The country of Myanmar has a strategic position in Southeast Asia. With its economy slowly improving, Myanmar offers some of the most business-friendly environments for foreign investors. Starting a business in Myanmar is hassle-free as the country has advantageous regulations like 100% foreign ownership, tax exemptions, and different work visas for new companies and businesses.
Myanmar indeed has cheaper labor compared to a lot of countries and a lot of young people who are willing to work. However, businesses must also ensure they follow government regulations during recruitment and selection in Myanmar.
Things to Know Before Hiring in Myanmar
Whether someone wants to hire employees in Myanmar or bring foreign workers to the country to start a business, Myanmar has different laws regarding both. However, if someone is wondering how to hire employees in Myanmar, they must remember a few things.
Minimum Wage
Starting a hiring process in Myanmar means that the employer has to follow the rules of minimum wage in that country. If someone wants to conduct recruitment and selection in Myanmar , then they must pay the minimum wage to those working. The average minimum wage in Myanmar is 4,800 MMK/day ($2.30).
It is also worth remembering during the hiring process in Myanmar, employers must make monthly payments, and the workers are paid anywhere from 5 to 10 days before the month ends. The payment also has to be made on a working day.
Mandatory Leaves
If someone wants to start recruitment and selection in Myanmar, they must also give their employees public holidays.
Public Holidays
There are 16 public holidays celebrated nationally in Myanmar.
These holidays are considered paid leaves.
Paid leaves and casual leaves
Other than public holidays, employers also have to grant their workers 6 paid casual leaves per year, 30 paid medical leaves, and an earned leave of 10 days (can be separate or consecutive).
Casual leaves apply to workers who have completed 12 months of service with the company and have worked at least 20 days per month.
Maternity leave
Moreover, employers are legally mandated to give expectant mothers 14 weeks of maternity leave (six weeks of prenatal and eight weeks of postnatal).
Paternity leave
They also have to give 15 days of paternal leave to new fathers.
Other leaves
If a company wants to conduct recruitment and selection in Myanmar, they also have to grant leaves for marriage, childcare, adoption, or the death of a family member.
Workers who suffer from workspace-related injuries also get paid medical leaves for that.
Working Hours and Rest Days
The government mandates working hours, rest days, and overtime in Myanmar, but they can vary per industry. Employers must remember the working hours and off days regulations while hiring employees in Myanmar.
Any business owner in Myanmar has to give one paid rest day to their employees per week. Usually, Sundays of every week are when workers get a rest day. Usually, a worker has to work for 8 hours per day which translates to 48 hours a week. Other than that, workers may also work up to 12 hours of overtime per week and get paid accordingly. However, the country allows for up to 20 hours per week of overtime work for factory workers.
Work Permit
Instead of conducting recruitment and selection in Myanmar, if someone wants to take some skilled workers from their business establishment to the country, then some laws apply. For example, anyone traveling to Myanmar for work or business purposes must have a business or employment visa.
A business visa can be a single-entry one, allowing a person to stay in the country for up to 70 days, but they can only enter the country once. They also have multiple-entry business visas, which allow for a longer stay and allow people to enter the country multiple times.
Employee Benefits and Pensions
If someone is hiring staff in Myanmar, they must also provide them with mandatory benefits. If an employer has five or more employees, they must pay for the workers’ Social Security Funds monthly. Employers are mandated to retain the social security amount from the workers’ paychecks.
Other than this, other benefits such as transportation and accommodation costs, additional allowances, and bonuses all happen at the employer’s discretion. Employers hiring staff in Myanmar also have to pay employment taxes every month.
If an employee retires at 60, they are eligible for a pension. The Myanmar government also mandates disability, survivor, and partial pensions to those eligible for each case. Some companies also choose to provide a provident fund benefit to their employees.
Termination Procedure
Myanmar’s Department of Labor mandates that businesses can only terminate employees from their position for reasons previously specified in their contracts with their employers. If the company terminates an employee, they shall be given a month’s notice and severance pay.
The Cost of Hiring an Employee in Myanmar
The cost of hiring initiating recruitment and selection in Myanmar depends on a company’s requirements, which might vary per industry. Differences in advertising costs use of different paid or free hiring platforms native to the mentioned country generally constitute the hiring budget. Some of the most common factors that require budget during recruitment and selection in Myanmar are as follows.
- Salaries and bonuses.
- Cost of advertising for workers.
- Cost of interviewing and training employees.
What Does a Company Need to Hire Employees in Myanmar?
The first thing a company will need during the hiring process in Myanmar is the ownership of a local legal entity. Employers also must abide by all the employment rules and regulations, which can further lengthen the hiring process.
A company can also recruit the help of a local hiring agency, which can further simplify the hiring process in Myanmar. However, these agencies can often turn out to be risky and pose legal threats down the line. These agencies also usually have hidden costs that can damage the company.
The best way to simplify recruitment and selection in Myanmar is to partner with a global EOR service that can help employers hire workers in Myanmar without having to set up a legal entity. EOR services also take care of employment benefits, payroll, and taxes legally and in full compliance with local labor laws.
Various options for Hiring Employees in Myanmar
There are three ways to hire staff in Myanmar. A company can set up a legal entity and handle the hiring process in the country. They can also choose to recruit a local hiring agency. On the contrary, the company can hire a global EOR partner who will legally handle the talent acquisition.
Companies must also remember that they can mainly hire three types of workers in Myanmar.
- Independent contractors
- Employees
- Employer of records (EOR) solutions
The Steps to Hiring in Myanmar
There are many steps to hiring a new employee in any country. But if an employer starts the hiring process in Myanmar, then here are some of the necessary stages they have to go through to choose the perfect candidate.
- Identify the Need and Advertise: The first step towards hiring an employee is understanding the position’s needs. The employer must identify the job requirements and advertise for people with the right qualifications.
- Screening: If a company wants to conduct recruitment and selection in Myanmar, choosing candidates from multiple job applications can be challenging. That is why employers have to screen all the resumes only to find the ones with the right qualifications to go through the interview rounds.
- Interviewing Prospects: After that, the company needs to interview the prospects to find the perfect candidates for all open positions.
- Background Checks: It is always a good idea to run a background check on employees during recruitment and selection in Myanmar.
- Make the Decision: After all the steps are over, the employer must decide which people to hire based on their performance. They also have to train the new employees for their job positions within the company.
- Employment Contract: Last but not least, there is the employment contract. Every employer is mandated by the government of Myanmar and its Employment and Skill Development Law to use a written contract to officiate hiring a new employee within 30 days of initial hiring.
Let Multiplier Be Your EOR Platform in Myanmar
It will be an easy yet time-consuming process if a new company wants to start recruitment and selection in Myanmar. Especially the process of setting up a subsidiary and a legal entity in Myanmar can be quite long. That is why Multiplier should be the go-to EOR platform for those who want to hire employees in Myanmar.
Multiplier can make recruitment and selection in Myanmar easy and tension-free. Multiplier allows companies to set up teams in countries and attract new talents. As a SAAS-based Employer of Record solution, Multiplier works as the legal employer in Myanmar so that companies can transfer the requirement of setting up a subsidiary or registering a company in the country to hire talent. Multiplier also manages payroll, taxes, legal terms, and other HR-related tasks, effortlessly.