Lesotho EOR & PEO

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Hire in Lesotho

Lesotho is a small enclave country completely enclosed by South Africa. An independent kingdom, 99.7% of Lesotho’s population of 2.164 million people belongs to the Sotho tribe. Since 2000, Lesotho’s GDP has tripled to reach over $2 billion. This growth is predicted to increase by 2.4% in 2024 as the country continues to rebound from the pandemic downturn. After facing high inflation over the past few years, 2024’s rate is expected to drop to 6.4%. Unemployment, though still high, is expected to continue dropping and may reach under 14% in 2024.

If you’re thinking of hiring Lesotho workers for your organization, now could be the right time, and a Lesotho Employer of Record can help get them on your payroll as quickly as possible.

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hire employees in Lesotho

What Is a Lesotho EOR?

An EOR or employer of record in Lesotho works in this country to help international companies hire local workers. In normal circumstances, a business would need to set up and register a legal entity in Lesotho to hire people. However, when they partner with an EOR, companies can hire without owning entities. The EOR hires the employees directly, acting as their legal employer in Lesotho while contracting them to work for its client companies. It also usually takes on the human resources (HR) functions of recruiting, hiring, contract management, payroll, benefits management, and leave scheduling over the long term. EORs are sometimes also referred to as PEOs or professional employment organizations.

Save Money And Time with A Lesotho EOR

What Are the Benefits of a Lesotho EOR?

When your company works with an EOR in Lesotho, it can reap many great rewards from this partnership. Among the advantages of working with an EOR are:

Not needing an entity: By working with an EOR, your business doesn’t need to set up an entity in Lesotho. Registering an entity can be time-consuming, frustrating, and costly, and it’s rarely worth it just to hire a few workers. Instead, an EOR can hire workers on your behalf and contract them to work directly for you. This can make the process of hiring much easier than if you did it on your own.
Fast recruitment and onboarding: When a foreign-based business tries to recruit Lesotho workers, it normally meets with a lot of challenges. Without local networks and knowledge of local recruitment strategies that work, it can take them months to find the talent they need to fill their open positions. By contrast, EOR companies can hire workers in the space of days to a few weeks. They use their talent pools and targeted job advertising to reach the top talent that companies are looking for.
Affordability: Lesotho is a low-middle-income country where salaries are low. Employers also do not pay social security contributions in Lesotho. This means that local workers can be highly affordable for foreign-based employers.
Constant compliance: When you partner with an EOR to hire your workers, the EOR acts as the sole legal employer in Lesotho. As such, it also has the sole responsibility of ensuring that their rights are properly looked after. The EOR uses its extensive knowledge of local labor and tax laws to build legal contracts, make sure employees are paid correctly and on time and that relevant taxes are fully paid.

Horizons is Best IN Class

Why Choose Horizons?

Horizons stands out as a Lesotho EOR through:

A strong regional presence in Africa, meaning senior management are on the ground to deal with any issues.
Client-focused infrastructure. Horizons won’t oversell you on products and services you don’t need. Horizons offers the easiest platform to compliantly hire and pay people worldwide.
Cost-effective solutions. At $299 per employee, per month, no EOR in Lesotho is more affordable. The cost is 100% transparent (onboarding, offboarding, deposit, no extra charges).
A customer-first culture. Horizons is an efficient bootstrapped company. It is not an externally-funded company burning investor cash to aggressively acquire new clients. Horizons is the only EOR that grows with its customer, reflecting the level of care and personal attention provided to each customer. Horizons will carefully advise on the best setup in each country: the type of contract needed, how to structure your benefits, and how to offboard a person while minimizing the risk of conflicts and extra cost
A long-term partnership. Horizons is the only EOR platform with a recruitment arm — a direct response to client demand. If any employee is leaving, or if our clients want to explore a new country, Horizons can recruit new candidates directly for the client. Horizons is:
- The only EOR doing this in-house — no subcontracting
- The only EOR doing this without a retainer — clients are only charged upon success
- The only EOR charging just a 2% fee per month.

Step-by-step Lesotho EOR

How Does a Lesotho EOR Work?

