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Hire employees and contractors in Ukraine

Remote’s guide to employing in Ukraine.

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  • Capital city

    Kyiv

  • Currency

    Ukrainian hryvnia
    (₴, UAH)

  • Population size

    44,390,000
    (2019)

  • Languages spoken

    Ukrainian

  • Availability

    Remote-Owned Local Entity

    We own our own entity in the countries where we operate to shield your company from risk and provide you and your employees with the signature Remote experience.

Facts & Stats

Ukraine is both Europe’s second-largest country by area and one of its most populous, famous for its rich historical heritage and biological diversity.

Prior to the pandemic, Ukraine had experienced prolonged GDP growth and strong industrial prowess in agriculture, IT, and mining. The southeastern European nation also boasts a burgeoning tech sector with a large skilled labor force in IT services, software development, ecommerce, and customer support.

  • Capital city

    Kyiv

  • Currency

    Ukrainian hryvnia
    (₴, UAH)

  • Languages spoken

    Ukrainian

  • Population size

    44,390,000 (2019)

  • Ease of doing business

    Easy

  • Cost of living index

    $ (121 of 139 nations)

  • Payroll frequency

    Bi-monthly

  • VAT - standard rate

    20% (with some exceptions)

  • GDP - real growth rate

    4.4% (2020)

Grow your team in Ukraine with Remote

To employ in Ukraine, companies must own a local legal entity in the country or work with a global employment solution. Managing payroll, benefits, taxes, and compliance in Ukraine can get complicated, especially without established local relationships.

Remote’s global employment solution makes it easy for your company to employ workers in Ukraine quickly, efficiently, and in full compliance with all applicable labor laws. We take on the responsibility and legal risks of international employment so you can focus on hiring great talent and growing your business.

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Risks
of misclassification

Ukraine, like many other countries, treats self-employed individuals or contractors and full-time workers differently and if court, tax, or labor authorities determine an employee has been misclassified, they can demand payments of all statutory benefits and impose punitive fines.

Employing in Ukraine

The Ukrainian constitution and the Labour Code are the principal governing statutes that define employee protections and workers’ rights applicable to Ukraine’s workforce of 19.5 million. Employees in Ukraine enjoy protections against discrimination based on age, religion, sexual orientation, gender expression, and race.

Common questions that could come up during the hiring process include the minimum wage, overtime rates, and guaranteed paid time off. Remote can help you offer a complete, competitive, and compliant benefits package to your employees in Ukraine.

Public holidays

Below are national public holidays applicable for all regions in this country. Remote customers have access to a detailed list of regional public holidays within the Remote platform. Sign up now to access all public holiday information.

Minimum Wage

The Ukrainian government has set the minimum wage for 2021 at UAH 6,000 or approximately $220.12 per month.

Payroll Cycle

For customers of Remote, all employee payments will be made in equal bi-monthly installments, payable in arrears.

Onboarding Time

We can help you get a new employee started in Ukraine fast. The minimum onboarding time we need is only 17 working days.

Our team ensures your employees are onboarded and paid as quickly as possible while keeping your business compliant with all local employment legislation. The minimum onboarding time begins after the employee submits all required information onto the Remote platform. The onboarding timeline is also dependent upon registration with local authorities.

For all non-nationals of the country of employment, the Right to Work assessment (if applicable) will add three extra days to the total time to onboard. There may be extra time required if we need to follow-up on the right to work assessment.

Please note, payroll cut-off dates can impact the actual first day of employment. Remote has a payroll cut-off date of the 10th of the month unless otherwise specified.

Competitive benefits package in Ukraine

At Remote, we’re obsessed with helping you craft the best possible employee experience for your team. We are leading the way in practicing “fair equity,” which means making sure employees everywhere have access to both the required and supplemental benefits they need to thrive (and that will allow you to attract the best local talent).

