Hiring Employees – PEO versus Entity Setup in Brazil

Brazil is the largest economy in Latin America and has the largest population. This economic powerhouse is a great jurisdiction to employ local staff to assist with your business activities. In addition, local Brazilians are often tri-lingual; Portuguese, Spanish and English, which is extremely advantageous for companies operating globally. Depending on your business needs, you may hire employees through a local legal entity, or through a Professional Employer Organization (PEO).

Having a large working population with a good pool of candidates is appealing to new companies trying to expand into the Brazilian market. However, there are general employment rules in Brazil that have to be considered before hiring employees.

According to Brazilian law, individuals cannot work more than 44 hours per week and the ideal is that an individual would work 8 hours per day, from Monday to Friday, in addition they would work 4 hours on Saturdays. Many companies do not require their employees to work on Saturdays, so the workday would exceed the 8 hours. Some occupations allow employees to work only 6 hours a day. This is the case of telephone operators and receptionists

Many Brazilians tend to accept working for a minimum salary as long as the company provides benefits. The benefits vary according to the company and to the employee’s occupation. For example, companies that concentrate a high percentage of women, such as call centers, will focus on benefits such as daycare and cesta básica de alimentos; yet companies with a significant number of interns and students will focus on scholarships.

Biz Latin Hub can act as your local employer of record and assist you to successfully operate in this region. We invite you to learn more about our accounting and legal experts, our Hiring and International PEO solutions and hiring support that we can provide in Brazil by reviewing our presentation below. This presentation was designed by our local experts and contains all the information you need to know when choosing to hire employees in Brazil.

If you have any more questions about how to hire employees in this vibrant country, reach out to our friendly team in the Brazil office today.