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Hiring professionals through an employer of record in Brazil can be a great choice for anyone looking to quickly hire top talent, without needing to worry about compliance with local regulations.
Because an employer of record in Brazil will hire staff on your behalf through its own local entity, meaning you can avoid the often lengthy process of setting up your own company, while also benefiting from access to an established recruitment network and your provider taking on legal liability related to being an employer.
Being Latin America’s largest country, with a market as vast and varied as its territory, Brazil has a lot to offer to investors and companies looking to start or enhance a global mobility program by hiring in the country.
Among other things, it is a regional technology leader, home to an abundance of tech talent and well known for its large startup economy, helping it to increasingly catch the eye of companies interested in global hiring.
It is worth noting that an employer of record is often referred to as an EOR, while a provider helping clients hire overseas may also be known as an international professional employer organization (international PEO).
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If you are interested in hiring team members through an employer of record in Brazil, contact us to find out more about how we can assist you.
Why invest in Brazil?
Known as the “Giant of South American” due to its expansive territory, Brazil is the fifth-largest country in the world and home to the seventh-largest population, being home to more than 217 million people.
Brazil is famed for its abundance of natural resources and agricultural output, with soybeans, iron ore, petroleum, sugar, and meat among its most lucrative exports.
It also has a large industrial base, concentrated around major urban centers, such as sprawling metropolis Sao Paulo, where more than 10% of the country’s population lives.
Meanwhile, the services sector in Brazil saw significant growth prior to the COVID-19 pandemic putting a dent in the economy in 2020, growing from generating less than 58% of GDP in 2011 to more than 63% of GDP in 2019.
Post pandemic, the Brazilian government has established a range of policies intended to stimulate the economy and job market, with a number of sectors benefiting from available loans and tax incentives that make them attractive to foreign investors.
While the Brazilian economy continues to feel the after effects of the global pandemic, it is on the road to recovery, having registered GDP growth each year since 2021 and being on course to do so again in 2023.
Why recruit Brazilian professionals?
Brazil is home to two of the most important universities in Latin America in the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and the University of Sao Paulo, and in recent years the government has sought to bolster its output of highly skilled graduates.
The Brazilian business community is known for its creativity and innovation, while professionals in the country are generally admired for their strong work ethic. So the country is an attractive destination for investing and hiring, whether through an employer of record in Brazil or not.
The rapid rise of Brazil’s startup economy, with particular development in online banking and financial technology (fintech), has helped the country become known as a hotspot in Latin America for producing so-called unicorn companies, worth at least 1 billion US dollars.
Brasilia, the capital, and Sao Paulo, the largest city, are two crucial cosmopolitan spots where companies seek out IT talent, however a number of cities have invested significantly in innovation meaning that tech talent can be found in almost any major urban center.
Why hire via an employer of record in Brazil?
Hiring local talent through an employer of record in Brazil has several benefits, which you can enjoy quickly and without hassle.
Having an established recruitment network with a track record of finding top professionals, an employer of record in Brazil will be able to quickly identify strong candidates for the roles that you may wish to fill.
Moreover, an employer of record will also be familiar with the layers of red tape that can be found when doing business in the country — due in part to regulations being set at numerous different levels of government, from the federal to the municipal.
As such, an employer of record in Brazil will be well-placed to help you find and onboard great local team members in the shortest time possible.
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The fact that the employer of record will take on legal liabilities related to being an employer also offers significant peace of mind, eliminating the risk of unexpected legal difficulties or financial penalties associated with non-compliance.
Meanwhile, you will have full control over the workloads, responsibilities, and schedules of all of the professionals hired on your behalf, who will report directly to you.
There is also a major convenience factor involved, given that your employer of record will oversee all payroll and administrative matters, including drawing up employment contracts, and will simply bill you on a monthly basis, with the service fee added on top.
That fee will usually be charged on a per-employee basis, while you will have access to all of the accounting involved in the charges made to you.
Employment regulations that an employer of record in Brazil will handle
Salary: As of 2023, the minimum monthly wage stands at 1,302 Brazilian reales (around USD$250 at time of publication). Note that income taxation is exempted until a worker earns twice the minimum wage.
