Zambia
Employ in Zambia without an entity.
A contract under Zambia's Employment Code, pay in kwacha, and pension, health insurance and income tax handled every month. One contact and one invoice.
The facts of employing in Zambia.
Paid in kwacha, every month.
The Employment Code requires wages in kwacha.
Up to 48 hours a week.
Eight hours a normal day, with 24 hours of rest in every seven days.
24 days of annual leave.
Two days a month on full pay, after twelve months' continuous service.
Pension, health insurance and income tax.
NAPSA, NHIMA and PAYE, each explained below.
What employing in Zambia involves, in plain words.
Each is handled for everyone you employ through Global Kinect EOR.
- Contracts
Written for any engagement of six months or more, notified to the Labour Commissioner within 30 days.
- Permanent, long-term or for a specific task. Work that is permanent in nature is not put on a temporary or fixed basis without a reason the Code allows.
- Trial period: up to three months, extendable by up to three more.
- NAPSAPension
The National Pension Scheme Authority, on monthly earnings.
- 5% from the employer and 5% from the employee.
- On earnings up to ZMW 37,236 a month, from 1 January 2026.
- NHIMAHealth insurance
National health insurance, remitted by the 10th of each month.
- 1% from the employer and 1% from the employee.
- For citizens and established residents. A foreign national holds valid health insurance for their stay.
- PAYEIncome tax
Withheld by the employer each month.
- Nothing on the first ZMW 5,100 a month, rising through 20% and 30% to 37% above ZMW 9,200.
- Skills development levy
0.5% of gross emoluments, paid by the employer and never deducted from pay.
- Workers' compensation
Contributions from the employer alone, at a rate that varies by industry.
- Leave
Two days of annual leave a month on full pay, after twelve months' continuous service.
- Sick leave on a long-term contract: three months on full pay, then three on half pay.
- Maternity leave: 14 weeks, on full pay after 24 months' continuous service.
- Paternity leave: at least five working days, after twelve months' service.
- Ending employment
Notice where the contract is silent is 24 hours, 14 days or 30 days, by the contract's length.
- A termination needs a valid reason, and a hearing first where it concerns conduct or performance.
- Gratuity on a long-term contract: at least 25% of the basic pay earned over it.
- Redundancy: at least two months' basic pay for each year of service.
- Work permits
An Employment Permit for employment of more than six months, or a Temporary Employment Permit for a business visitor staying more than 30 days, from the Department of Immigration. Expatriates fill critical-skill roles, with a Zambian understudy where practicable.
Hiring in Zambia, step by step.
You choose the person
And agree the role and the salary in kwacha.
The contract is put in place
Under Zambia's Employment Code, with a work permit where one is needed.
They are paid monthly
In kwacha, with NAPSA, NHIMA and income tax handled.
You get one invoice
With every other country you hire in.
Questions about employing in Zambia
What does an employer pay on top of salary in Zambia?
Employers in Zambia pay NAPSA at 5% of monthly earnings, matching the employee's 5%, on earnings up to ZMW 37,236 a month from 1 January 2026. They pay NHIMA health insurance at 1%, matching the employee's 1%. They pay the skills development levy at 0.5% of gross emoluments. They alone pay workers' compensation, at a rate that varies by industry. A long-term contract also carries a gratuity of at least 25% of the basic pay earned over it.
Is there a minimum wage?
Can we employ a foreign national?
Employing in Zambia, worked through in full.
The guide goes further than this page.
- Hiring in Zambia: the work permit, the contract and a salary worked through, step by step
How you hire in Zambia without an entity of your own: the work permit step by step, moving someone already in Zambia, the contract, the employee test, what a salary costs and pays, leave, and what changed this year.
9 min read