Working with an EOR in Lesotho helps you get local employees working for you. When you partner with an EOR, it will normally provide multiple services for your company, including:

Hiring your employees: If you don’t have your own business entity registered in Lesotho, you’ll need to work with an EOR to hire workers. The EOR will first find out the job types and numbers of workers you need, as well as the requirements you have for each position. Next, it will use this information to advertise your job openings to find applicants or select them from its talent pool. It will select the best-fitting candidates and present them to you for approval. Once they’re approved, the EOR will hire them to work for you.
Managing employment contracts and onboarding: As part of the hiring process, the selected candidates will be able to negotiate their contract terms with your company directly. The EOR will assist by recommending terms and compensation to you that are appropriate. When the terms are settled upon, the EOR will create legal contracts and enter into them with the employees, thus becoming their sole legal employer in Lesotho. It will then onboard these workers by bringing them into its employee management system, registering them with the local tax authority, and giving them an orientation to working for your company.
Processing payroll and handling employment taxes: The EOR will, for each pay period, perform the payroll function on your behalf. This entails collecting hours worked data from you and using it to calculate gross salaries. From this, it will calculate any deductions and arrive at the net salaries it will disperse to the employees. It will also calculate tax withholding and remit these to the tax authority. The EOR will give each employee a pay slip detailing their salary payment and deductions and keep all payroll data for your records.
Administering benefits: If you offer your employees additional benefits like private insurance and pensions, the EOR can administer them on your behalf. It will sign employees up for appropriate programs. In each pay period, it will calculate your contributions and the employee’s deductions and pay these to the benefits programs.
Taking care of exit procedures: When you need to terminate workers for individual or economic reasons, you must inform the EOR and give your reasons for termination. Based on the legality of these reasons, the EOR will terminate the workers on your behalf. This can involve giving them appropriate notice and paying severance as necessary.

stay compliant with Lesotho labor laws

Labor Laws

Lesotho has extensive labor laws that protect the rights of both employees and employers. These are contained in several pieces of legislation, including the Constitution of Lesotho of 1998, Labor Code of 1992, Labor Code Amendment Act of 2006, the Workmen’s Compensation Regulations of 2014, as well as other instruments and international treaties. Keeping track of all of these laws is the responsibility of the EOR. At the same time, you should be aware of these main rules so you know what you’ll have to provide for your Lesotho workers.

Employment contract types

Contracts in Lesotho can be written or oral. They can be definite (fixed-term), indefinite (permanent), or for specific tasks. If definite or for specific tasks, they must stipulate end dates or clearly identify the work that must be completed, respectively, to define the end of the contract.

The Lesotho Labor Code allows probation periods to a maximum of four months. If, during this period, either party wishes to terminate the contract, they must give seven days’ notice.

Project-based

Fixed-term

Indefinite

Working hours in Lesotho

Lesotho employees work nine hours per day, five days a week, or eight hours per day for five days and five hours on a sixth day for a total of 45 hours per week. Overtime is allowed only when deemed necessary and must not exceed 11 hours per week.

Overtime must be compensated in the following way:

Holiday Schedule in Lesotho [2024]

Lesotho has ten paid public holidays per year. These include:

Date	Holiday name
1 Jan, 2024	New Year’s Day
11 Mar, 2024	Moshoeshoe’s Day
29 Mar, 2024	Good Friday
1 Apr, 2024	Easter Monday
4 Apr, 2024	Heroes Day
1 May, 2024	Workers’ Day
9 May, 2024	Ascension Day
17 Jul, 2024	King’s Birthday
4 Oct, 2024	National Independence Day
25 Dec, 2024	Christmas Day

Paid time off

Workers must receive at least one period of 24 hours for rest per week which should be on Sundays if possible. During working days, workers who work for five consecutive hours are entitled to a one-hour meal break. Mothers are also allowed paid breaks totaling 60 minutes per day to nurse newborn children up to six months after returning from maternity leave.

Sick leave in Lesotho

Sick leave for workers with less than six months of service is unpaid. After six months of service, employees get 12 days of fully paid sick leave and another 24 days of leave at half-pay in each 12-month period.

Less than 6 months of sick leave

Over 6 months of sick leave

In order for employees to receive the full wages due to them, workers must present a valid medical certificate from a certified doctor to their employer.

Maternity leave in Lesotho

Maternity leave in Lesotho is mandatory but employers have no obligation to pay wages. Expecting mothers are entitled to six weeks before and six weeks after confinement.

Annual leave in Lesotho

Employees are entitled to at least 12 days of paid leave each year.