Our benefits packages in Ukraine are tailored to fulfill the local needs of your employees. Typically, our packages contain some or all of the following benefits:

  • Health Insurance
  • Dental Insurance
  • Vision Insurance
  • Mental Health Support
  • Pension or 401(K)
  • Life and Disability Insurance
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Taxes in Ukraine

Learn how employment taxes and statutory fees affect your payroll and your employees’ paychecks in Ukraine.

  • Employer

    • 22% - social security contribution

  • Employee

    • 18% - flat-rate income tax

    • 1.5% - mandatory military tax

    • 0.6% - unemployment contribution

Types of leave

Paid Time Off

Employees are entitled to at least 24 calendar days of paid leave, depending on their health and workload.

  • 31 days: employees under the age of 18
  • 26 – 30 days: employees with different types of disability; more severe disability will warrant more days off & vice versa

An employer must accept an employee's request for unpaid leave for a specified duration in certain cases (a honeymoon is one example). Apart from the mandatory provision of unpaid leave, an employer can (but has no obligation to) provide unpaid leave to an employee for family reasons or any based on any other request. Any unpaid leave will not exceed 15 calendar days a year.

Public Holidays

Ukrainian labor law mandates that the 11 public holidays are paid, in addition to the annual paid holiday entitlement.

Sick leave

Employees are entitled to unlimited paid sick leave until recovery or until the employee is officially confirmed as disabled.

Employers are responsible for paying the sick leave until the 6th day, after which the employee will draw a sickness benefit from the Social Security Fund, at a rate ranging from 50 – 100% of his usual income.

Maternity leave

Female employees are entitled to 126 days of paid maternity leave, starting 70 days prior to delivery and extending up to 56 days after. In case of multiple births or complications, maternity leave can be extended to 140 paid days off split before and after delivery.

Paternity/Parental leave

Post-maternity, either parent of a newly delivered child can take unpaid parental leave to nurture the child until the age of three. The leave entitlement can be exercised from time to time or taken at a single stretch.

Other leave

  • Adoption: Parents adopting a newborn directly from a hospital are entitled to 56 days of paid maternity leave (70, in case of multiple adoptions) to nurture the newly adopted child. Only one parent can exercise the leave entitlement.
  • Rest Breaks: Ukrainian employees are entitled to rest breaks of up to two hours. A break is not included in working time. Generally, a rest break will be provided four hours after a shift begins. For shift workers, the duration of breaks between work shifts cannot be less than double the duration of the worked shift (including lunch). Employees cannot work two uccessive shifts.

Employment termination

Termination process

Ukrainian labor law mandates that employee contracts can only be terminated if just cause is established, from reasons ranging from redundancy, dishonesty, fraud, incapability to dispense work duties, etc.

Pregnant women, mothers with children below the age of three, single mothers with children under the age of 14, and mothers of children with disabilities are protected from termination on an employer’s initiative, except for the latter’s liquidation.

Notice period

The acceptable notice period for termination depends on the terms agreed upon by both parties, as well as circumstances surrounding the termination.

At the bare minimum, employers can only terminate employers with advance notice of:

  • 2 months: for organizational or economic reasons, i.e. bankruptcy, liquidation, etc.
  • 3 days: unsatisfactory probatory performance

For other unspecified situations, both parties can default to whatever agreement specified in the employment contract.

The employee and the company are both required to give the following periods of written notice (these are a minimum standard, but companies can choose to increase these periods if desired):

  • For employees of up to 4 years service - at least one month notice
  • For employees from 5 to 11 years of service - not less than one week notice for every completed year of continuous employment
  • For employees with more than 12 years of services - not less than three months notice

Severance pay

If an employment contract is deemed to be terminated because of the employer’s violation, the employee will be entitled to a severance package equal to three months’ pay, or six months’ wages, if the employee is a corporate officer.

Otherwise, if an employee is deemed redundant or unsuited for tasks required, the employee will be entitled to one month’s pay.

Probation periods

Probationary periods are limited to one month for blue-collar employees and three months for other employees.

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