law governs the relationship between employers and trade unions, disputes, wage agreements, strikes, lockouts, etc.. Legislation related to this is all contained under the Labour Relations Act 66 of 1996 (LRA). Individual employment law relates to the law that govern the minimum terms and conditions of employment, regulation of terminations and disputes concerning unfair dismissal, labour practices, and discrimination claims.

Public holidays

Below are national public holidays applicable for all regions in this country. Remote customers have access to a detailed list of regional public holidays within the Remote platform. Sign up now to access all public holiday information.

Minimum Wage

Minimum hourly wage is 20 ZAR, except for farm workers who have a minimum of 18 ZAR, domestic workers who have a minimum of 15 ZAR and Expanded Public Works Programme workers who have a minimum of 11 ZAR.

Payroll Cycle

For customers of Remote, all employee payments will be made in equal monthly installments on or before the last working day of each calendar month, payable in arrears.

Onboarding Time

We can help you get a new employee started in South Africa fast. The minimum onboarding time we need is only 3 working days.

Our team ensures your employees are onboarded and paid as quickly as possible while keeping your business compliant with all local employment legislation. The minimum onboarding time begins after the employee submits all required information onto the Remote platform. The onboarding timeline is also dependent upon registration with local authorities.

For all non-nationals of the country of employment, the Right to Work assessment (if applicable) will add three extra days to the total time to onboard. There may be extra time required if we need to follow-up on the right to work assessment.

Please note, payroll cut-off dates can impact the actual first day of employment. Remote has a payroll cut-off date of the 10th of the month unless otherwise specified.

Competitive benefits package in South Africa

At Remote, we’re obsessed with helping you craft the best possible employee experience for your team. We are leading the way in practicing “fair equity,” which means making sure employees everywhere have access to both the required and supplemental benefits they need to thrive (and that will allow you to attract the best local talent).

Our benefits packages in South Africa are tailored to fulfill the local needs of your employees. Typically, our packages contain some or all of the following benefits:

  • Health Insurance
  • Dental Insurance
  • Vision Insurance
  • Mental Health Support
  • Pension or 401(K)
  • Life and Disability Insurance
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Calculate the cost to hire an employee
in South Africa

Taxes in South Africa

Learn how employment taxes and statutory fees affect your payroll and your employees’ paychecks in South Africa.

  • Employer

    • 1% - Skills Development Levy (SDL)

    • 1% - Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF)

  • Employee

    • 1% - Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF)

    • 18% - Up to 205,900

    • 37,062 + 26% of taxable income above 205,900 - 205,901 - 321,600

    • 67,144 + 31% of taxable income above 321,600 - 321,601 - 445,100

    • 105,429 + 36% of taxable income above 445,100 - 445,101 - 584,200

    • 155,505 + 39% of taxable income above 584,200 - 584,201 - 744,800

    • 218,139 + 41% of taxable income above 744,800 - 744,801 - 1,577,300

    • 559,464 + 45% of taxable income above 1,577,300 - Above 1,577,301

Types of leave

Statutory leave

All full-time workers are legally entitled to 21 consecutive days paid holiday leave a year. There are also 12 public holidays in South Africa that are not part of the holiday entitlement.

Pregnancy and maternity leave

There is a general right to four consecutive months of unpaid maternity leave. The four months can start anytime from four weeks before the expected birth date or earlier if a medical practioneer supports it as necesarry for the employee's health. After the birth, six weeks are mandatory regardless of stillbirth or not.

Individual employment contracts can provide more favourable and longer terms than the above.

Paternal leave

An employee who is a parent but not the primary caregiver is entitled to ten days of consecutive unpaid parental leave from the day of the birth

Other leave

  • Adoption: upon adoption of a child under the age two, employees are entitled to at least ten weeks of adoption. Applies to the primary caretaker. The leave can commence on the date of the adoption is granted or the date the child is placed in their care.

Employment termination

Termination process

South African employers are able to terminate an employee at will. Dismissals can happen for the following reasons:

  • Dismissal without notice for misconduct (for example in the case of theft or other serious misconduct);
  • Dismissal due to incapacity (for example due to health or poor performance), usually after opportunity to meet performance standards;
  • Dismissal due to operational requirements for the company; or
  • Termination by separation agreement, agreed upon by the employee and employer.

Notice period

The statutory notice period for an employer depends on the duration of employment:

  • Less than 6 months: 1 week
  • Between 6 months and 1 year: 2 weeks
  • More than 1 year: 4 weeks

Probation periods

Probationary periods are permitted and must be reasonable with regards to the lenght to determine whether the employee is suitable for the job. 3 to 6 months is fairly commonplace.

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