Employer of Record in Equatorial Guinea

An Employer of Record (EOR) in Equatorial Guinea is a company that legally hires and manages your employees in the country. This means you can build a team there without setting up your own local entity. The EOR takes care of the complex parts of employment, like contracts, payroll, taxes, and making sure you follow all local labor laws. This lets you focus on your business goals. For companies looking to expand, an EOR like Rivermate offers a straightforward way to hire talent in new markets.

How an Employer of Record (EOR) Works in Equatorial Guinea

Using an EOR simplifies the process of hiring in Equatorial Guinea. Here is how it generally works:

1. You Find the Talent: You select the candidate you want to hire in Equatorial Guinea.
2. The EOR Hires Them: The EOR legally hires the employee on your behalf through a compliant local employment contract.
3. Onboarding is Handled: The EOR manages the entire onboarding process, ensuring all paperwork is correct and compliant with local regulations.
4. Payroll and Benefits are Managed: The EOR takes care of paying your employees, deducting the correct taxes, and managing social security contributions. They also administer benefits packages that meet local standards.
5. Ongoing Compliance is Ensured: The EOR stays up to date with Equatorial Guinea's labor laws, so you don't have to worry about compliance.
6. You Manage Your Team: While the EOR handles the legal and administrative side of employment, you manage your employee's day to day work and responsibilities.

Benefits of Using an EOR for Hiring in Equatorial Guinea

Using an EOR to hire in Equatorial Guinea gives you a significant advantage. It allows you to enter a new market and build a team quickly and efficiently, without the usual bureaucratic hurdles.

• Faster Market Entry: You can hire employees and start operations in days, instead of the months it can take to set up a legal entity.
• Cost Savings: Avoid the high costs associated with establishing a local company, including legal fees, registration, and opening local bank accounts.
• Reduced Risk: EORs are experts in local labor laws, which minimizes your risk of non-compliance with complex and changing regulations.
• Focus on Your Business: By letting an EOR handle HR and administrative tasks, you can concentrate on your core business activities and growth.
• Access to Expertise: You benefit from the EOR's local knowledge of employment practices, benefits, and payroll, ensuring your employees are managed professionally.

Rivermate's transparent pricing model eliminates complexity with a single, competitive monthly fee per employee. Unlike traditional PEO providers, our pricing in Equatorial Guinea includes comprehensive HR support, benefits administration, compliance management, and access to our proprietary dashboard for real-time workforce analytics. No hidden costs, no setup fees—just straightforward pricing that scales with your business needs while ensuring full legal compliance in Equatorial Guinea.

Hiring in Equatorial Guinea has its own unique landscape. The economy is largely driven by its oil and gas sector, but there's a growing demand for skilled professionals in other areas like construction and finance. When you hire, you'll find a workforce with diverse language skills, including Spanish, French, and Portuguese. If you plan to hire foreign nationals, you will need to secure work permits and visas for them.

Employment contracts & must-have clauses

When you hire an employee in Equatorial Guinea, you should use a written employment contract. While oral contracts are allowed, a written agreement provides clarity and helps prevent disputes. You can choose between two main types of contracts:

• Fixed-term contracts: These have a specific end date or are tied to the completion of a project.
• Indefinite-term contracts: These have no set end date and continue until one party terminates the agreement according to legal procedures.

Your employment contracts must include certain essential information to be compliant. Think of these as the non-negotiables.

Here are the must-have clauses for your employment contracts:

• Identification of Parties: Full names and addresses of both you and the employee.
• Job Title and Description: A clear outline of the employee's role and responsibilities.
• Workplace: The location where the employee will work.
• Contract Type: State whether it is a fixed-term or indefinite contract.
• Start Date: The first day of employment.
• Remuneration: Details on the salary, payment frequency, and any additional benefits.
• Working Hours: The standard daily and weekly work hours.
• Leave Entitlement: Information on annual leave and other statutory leave.
• Probationary Period: If applicable, the duration and conditions.
• Termination Notice: The required notice period for ending the contract.

