How to employ workers in Colombia
This chapter includes an overview of the labor regime, how to hire employees in Colombia, information about the employment contract, remuneration, benefits, working hours, social security, licenses, collective bargaining rights, outsourcing, and labor market trends in Colombia.
In Colombia, foreign workers enjoy the same guarantees and labor rights than national workers. However, in the case of foreign nationals, both the employer and the worker have to comply with additional obligations related to the worker’s legal immigration.
Contracts in Colombia can be classified as follows:
- Indefinite term – the duration of this type of contract is not defined.
- Fixed term – the duration of this type of contract must be defined in writing and can be executed for less than one year or one to three years, extendable indefinitely, without ever becoming indefinite-term contracts.
- For the duration of the work or hired service – The term of these contracts depend on the duration of the work for which the person has been hired.
The cost of hiring an employee in Colombia is broken down as follows:
Contributions to the Social Security System and Payroll Taxes are made on a monthly basis and based on the worker’s salary:
It should be noted that there are several deductions and discounts regarding the payment of payroll and income taxes in Colombia. Please review the Labor Regime chapter of the Investment Guide for more information.
Outsourcing and labor intermediation is allowed in Colombia. For more details, please review the Labor Regime chapter.
The Investment Guide also includes a summary of the labor market trend study in Colombia: GUIA SALARIAL 2016 HAYS-EY
Updated (mm/dd/yyyy): 02.22.2018