Frequently asked questions.

Yes. The Employer of Record model is an established, fully legal structure used by thousands of US companies. EMPLOI's South African entity is the legal employer under SA law: it signs the employment contract, runs payroll, withholds taxes, and carries the statutory obligations. Your company signs a services agreement with EMPLOI Inc., our US entity, under US law, and directs the employee's day-to-day work. Nothing about the structure is a workaround; it is how cross-border employment is done right.

No. Your hire is employed in South Africa by EMPLOI, so there is no US payroll, no W-2, and no 1099. You receive one monthly invoice in USD and book it like any other vendor invoice. Your finance team's workload for the hire is approving one bill. As always, confirm treatment with your tax advisor for your specific situation.

You do. Every EMPLOI employment contract includes present-and-future IP assignment and confidentiality provisions drafted to be enforceable under South African law, with the assignment flowing through to your company under our services agreement. South Africa's common-law system treats IP assignment, fiduciary duty, and confidentiality in ways your counsel will recognize.

No, and it is better that you hear this from us than from your lawyer. South Africa is not an at-will jurisdiction: dismissals must be substantively fair and follow a fair process, and disputes go to the CCMA, South Africa's employment tribunal. In practice this is manageable when it is done right, and doing it right is our job. We structure probation periods, performance processes, notice, and, where needed, mutually agreed exits, so that endings are clean, lawful, and fast. Most engagements that need to end are resolved within the notice period.

By law: a minimum of 15 working days of paid annual leave, paid sick leave on a three-year cycle, four months of maternity leave, and roughly 12 public holidays. Private health coverage (medical aid) and retirement fund contributions are customary for professional roles rather than legally required, and we will recommend a package that keeps your offer competitive. All statutory and agreed benefits appear as itemized pass-through costs on your invoice.

Usually yes, with structuring. US option grants to South African employees have SA tax and exchange-control implications, so plans are typically implemented via direct grants, phantom equity, or cash-settled units depending on your cap table and goals. We coordinate with your counsel and the employee's SA tax position so the incentive works as intended.

Yes, with the candidate's consent as South Africa's privacy law (POPIA) requires. Standard screening covers criminal record, qualification verification, and references; credit checks are added for finance and other risk-relevant roles. Results are shared with you before the offer goes out.

One invoice per month, in USD, covering salary, statutory costs at cost, agreed benefits, and our 10% fee, itemized line by line. Pay by ACH or wire. We handle the currency conversion and pay the employee in rand on time, every month, with no FX markup.

Employment contracts include a probation period, typically three months, during which expectations, feedback, and, if necessary, a fair exit are much simpler to manage. We run that process with you. You are never locked into a hire that is not working; you are only committed to ending it properly.

Yes. If you reach the scale where your own South African entity makes sense, we will help you transition your team across cleanly, with no exit penalties. EOR is how you start fast; it should never be a hostage situation.

Yes. We draft locally compliant employment contracts, register the employee for income tax withholding (PAYE), unemployment insurance (UIF), and the skills development levy (SDL), and ensure alignment with South Africa's core employment statute, the Basic Conditions of Employment Act (BCEA), the Labour Relations Act (LRA), which governs dismissals and disputes, and its GDPR-grade privacy law, the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA).

IP assignment is built into our employment contracts. Under South African common law and our contract terms, work product created for you is assigned to your company. We can also tailor clauses to match your US counsel's requirements.

South Africa's POPIA is closely aligned with GDPR. We include data-processing and confidentiality clauses in every contract, limit access to necessary personnel, and can sign a Data Processing Agreement (DPA) with your company if required.

We manage the termination process in line with South African labor law, including any required notice periods, severance calculations, and final pay stubs. You stay in control of the business decision; we handle the legal and HR execution.

Typically 40-60% lower, fully loaded. A senior software engineer, finance analyst, or customer success lead in South Africa often costs a fraction of the US equivalent while delivering comparable quality.

You receive one consolidated USD invoice covering gross salary, employer statutory contributions (PAYE, UIF, SDL), benefits, our management fee, and any expense reimbursements. No surprise line items.

We run South African payroll in ZAR, withhold the correct taxes and statutory contributions, and remit them to SARS, the South African revenue service, on time. You pay us in USD; we handle the currency conversion and local disbursement.

No hidden fees. We charge a transparent monthly management fee per employee. Setup, onboarding, and contract drafting are included. Any optional extras (e.g., premium benefits, recruitment advertising) are quoted upfront.

Absolutely. They join your Slack, GitHub, CRM, meetings, and workflows like any other employee. We stay in the background handling compliance and payroll while you manage the day-to-day work.

South Africa is UTC+2. A standard South African workday overlaps with the US East Coast morning for 4–6 hours of live collaboration. West Coast teams get a meaningful afternoon overlap as well.

We focus on professional and business-process roles: software engineers, DevOps, finance and accounting, FP&A, customer support, sales development, RevOps, data and analytics, legal support, marketing ops, HR and recruiting ops.

Yes, but South African labor law is strict about contractor classification. We assess each arrangement and advise on the safest structure. In many cases, a compliant fixed-term or permanent employment arrangement through our EOR is the lower-risk option.