Termination & severance in Lesotho

Employers can terminate contracts in cases of gross misconduct without providing notice. In all other instances of termination, both by employer and employee, notice must be given as follows:

7 days’ notice for less than six months of service
14 days’ notice for six months to one year of service
30 days notice for one to ten years of service
90 days notice for more than 10 years of service

When severance must be paid, it is given at a rate of two weeks’ wages for every year of service after the completion of the first year.

Lesotho's compulsory social security contributions

There aren’t mandatory contributions made by both employers and employees towards a national social security program.

Lesotho social security for foreigners

There aren’t mandatory contributions made by both employers and employees towards a national social security program.

Individual income tax

Lesotho has a progressive individual income tax system for residents and non-residents deriving income in the country.

Income earned from employment, business activities, rental income, interest, and other sources within Lesotho is subject to income tax.

Health insurance

Lesotho provides healthcare services through public hospitals and health centers operated by the Ministry of Health.

Health insurance coverage is not universally mandatory or standardized across the population. However, there are efforts and initiatives to improve access to healthcare services, including through public health programs and private health insurance options.

hassle-free Mosotho compensation & benefits

Compensation & Benefits

Lesotho compensation laws

The minimum wage in Lesotho is set by sector. However, since increasing in 2022, the general minimum wage is 1881 LSL (Lesotho loti)/month for new workers (about $100/month) and 2053 LSL/month (about $110/month) for workers with over 12 months of service. Skilled workers will make more, with average salaries of around 6200 LSL/month (about $335/month).

13 month salary in Lesotho

A 13th-month annual bonus is not mandatory in Lesotho.

Social security for Lesotho nationals

Employers in Lesotho do not pay social security contributions, and neither do employees. Instead, universal systems are set up for the population to provide health care and pensions for all citizens.

Lesotho Employer Of Record Peo

Navigation

Hire in Lesotho

What Is a Lesotho EOR?

What Are the Benefits of a Lesotho EOR?

Why Choose Horizons?

How Does a Lesotho EOR Work?

Labor Laws

Employment contract types

Working hours in Lesotho

Compensation & Benefits

Frequently asked questions

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Frequently asked questions

How does an EOR in Lesotho ensure compliance with local labor laws?

As the sole legal employer of your workers in Lesotho, the EOR must ensure that these workers are treated fairly and justly at all times. The EOR’s staff use their experience and knowledge of local laws to create contracts that are in line with all local regulations. It monitors their working conditions and performs payroll and tax management duties to make sure that everything is done according to the letter of the law.

What are the common challenges of using an EOR in Lesotho?

Some companies find it hard to manage workers who they don’t directly employ. The EOR may use different software systems for HR management and payroll that may not mesh with the company’s systems. This three-way relationship between the company, the EOR, and the employee also adds an extra layer of communication which can increase the chances of misunderstandings occurring.

Lesotho EOR & PEO

Start hiring in Lesotho

Simple, compliant hiring with Horizons EOR & PEO

Hire in Lesotho

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hire employees in Lesotho

What Is a Lesotho EOR?

Save Money And Time with A Lesotho EOR

What Are the Benefits of a Lesotho EOR?

Horizons is Best IN Class

Why Choose Horizons?

Step-by-step Lesotho EOR

How Does a Lesotho EOR Work?

stay compliant with Lesotho labor laws

Labor Laws

Employment contract types

Project-based

Probationary period

Termination

Severance

Fixed-term

Probationary period

Termination notice period

Severance

Indefinite

Probationary period

Termination notice period

Severance

Working hours in Lesotho

Overtime must be compensated in the following way:

For a regular workday:

For a rest day:

For a statutory holiday:

Paid time off

Under 1 year of employment

1-10 years of employment

10-20 years of employment

20+ years of employment

Sick leave in Lesotho

Less than 6 months of sick leave

Under 1 year of employment

1-10 years of employment

10-20 years of employment

20+ years of employment

Over 6 months of sick leave

Under 1 year of employment

1-3 years of employment

3+ years of employment

Maternity leave in Lesotho

Annual leave in Lesotho

Termination & severance in Lesotho

Lesotho's compulsory social security contributions

Lesotho social security for foreigners

Individual income tax

Health insurance

hassle-free Mosotho compensation & benefits

Compensation & Benefits

Lesotho compensation laws

13 month salary in Lesotho

Social security for Lesotho nationals

Hire in Lesotho in 24h without your own local entity.

Frequently asked questions

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