Botswana
Employ in Botswana without an entity.
A contract under Botswana's Employment and Labour Relations Act, pay in pula, and income tax handled every month. One contact and one invoice.
The facts of employing in Botswana.
Paid in pula, every month.
In legal tender, or into the worker's bank account with their consent.
Income tax up to 27.5%.
On a tax year that runs from July to June.
A trial period set in writing.
Up to six months, notified before the contract is made.
A minimum wage by sector.
BWP 9.06 an hour in the main sectors it covers.
What employing in Botswana involves, in plain words.
Each is handled for everyone you employ through Global Kinect EOR.
- Contracts
Written or spoken. A fixed-term contract runs no longer than twelve months, unless the work or another justifiable reason calls for longer.
- Trial period: up to six months, set in advance and notified in writing.
- The Employment and Labour Relations Act, 2025 replaces the Employment Act from the date the Minister appoints by Order in the Gazette. The Minister has announced 1 September 2026 as that date.
- Working hours
Up to eight hours a day and 48 a week, with a rest period of at least 24 hours in every seven days.
- Overtime at one and a half times the ordinary wages, for no more than 14 hours a week.
- PAYEIncome tax
Withheld by the employer each month and paid over within 14 days of the month's end, at rates up to 27.5%.
- Leave
15 working days of annual leave a year, earned at 1.25 days a month.
- Sick leave: at least 20 working days a year on basic pay.
- Maternity leave: at least 14 weeks, paid at no less than 70% of basic pay.
- Paternity leave: at least five paid days.
- Ending employment
A month's written notice, with reasons, for monthly-paid staff, or basic pay in lieu.
- Severance: a benefit at a rate set by regulation, due after each 60 months' service or when employment ends.
- A dispute over a termination goes to the Mediation and Arbitration Commission within 90 days.
- Cover for injury at work
Every employer insures against its liability to compensate workers injured at work, under the Worker's Compensation Act.
- Work permits
A foreign employee needs a work permit and a residence permit under the Immigration Act.
Hiring in Botswana, step by step.
You choose the person
And agree the role and the salary in pula.
The contract is put in place
Under Botswana's Employment and Labour Relations Act, with a work permit where one is needed.
They are paid monthly
In pula, with income tax handled.
You get one invoice
With every other country you hire in.
Questions about employing in Botswana
What is the minimum wage in Botswana?
Botswana sets minimum wages by sector. Since 1 February 2024, the minimum is BWP 9.06 an hour in construction, wholesale and retail, hotels and catering, garages and motor trades, manufacturing and security guarding. Domestic and agricultural workers are owed at least BWP 1,500 a month.
How long can a trial period be?
Where does a dismissal dispute go?
Employing in Botswana, worked through in full.
The guide goes further than this page.
- Hiring in Botswana: the permits, the contract and a salary worked through, step by step
How you hire in Botswana without an entity of your own: the work and residence permits step by step, moving someone already in Botswana, the contract, the employee test, the income tax on a salary, leave, and what changed this year.
9 min read