Hire employees in

Kenya, hassle-free

Hire employees in Kenya, hassle-free

With Deel, your business can easily hire employees in Kenya. No more worrying about local laws, complex tax systems, or managing international payroll. Deel takes care of everything in 150+ countries.

The average onboarding time frame in Kenya is 2 days with Deel.

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Currency

Kenyan Shilling (KES)

Capital

Nairobi

Official Language

Swahili and English,

Payroll Cycle

Monthly

Hire employees in Kenya. No entity needed.

Usually, to hire in Kenya, your business needs an entity. That means a local office, an address registered as a subsidiary, and an account with a local bank. All of this, plus navigating regional benefits, payroll, tax, and HR laws, can take months.

Kenya also treats contractors differently than full-time employees, so misclassifying a contractor could lead to fines. Deel lets you hire employees in Kenya quickly, easily, and compliantly. We even automate tax document collection, payroll, benefits, and more.

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All the necessary benefits for Kenya
built right in

Deel allows you to provide localized benefits for employees in Kenya within minutes. All in one manageable online dashboard.

  • National Housing Development Fund
  • National Industrial Training Fund
  • Private Healthcare - Unisure (optional)
  • Work Injury Benefits Act (WIBA)
  • National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF)

Our quickstart guide to hiring in Kenya

Navigate the tabs below to learn everything you need to know about hiring an employee in Kenya

Pay & Tax Leave Policy Termination Statutory time off Onboarding Additional info

Minimum Wage Requirements

The minimum wage is KES 13,572 per month.

Individual Income Tax

The individual income tax ranges from 10% to 30%. Income tax is calculated according to progress rates and the government uses a pay-as-you-earn model.

Gross Annual Income Tax Rate (%)
On the first 288,000 10%
On the next 100,000 25%
On all remaining income in excess of 388,000 30%

Employer Cost

The employer cost is generally estimated at 6.91% of the employee salary.
  • Training Fund Contributions - KES 50
  • National Social Security Fund - 6.0%
  • WIBA - 0.91%

An additional employer cost may apply once is legislated. At the moment there is no specific date:

  • National Housing Development Fund (NHDF) - 1.5%

Overtime Pay & Maximum Hours

Overtime payment is not mandatory for senior staff, as extra work hours are factored in their salaries.
Overtime payment is mandatory for junior staff. Hours outside of standard work hours are considered overtime. Employees can work a maximum of 52 hours per week (12 hours of overtime). 
For additional hours, employees are paid 1.5 times the regular hourly salary, and 2 times the regular hourly salary if they work overtime on a rest day or public holiday.
Standard working hours are 8 hours per day, 40 hours per week. The standard work week is from Monday to Friday. 

Maternity Leave

Pregnant employees are entitled to 3 months of paid leave. The employee will receive 100% of the salary during this period, and employer will be responsible for this pay. 
Maternity leave cannot be extended.

Paternity Leave

Employees are entitled to 2 weeks of paid paternity leave. The employee will receive 100% of their average salary during this period, and the employer will be responsible for this pay. 
The employee cannot extend leave.

Parental Leave

In Kenya, no law covers parental leave. However, employees may be entitled to maternity leave and paternity leave.  

Sick Leave

After 2 consecutive months of service with the Company, employees are entitled to sick leave of 30 working days with full pay and thereafter to sick leave of 15 working days with half pay in each period of twelve 12 consecutive months of service with the Company.

Some employers may provide a minimum sick leave of 14 days, depending on the category of the employee.

Termination Requirements

Terminations must respect complex rules and the rules of an employee’s employment country. The off-boarding is always handled by the Employer with the primary stakeholders. It may include ad-hoc fees as well as required or recommended steps on specific termination cases.

Terminations in Kenya can be complex. There is no at-will termination in Kenya for employers, outside the probation period, and termination must be done for just cause. 

Compliant terminations include:

  • Voluntarily by the employee
  • By mutual agreement
  • Unilaterally by the employer based on whether the employee:
    • Misconduct
    • Incapacity to work (for reasons relating to performance or sickness)
    • Redundancy
  • By expiration of the contract

Notice Period

The minimum notice period is 1 month if wages are paid monthly, and may be increased based. There is no statutory requirement of notice period if wages are paid daily. 

Severance for Employees

Severance pay is only payable where termination is on account of redundancy, and is paid at the rate of 15 days for every year worked.

To protect you from unforeseen financial risks arising from terminations, Deel applies a Severance Accrual to all employment agreements in this country.  Deel has extensive expertise in managing litigation risk globally and our Severance Accrual calculation is based on the prevailing common-law or statutory entitlements and local best practices. In the event your employee resigns or is not entitled to severance, all unused amounts will be returned to you.

Paid Time Off

Both full-time and part-time employees are entitled to 21 days of paid time off (PTO) a year. PTO accrues monthly, with 1.75 days of PTO per month. Employees are eligible for annual leave at the start of their employment as soon as it accrues.

Public Holidays

Kenya celebrates 13 public holidays. National public holidays include:
  1. New Year’s Day
  2. Good Friday
  3. Easter Monday
  4. Labour Day
  5. Id-ul-Fitr
  6. Madaraka Day
  7. Idd-ul-Azha
  8. Utamaduni Day
  9. Mashujaa Day
  10. Jamhuri Day
  11. Christmas Day
  12. Boxing Day
  13. Christmas Holiday 

Onboarding

Onboarding takes 2 business days after the client signs the SOW.

Employment Contract Details

The employer cost is generally estimated at 6.2% of the employee salary. 
  • Training Fund Contributions - KES 50
  • National Social Security Fund - 6.0%
An additional employer cost may apply once is legislated. At the moment there is no specific date 
  • National Housing Development Fund (NHDF) - 1.5%

Probation Period

Employees hired using Deel have a probation period of 90 days, which you can extend up to 180 days. As of January 2022, it's Deel company policy to include probation periods in all employment contracts moving forward.

Probation periods help an employer and the employee ensure they're a hiring match, allowing a company to quickly decide if it's a fit or the employee to see if the job aligns with their career goals.
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Hiring in Kenya, hassle-free

With Deel, your business can easily hire employees in Kenya. No more worrying about local laws, complex tax systems, or managing
international payroll. Deel takes care of everything in 150+ countries.

Group (8)

599 USD

Management fee

Group (9)

6.91%

Estimate Employer Cost

*of employee salary

Want to learn the cost of hiring an employee in Kenya?

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