Benefits & Compensation in Belarus

Employee benefits imply the additional perks offered by an employer to the employees in addition to the standard salaries. It covers national pension plans, healthcare benefits, sick leaves, maternity benefits, and others. 

A well-planned benefits and compensation package in Belarus improves workplace morale, develops a reputation as a trustworthy employer, and motivates talented jobseekers to apply for relevant job positions in your company.

The employees in Belarus are entitled to mandatory benefits according to their employment contracts. Usually, these benefits include the following:

• Statutory minimum wage
• Leave entitlements
• Working hour limits
• Overtime compensation
• Paternity leave
• Maternity leave
• Annual leave
• Sickness benefits
• Medical benefits
• Death in service
• Disability benefits, and more. 

Employers must conduct exhaustive market research before selecting employee benefits in Belarus. The following guide streamlines the setup process of compensation and benefits policy in Belarus and retains the employees’ motivation to let them work more efficiently.

Compensation Laws in Belarus

Legislative acts and various other compensation laws in Belarus that manage employer-employee relationships in the country are as follows:

• Trade Unions Rules and Regulations oversee workers’ rights, the right to strike, freedom of association, and the governing body.
• The Labor Code and laws in Belarus focus on the following aspects:

1. 1. The general rules for the administration of individual labor relations
   2. General rules for the administration of collective labor relations
   3. Responsibility of employers and workers
   4. Supervision and imposition of labor legislation

• Under Employment and migration law in Belarus, foreign nationals are liable to get the same benefits and compensations as local employees of Belarus.
• The Labor Code of the Republic of Belarus provides maternity leaves, parental leave, and adoption leave facilities to the parents. 
• Employees also get medical care and sickness benefits under the Law of the Republic of Belarus on Health Care, 1993. 

How to Design an Employee Benefits Program for Employees in Belarus

Consider the following steps to design a compensation package in Belarus.

Step 1: State your business objectives and budget

Firstly, you must outline the objectives for the compensation structure in Belarus. The benefits policy’s objectives must encompass the maximum budget to manage all benefits effectively. You can consider the following aspects to define your business goals:

• Conforming to all the relevant labor laws
• Encouraging the workforce and attracting new talent
• Upholding the company’s budget

It is imperative to evaluate employment contracts or collective bargaining agreements to determine that their contractual terms are achieved. 

Moreover, you must evaluate your budget to capitalize on employee benefits. It is also crucial to consider your company’s size, commercial environment, and the economic sector it falls into before preparing the benefits policy in Belarus.

Step 2: Discover the employee requirements

You must always aim to provide the optimum perks in the employee benefits plan. Ascertain that you set a budget you want to capitalize on in the compensation policy.

The compensation and benefits policy in Belarus should aim to fulfill employee requirements. You can get information on the same by conducting interviews or surveys. Subsequently, employees can assertively define their requirements and expectations.

It is easy to recognize the existing industry standards by conducting exhaustive research. You can learn about the benefits competitors are offering and include those in compensation and benefits policy in Belarus.

Another advantage of conducting market research is that it expresses the optimum benefits you can offer your employees. Make sure to provide the maximum possible employee benefits in Belarus based on the budget and the available resources.

Step 3: Formulate your benefits plan

After exhaustively learning the employees’ needs and expectations, you should conduct a gap analysis to determine the existing situation of the benefits plan. Once you have determined the existing condition of the plan, you must design a flexible outline for worker’s compensation in Belarus that assists you in sustaining the volatile nature of business. The flexible benefits structure also helps the employees to shortlist the appropriate benefits and facilitates the employer to explore the optimum benefits from them.

You should also incorporate employee contributions, organizational costs, and outsourcing requirements while preparing a benefits plan for worker’s compensation in Belarus.

Step 4: Notify the benefits to the stakeholders and gain feedback

This step involves conveying the advantages of your prepared benefits plan to all employees and stakeholders. You can assimilate the valuable feedback (if any) into your formulated compensation policy.

The feedback may highlight certain benefits which are redundant. You can make the requisite changes to make it valuable or entirely dismiss it.

Step 5: Plan appraisal

The business environment’s volatile nature can impact the employee’s benefit plan. Therefore, you must regularly evaluate the compensation structure in Belarus to learn the benefits plan’s viability and efficiency.

Make sure to check for errors before implementing the employee compensation policy in Belarus. You can consider several accurate, precise metrics to thoroughly understand the benefit plan’s capability for the employees, which are as follows:

• Determine the employee’s base pay
• Ascertain that the offered benefits meet the employees’ individual and family requirements
• Ensure that the created benefits plan offers more rewarding benefits packages compared to other competitors in the industry.
• Add relocation expenses (if any)
• Ensure that the benefit plan facilitates learning and development

Types of Guaranteed Benefits in Belarus

Employers provide various types of employee benefits in Belarus to their employees. As discussed below, many of these benefits are mandatory:

Minimum wage

• The minimum monthly wage in Belarus is 554 BYN as of January 2023.