Annual bonus: Like in many Latin American countries, employees are entitled to a so-called “13th salary” bonus each year, equal to the value of a standard monthly salary.
Hours: The working week is defined as five days of 8 hours, plus one day (usually Saturday) of 4 hours. Anything above this must be paid as overtime. Most workers are on an 8am-5pm or 9am-6pm schedule.
Contracts: Agreements in Brazil may create employment relationships with your employees on a fixed-term or indefinite-term basis, as required. In addition, they may be subject to a probationary period of up to 90 days. Keep in mind that it must be written in Portuguese, the official language of Brazil, and indicate the payment in Brazilian reales.
Vacations: The workforce you hire with your employer of record in Brazil will be entitled to 30 days of vacation per year after completing 12 months of service with the company. Also, employees are subject to a vacation bonus equivalent to one-third of their monthly salary. And, in case of illness, they may take 15 days of paid leave, provided they present a doctor’s note.
Parental leave: In case of pregnancy of any of your employees, women can take 120 days of leave. Men are entitled to five days of paternity leave, which is paid, but they must request this leave in advance.
Benefits: Generally, the Brazilian government provides health insurance to all employees through the Brazilian National Institute of Social Security. However, it is increasingly common for employers to offer private insurance as a worker benefit.
6 steps to hiring via an employer of record in Brazil
When hiring professionals through an employer of record in Brazil, you will go through the following six steps:
1) Define employee profile
In Brazil, you can find excellent professionals in software development and other IT-related disciplines, so you will first have to define the employee profile that best suits your business objectives in this nation.
Your employer of record in Brazil will support you in developing a job description that covers the experience and requirements you are looking for. Then, your EOR will post advertisements on its wide range of channels to find candidates through its local contacts.
2) Undertake preliminary screening
Job applications will arrive soon, so your employer of record in Brazil will start to evaluate them to eliminate those that do not meet the requirements you set, such as expertise, experience, and soft skills.
Once the receipt of resumes and letters of motivation is complete, your EOR will compile the most substantial profiles and schedule initial interviews to screen out applications until they find the best match for the vacancy.
3) Stage initial interviews
With the strongest candidates identified, your employer of record in Brazil will conduct another round of interviews based on your feedback about the position and the profile you are looking for.
Included in that step is a proficiency test in any language deemed essential. For example, for Brazilian workers, an interview could be conducted in English or Spanish to check the fluency of bilingual or multilingual candidates. The employer of record will then provide you with a list of strong candidates.
4) Hold in-depth interviews
You, or a representative of yours, will then have the chance to stage your own formal interviews with any candidates chosen from those presented to you by the employer of record in Brazil.
While the initial interviews will cover more general aspects of a candidate’s suitability for a role, at this stage they will be tested for the more specific knowledge, experience, and aptitudes needed to perform the role they are being hired for.
5) Offer job and complete contract signing
Once you have chosen a candidate for a particular position, your employer of record in Brazil will take care of the paperwork, including writing the job offer and establishing an employment contract based on your needs and local regulations.
That contract will then be presented to the candidate for signing, and once you and they have both signed, the process will be closed, with unsuccessful candidates informed.
6) Onboard new team members
Once the contract is signed, your employer of record in Brazil will then oversee the onboarding process, based on your guidance.
That will include going over their duties and responsibilities, informing them of their legal responsibilities and rights, and coordinating the supply of any equipment they will need to undertake their duties.
Serviap Global is an employer of record in Brazil
At Serviap Global, we international PEO / EOR services throughout Latin America, as well as having a trusted network of partners that allows us to assist clients in over 100 countires worldwide.
We also offer global talent acquisition services, assisting clients with recruiting direct hires.
We are a family owned company that started offering services in Mexico before expanding throughout Latin America and, thanks to our regional expertise and service excellence, we are relied upon to deliver services on behalf of some of the best-known brands in the international PEO / EOR market.
Contact us today to find out more about how we can help you hire top talent in Brazil.
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