Probation periods

You can include a probationary period at the start of employment. This allows both you and the new employee to assess the fit. The maximum length of a probation period can vary based on the employee's role, but a common limit is one month. For highly skilled workers, this can sometimes be extended up to three months if both parties agree in writing. During the probation period, either you or the employee can end the employment agreement with a shorter notice period.

Working hours & overtime

The standard workweek in Equatorial Guinea is 40 to 48 hours, typically spread over five or six days. Daily working hours should not exceed eight hours.

Any work done beyond these standard hours is considered overtime and must be paid at a higher rate. Here’s a simple breakdown of overtime pay:

Public & regional holidays

Your employees are entitled to paid time off for public holidays. Here is a list of the official public holidays in Equatorial Guinea:

• New Year's Day (January 1)
• Good Friday
• Labour Day (May 1)
• President's Day (June 5)
• Corpus Christi
• Freedom Day (August 3)
• Constitution Day (August 15)
• Independence Day (October 12)
• Immaculate Conception (December 8)
• Christmas Day (December 25)

Hiring contractors in Equatorial Guinea

You might consider hiring independent contractors for specialized or project-based work. This can offer flexibility and reduce some administrative tasks. However, you need to be careful about how you classify workers.

An independent contractor should genuinely be in business for themselves, with multiple clients and control over their own work. If the authorities find that a worker is misclassified as a contractor but is treated like an employee, you could face penalties.

Using an Employer of Record (EOR) can help you avoid these risks. An EOR can compliantly engage contractors on your behalf. This ensures that your working relationships are set up correctly from the start, mitigating the risk of misclassification and keeping you in line with local labor laws.

Navigating compensation and payroll in Equatorial Guinea means understanding a few key rules. The local currency is the Central African CFA franc (XAF). The country's economy influences wage stability, and if you're hiring, you need to get the details right to stay compliant and attract the right talent.

Payroll cycles & wage structure

In Equatorial Guinea, you pay employees on a monthly basis. The law also requires you to pay specific bonuses to employees after they have worked for you for one year. These include a Christmas bonus and a National Independence Day bonus, which is equal to 15 days of their salary.

Overtime & minimums

The standard work week is 48 hours, typically spread across six days. If an employee works beyond these hours, you must pay them overtime. The overtime rate is 1.5 times their regular hourly pay. For work done on weekends or public holidays, the rate often doubles.

As of 2025, the national minimum wage is 129,035 XAF per month. This applies to all sectors.

Employer taxes and contributions

As an employer, you are responsible for contributing to social security and a work protection fund for your employees. These contributions are a percentage of the employee's salary.

Employee taxes and deductions

Employees also contribute to social security and the work protection fund from their salary. Additionally, they pay a progressive income tax based on their earnings.

Personal Income Tax Rates

• Up to 1,000,000 XAF: 0%
• 1,000,001 - 3,000,000 XAF: 10%
• 3,000,001 - 5,000,000 XAF: 15%
• 5,000,001 - 10,000,000 XAF: 20%
• 10,000,001 - 15,000,000 XAF: 25%
• 15,000,001 - 20,000,000 XAF: 30%
• Above 20,000,000 XAF: 35%

In Equatorial Guinea, the government mandates several employee benefits and leave policies. These regulations ensure fair treatment and provide a safety net for workers. Understanding these local labor laws is crucial for any company hiring in the country. It helps you stay compliant and create a positive work environment.

Statutory leave

Annual Leave Employees are entitled to 30 calendar days of paid annual leave after one year of continuous service. You must pay the employee their regular salary during this time.

Sick Leave Paid sick leave is a mandatory benefit. The duration can vary depending on the employee's service length and the nature of the illness. A medical certificate is typically required to justify the absence.