Working hours and overtime

• The standard working hours in the country are 8 hours/day (40 hours/week).  
• The daily legal maximum number of working hours (including overtime) is 12 hours.
• The overtime compensation is 200% of the standard salary. The overtime is restricted to not more than 12 hours per day, 10 hours per week, and 180 hours annually.

Paid leaves

• Employees in Belarus employees who have been employed for the first six months are eligible for a minimum of 24 paid vacation days (specified in the Labor Agreement).
• Vacations may be divided into two parts; one should be 14 days long. 
• If the employee cannot use all the paid leaves in a working year, they can be carried forward to the following year. 
• The employer must make annual leave payments before the beginning of the leave, i.e., a minimum of one day before the vacation.

Public holidays

The public holidays in Belarus are observed the same for all industries and sectors in the country. The employees in Belarus receive nine non-working public holidays per year. They are listed below:

Sick leaves

• The employees in Belarus are eligible for up to 30 days of sick leaves.
• The Fund of Social Protection of Population (FSPP) in Belarus is formed from deductions from wages and covers an employee’s sick leave.
• As per social insurance, employees are eligible for 80% of their average daily wage during the first 12 days of sickness and 70% up to 30 days subsequently. 

Maternity leaves

• Female employees are entitled to 126 days of paid maternity leave (140 days of paid maternity leave in case of multiple births or medical complications).

Paternity leaves

• The employees in Belarus receive 14 days of paternity leave in the initial six months of the child’s birth. 
• It is granted on a written request from the employee within six months from the date of the child’s birth. 
• The leave can be paid or unpaid based on the employment contract.

Pension

• FSPP pays the pension in Belarus. The retirement age for male employees is 63, and 58 years for female employees.
• The average pension amount is 545 BYN, and the minimum pension amount is  296.74 BYN as of February 2022.

The pension amount depends on:

• Seniority
• Age
• Disability
• Wages during the working age
• The minimum subsistence budget

Other leaves

• Family care compensates employees in Belarus with 100% of their average wages. Moreover, an employee in the country can take a leave to look after a sick child aged below 14 years or a disabled child aged below 18.

• In case of the demise of a close family member or if any family member faces an injury/serious illness, the employees in the country gain up to 2 days of paid leave.

Employee Benefits for Expatriates

In Belarus, foreign employees can obtain the same benefits as local employees. They get benefits like health insurance and travel allowances. Furthermore, 

Ex-pats are eligible for benefits associated with lodging expenses, relocation, and travel. Since they repeatedly move abroad for short-term projects, businesses seek an easy, cost-effective alternative to enrolling and paying ex-pats via their local subsidiaries.

You can consider the following aspects if you plan to recruit ex-pats for your company in Belarus:

• The features of Belarus’ immigration system
• The documentation required to get a work visa
• After obtaining a visa, ex-pats can work and be reimbursed for their home country

How are Employee Benefits Taxed in Belarus?

Any compensation received or to be received (either capital or revenue) regarding the terms and conditions of termination or amendment of any contract in perspective to its business will be taxable as business income.

Belarus’s income tax rate is 13% flat, and an additional 1% is dedicated to social security contributions. The employer makes the deductions for social security contributions from the employee’s salary. They are directly funded by the institutions governing the social security accounts.

Restrictions for Belarus Benefits and Compensation

Most benefits provided to employees in Belarus are taxable. Henceforth, you should be acquainted with the financial worth of these benefits to calculate the amount of tax the employer has to pay. An employer should also ensure that tax payments are timely disbursed and submitted to the respective authorities.

Before preparing a benefits plan for your employees, ensure the business is integrated in Belarus and legally operated. Furthermore, the employees should be paid minimum wages depending on their sectors. The benefits and compensation package in Belarus should follow all the labor laws regulated by the government.

Supplemental Benefits for Employees in Belarus

Some of the additional benefits offered to the employees in Belarus are discussed below.

Health insurance

Health insurance assists employees in the case of chronic disease, health disorder, exacerbation, or accident.

The health insurance program includes outpatient care, dental care, emergency care, medical treatment, ophthalmology care, high-tech medical care, childbirth and pregnancy care, medical examination for early disease diagnosis, and COVID-19 testing.

Other supplemental benefits:

•   Dependent Coverage
•   Medical care
•   Accident insurance
•   Psychological support
•   Healthy Lifestyle
•   Education and Development
•   Convenience and Comfort
•   Recreation and Entertainment
•   Other corporate programs include pension insurance programs, life insurance, discount programs, and home loans.

How Multiplier Can Help with Benefits Management in Belarus

Setting up a business abroad also requires hiring top talent. Employers must comply with local laws and regulations before framing employment contracts and determining employee benefits. You can streamline the process by contacting a global PEO platform like Multiplier.

Multiplier aids you in compliance with Belarus labor rules. Furthermore, we assist you with hiring a proficient workforce. Our experienced staff can assist you in effectively governing the workforce without setting up a subsidiary in the country. Therefore, you can bring down your employment expenses and discover new markets.