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How to hire remote employees in
Found some great remote talent in Brazil, but slightly more confused about how to hire that talent? Simply put, you’ve got two options: Hiring talent as employees, or hiring talent as contractors. Here are the big differences between the two.
If you want to successfully hire in
Brazil
, you have two options:
Laws about hiring contractors are significantly more simple in
Brazil
. 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.
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
Brazil
is expensive—it can often be $500 per month per employee—and sometimes prone to lengthy onboarding times.
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
Brazil
.
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 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.
Hiring contractors in
Brazil
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.
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.
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.
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.
If you’re hiring contractors in
Brazil
, 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’ve read up until this point, you’ll know that it’s easier, cheaper, and more flexible to hire contractors in Brazil 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 Brazil.
PTO is calculated by the:
There are 13 national holidays. Other additional holidays may apply depending on the region.
The duration of sick leave entitlement provided to workers is dependent on how long they have been employed by their employer:
Female employees are entitled to 120 days of paid maternity leave and extension by a maximum of 4 weeks on medical grounds (two weeks prior and two weeks after birth). Maternity leave is paid at 100% of the regular wages by the employer, however, the employer can claim payment back through deductions on social security payments.
If the employer is enrolled in the government scheme (Empresea Cidada), maternity leave can be extended to a total of 180 days.
Fathers are entitled to 5 days paid paternity leave. Pay is 100% of regular wages and is paid by the employer. If the employer is enrolled in the government scheme (Empresa Cidada), paternity leave can be extended to 20 days.
There are no provisions in the law regarding parental leave.
None.
3 days.
Death of a parent, child, or spouse- 2 days
Employment contracts can be terminated at any time, as long as the proper notice is given.
Employees who are exempt from this are those that fall under union representatives, members of the Internal Committee for Accidents Prevention (CIPA), pregnant employees, employees with work-related injuries, and employees who fall under certain collective agreements.
Termination must be communicated in writing.
The notice period in Brazil is:
Notice is only required in certain cases.
Termination of the employment agreement initiated by the employer:
Termination initiated by the employee:
Termination under mutual consent:
The Severance Pay in Brazil depends on:
The amount of severance pau varies based on how the employment agreement is terminated.
When severance is required, the employee is entitled to one month’s wages for every year employed.
Employers contribute 8% to the Severance Fund (FGTS), and when the employee is dismissed by the employee, 4o% of the balance is paid as a termination fine. When the termination falls under mutual consent, 20% of the balance is paid out.
The probation period is 45 days but can be extended to 90 days.
A full-time workweek is 44 hours or 8 hours per day.
A one hours rest period is required for employees who work more than 6 hours per day.
Overtime is limited to up to 2 hours per day. Any hours worked in excess of 8 per day is considered overtime and is paid at the rate of 150% of the regular pay.
Employees can be exempt from overtime pay if:
Work on a holiday is paid at the rate of 200% of the regular pay.
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