Maternity Leave Female employees receive 12 weeks of paid maternity leave. This is usually taken as six weeks before and six weeks after the birth. They are also protected from dismissal during their maternity leave.

Paternity Leave The law also provides for paternity leave, ensuring fathers have time off to support their families.

Public holidays & regional holidays

Equatorial Guinea has 10 national holidays. If an employee works on a public holiday, they are entitled to premium pay.

Typical supplemental benefits

Beyond the standard requirements, many companies offer additional benefits to attract and retain talent.

How an EOR can help with setting up benefits

An Employer of Record (EOR) simplifies the process of managing employee benefits in a new country. Instead of navigating complex local labor laws on your own, an EOR handles it for you.

An EOR can:

• Ensure you comply with all statutory requirements.
• Manage payroll and benefits administration.
• Offer competitive benefits packages to attract top talent.
• Save you the time and resources of setting up a local entity.

By partnering with an EOR, you can focus on your core business goals while they handle the complexities of local employment.

When an employment relationship ends in Equatorial Guinea, you need to follow specific rules. The process involves legal requirements for notice periods, severance pay, and clear communication. To avoid disputes, you must handle every step correctly. This means understanding the reasons for termination and calculating final payments accurately.

Notice periods

You must give employees written notice before termination. The length of this notice period depends on how long the employee has worked for you.

These are the minimum periods required by law. Your employment contract could specify longer periods. If you don't provide the proper notice, you may have to pay the employee for that time instead.

Severance pay

Employees in Equatorial Guinea are entitled to severance pay when their contract ends. This payment is equal to 45 days of salary for each year of service. That works out to 3.75 days of pay for every month worked. You must follow the correct termination procedures to ensure the calculation is right.

How Rivermate handles compliant exits

When you partner with an Employer of Record like Rivermate, we manage the entire termination process for you. We make sure that every offboarding is fully compliant with Equatorial Guinean labor law.

• Legal Compliance: We handle all termination procedures according to the law. This includes notice periods and severance pay calculations.
• Documentation: We prepare and manage all necessary paperwork. This ensures a smooth and compliant exit.
• Final Payroll: We process the employee's final payment. This includes any unused leave and other entitlements.

Navigating the visa and work permit process in Equatorial Guinea requires careful planning. Any non-citizen coming to the country for work, whether as a self-employed individual or an employee, must get a work permit. The process involves both the employee and the employer. You, as the employer, will need to handle parts of the application process. For any stay longer than 90 days, a residence permit is also necessary.

Employment visas & sponsorship realities

Sponsoring a work visa in Equatorial Guinea means you, the employer, must initiate the process. You are required to submit an official request to the Ministry of Labor, Employment, and Social Security. This involves showing why it's necessary to hire a foreign worker and proving that a local candidate could not fill the role.

An Employer of Record (EOR) can typically sponsor work permits for employees on your behalf. This is a practical route if you don't have a legal entity in Equatorial Guinea. The EOR handles the sponsorship and ensures compliance with local labor laws.

The main types of work permits include:

• Initial Work Permit (BI): This is valid for one year.
• Renewed Work Permit (BR): This is a renewal of the BI permit and is valid for two years.
• Type C Work Permit: After renewing a BR permit, an employee can get a C permit, which is valid for three years.

The employee will need to provide several documents, including:

• A valid passport
• A signed employment contract
• A medical certificate
• Passport-sized photos
• Proof of a clean criminal record

Once the work permit is approved, the employee must then apply for a residence permit.

Business travel compliance

For short-term business visits, a business visa is generally required. This visa is for activities like meetings, negotiations, or attending conferences. It does not permit long-term employment.

Citizens of some countries, like the United States, can enter Equatorial Guinea for up to 90 days without a visa for business or tourism. However, if their work activities extend beyond this period, they will need to secure the proper work and residence permits.

It's important to have a company business letter as part of the application for a business visa. Always check the specific requirements at the nearest Equatorial Guinean embassy or consulate before travel, as rules can change.