Remote’s guide to employing in

Yemen
yemen flag

With localized contracts, easy invoice management, and best-in-class compliance, you can grow your team in Yemen with confidence. Currently, you can hire and manage contractors in Yemen through Remote, but our EOR services are not yet live.

  • Capital City

    Sanaa & Aden (capital-in-exile)

  • Currency

    Yemeni rial (﷼, YER)

  • Languages

    Arabic

  • Population size

    30,491,000

Services available in this country:
Contractor Management
A large mosque with many domes.

Facts & Stats

Yemen Map Illustration
  • Capital City

    Sanaa & Aden (capital-in-exile)

  • Currency

    Yemeni rial (﷼, YER)

  • Languages

    Arabic

  • Population size

    30,491,000

  • Ease of doing business

    Below average

  • Cost of living index

    N/A

  • Payroll frequency

    N/A

  • VAT - standard rate

    5%

  • GDP - real growth rate

    -2% (est 2021)

Yemen is a presidential republic situated on the southern coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It borders Saudi Arabia and Oman shares maritime borders with Eritrea, Djibouti, and Somalia

The war-torn state is one of the poorest and least-developed in the world, with dismal levels of public health, education, per capita income, and sovereign debt. Yemen’s instability began in 2011 after riots led to a change and government which quickly spiraled into armed conflict that has led to 56,000 casualties so far.

Since 2012, Yemen has been under an economic embargo & businesses in the United States & much of the EU cannot trade with or employ Yemeni. This guide to hiring in Yemen looks forward to when the conflict winds down (hopefully) and Yemen is connected back to the rest of the world

Against the backdrop of the ongoing civil war, Yemen has been undergoing a humanitarian crisis with 17.4 million food-insecure Yemenis, a catastrophic cholera outbreak, and a war of attrition that has all but ruined the struggling nation’s economy.

Grow your team in Yemen with Remote

Note that we are busy building our own entity in Yemen to provide you with the best possible employment solutions for your employees, but our employer of record service is not yet live in this country.

To employ in Yemen, companies must own a local legal entity in the country or work with a global employment solution. Developing the processes required to manage payroll, benefits, taxes, and onboarding in countries like Yemen can get complicated fast, especially without localized expertise.

If you’re looking to start hiring in a country like this, partnering with a global employment solution like Remote makes it easy for your company to employ workers quickly, cost-effectively, and in full compliance with all local legislation.

In the countries where we do offer our EOR services, Remote takes on the responsibility and legal risks of international employment so you can focus on hiring great talent and growing your business.

Risks of misclassification

Yemen, like many other countries, treats self-employed individuals or contractors and full-time employees differently. Misclassification of contractors in Yemen may lead to fines and penalties for the offending company.

Employing in Yemen

Workers’ rights in Yemen are spelled out in several laws, such as:

  • The Yemeni Labor Code, i.e. Act No. 5 of 1995

  • Law No. 26 of 1991 concerning Social Security

  • The Yemeni Civil Code, i.e. Law No. 14 of 2002

— all of which guarantee equal pay for equal work, safe working environments, and protections against discrimination based on age, gender, disability, religion, and race.

Common questions that could come up during the hiring process include the minimum wage, overtime rates, and guaranteed paid time off.

Minimum Wage

Yemen’s minimum wage is currently fixed at YER 21,000 ($154) although it only applies to government employees. Remote workers will often negotiate salaries on a case-by-case basis and we recommend paying a premium to attract the best talent.

Effortless HR in Yemen: Take the Tour

Seamlessly Manage Your Workforce, from First Hire to Final Paycheck

Competitive benefits package in Yemen

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).

We are still busy building our own entity in Yemen, but our benefits packages for all countries are tailored to fulfill the local needs of your employees. Typically, our packages contain some or all of the following benefits:

  • Health Insurance

  • Mental Health Support

  • Dental Insurance

  • Pension or 401(K)

  • Vision Insurance

  • Life and Disability Insurance

Taxes in Yemen

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

  • 9%

    Old Age, Disability & Survivors contributions

  • 1%

    Work Injury Contribution

Types of leave

Yemeni employees are entitled to at least 30 days of paid annual leave per year of employment.

Employment termination

Termination process

Yemeni law stipulates that an employer can dismiss a worker for harassment, incompetence, fraud, divulging company secrets, assault, disregarding safety rules, or such similar acts of gross misconduct.

Notice period

Employees are only entitled to prior notice of termination if they’re dismissed because of medical incapacity, absenteeism, retirement, redundancy, or if they fail to abide with the terms of the employment contract.

In such cases, the notice period (or payment in lieu of notice) depends on how often the worker is paid, that is:

  1. 30 days for workers who’re paid monthly

  2. 15 days for workers who’re paid half-monthly, and

  3. One week’s notice for hourly, daily, and weekly workers

There’s no notice required from both employer and employee if:

  1. Both parties agree to end a contract

  2. The contract expires without renewal

  3. A labor arbitration judgment terminates the contract, or

  4. If the worker dies

Severance pay

Employees who’re dismissed without just cause are entitled to severance benefits that will be decided by an Arbitration Committee, up to a limit of six months’ wages.

Probation periods

Probation periods must be stated in the employment contract and must not exceed six months. An employer cannot hire the same worker to work on a probationary basis more than once.

Fair Pricing in Yemen

Contractor Management

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$29

per contractor/month

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Top features

  • Only pay for contractors you actively work with

  • Work with contractors in 200+ countries

  • Create, edit, and sign tailored, localized contracts

  • Approve contractor invoices with one click or auto-pay

  • Transparent payments with complete visibility

Remote Payroll

Consolidate your multi-country payroll

$50

per employee/month

Top features

  • Reduce costs by centralizing payroll management

  • Ensure local compliance for every country

  • Direct support from in-house local payroll experts

  • Accurate, on-time, compliant payroll to level-up your employee experience

  • Tax and labor authority reporting handled for you

HR Management

Manage all of your employees in one place

Free
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Top features

  • Guided onboarding and offboarding

  • Employee profile and document management

  • Time and attendance (time off and tracking)

  • Expense management and reimbursement

  • Employee self-serve on the platform and mobile app