Global HR Compliance in Ghana

The war for global talent has never been tougher. Attracting and keeping sought-after international employees requires knowledge. Whether your company is already engaging or planning to engage global workforce in Ghana, you need to trust that your operations are executed without flaw and without any unnecessary risks.

Businesses of all sizes face a devastating lack of information and support on global employment, taxation, and immigration in Ghana. There’s a common and significant gap between what’s required to be 100% compliant and what most organizations actually have at their disposal.

Acumen International can fill the gap in fragmented Global HR Compliance knowledge

We are experts in global workforce employment in Ghana, and our goal is to become your single provider. Instead of working with numerous local staffing agencies and legal advisors, Acumen International can solve your global business challenges and save you time, costs, and resources.

We act as an information service for corporate clients, agencies, and independent contractors and freelancers. Our Global HR Compliance service in Ghana will help you:

1. Navigate legislation and local nuances of Ghana. You need to know what is acceptable and what can expose you to employment litigation as well as employee / independent contractor misclassification risk in Ghana.
2. Avoid areas of possible risk. Certain areas and activities can create unnecessary risk, such as employer-employee relations. We can help you with worker classification, payroll and tax calculations, and social cost contributions.
3. Handle currency exchanges and local invoicing in Ghana. We save you time and effort, freeing you from having to understand complicated regulations and tax calculations written in the local language and subject to frequent changes.
4. Create employment contracts and handle compliant engagements. Our objective is to assist you with international HR compliance issues and offer you the best payment and taxation options in Ghana.
5. Manage expatriate immigration and visa support nuances in Ghana. Acumen International provides information about the best scenarios of expat immigration and employment.
6. Handle global recruitment issues. We can help you select the person and then employ him with our help. We advise you on local employment laws and implied compliance risks to determine the most cost-effective, compliant, and risk-free solution for you.
7. Withdraw from the region in the least risky and most cost-effective way. If you choose to do so, we can help you withdraw from the region as simply as possible.

Our team of English-speaking professionals frees you from working through language nuances. Acumen International works 24/7 and can assist you whenever you need, regardless of time zones. Our goal is to create tailored labor solutions for you that are managed legally and in full compliance with the local employment laws.

With our knowledge and deep understanding of local nuances, you easily satisfy your need for skilled professionals in your global industry. With our qualified local partners, you can trust that your global workforce satisfies all local tax, social security, and immigration requirements in Ghana.

Hiring and Firing Workforce in Ghana Guide

# Employment Contracts

Contract of employment may be concluded in writing or orally if the employment relationship is intended to last for less than 6 months. Contract of employment must be concluded in writing and signed by both the employer and employee if the employment is intended to last for more than 6 months. In that case, the employer is obligated to give the employee a written contract containing particulars of the terms of the employment within the first two months of commencing work in the company. As a general rule, the particulars of the terms of the employment must encompass the information about the two parties of employment, job description, commencement date, hours of work, compensation and payment intervals, leave, notice of termination and social security plan.

# Minimum statutory employment rights

# Hours of work
Employees have a right to work no more than 8 hours per week and 40 hours per day. Employees are entitled to two calendar days – Saturday and Sunday – of uninterrupted rest every week.

# Probation period
There is no legal limitation on how long an employee may be placed on probation. Customarily, the maximum length and the terms of probation are set by collective agreement.

# Annual leave
Employees are entitled to paid day off on all the 11 public holidays approved by law: Independence Day, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, Easter Monday, May Day, Africa Unity Day, Republic Day, Founders Day, Eid-Al-Fitr, Farmers Day, and Christmas Day.

Employees must be allowed to take 15 days of paid vacation annually from the time they have completed a full year of continuous service with the company. Employees have the right to take their annual paid leave all at once or in two evenly distributed parts.

# Parental leave
Employees who are pregnant with a child are entitled to at least 12 weeks of maternity leave with a pay that is equivalent to their basic wage. Employees who are expecting multiple births are entitled to extra 2 weeks of paid maternity leave. Upon the completion of maternity leave, employees must be allowed to take an hour break daily for up to a period of one-year to take care of her baby.

# Sick leave
There is no clear provision in the Labour Act about paid sick leave and its length. It only says that sick leave certified by the medical practitioner is independent of annual leave.
Employers are obligated to allow their workers to take some time off when they are sick. Sick employees are entitled to benefit that is paid in accordance with the provisions of the Labor Acts.

# Overtime
There is no legal fixed overtime pay for extra hours, even though employers are required to compensate for every overtime worked by their employees. Ordinarily, overtime on workdays is compensated at 150 percent of regular pay and at 200 percent of regular pay on non-working days.

# State minimum salary
Effective from 1 Jan 2018, the state minimum wage is GHS 9.68 per day.

# Employment termination
An employer or employee may legally terminate an employment contract by providing a written notice or payment in lieu to the other party. Based on the duration of contract, an employee (or employer) must be given a notice period of 7 days if it is a week to week employment contract; 2 weeks if it is less than 3 years contract; 1-month if it is more than 3 years contract.
Employment contract may be terminated at will by either party without notice providing the terminating party pays the other a sum that is equivalent to the amount that would have been earned during the notice period.
There is a provision in the law regarding redundancy pay (paid only if an organization closes down or is merged with another organization and this leads to the worker losing his benefits or even job), however this compensation is subject to negotiation between the employer or representative of the employer and the worker or the trade union. There is no severance pay in the case of individual dismissals (for non-economic reasons).

Acumen International can help you fast-track your possibilities of entering and expanding your business in Ghana by providing you with our Employer of Record services. Our unique mix of PEO/EOR solutions will enable you to jumpstart your global operations almost immediately, cost-effectively and compliantly without any need to set up a legal entity first or afterwards.