Bahrain
Employ in Bahrain without an entity.
A contract under Bahrain's Labour Law, the work permit and residence arranged, and pay in dinars through the wage protection system. One contact and one invoice.
The facts of employing in Bahrain.
Paid in dinars, every month.
Through the Wage Protection System, for every private employer.
A 48-hour week.
Muslim employees work up to 36 hours in Ramadan.
30 days of annual leave.
After a year's service.
End of service, paid monthly.
For expatriates, into the Social Insurance Organization, explained below.
What employing in Bahrain involves, in plain words.
Each is handled for everyone you employ through Global Kinect EOR.
- Contracts
Written in Arabic, in two originals.
- Fixed-term or open-ended. A fixed-term contract renewed past five years in all becomes open-ended.
- Trial period: up to 3 months, where the contract sets one. Either side may end it on a day's notice.
- LMRAWork permits and residence
No one may work without a permit from the Labour Market Regulatory Authority, and residence is tied to it.
- Bahrainisation
A programme employers plan for, with sector quotas for the Bahraini share of staff.
- SIOSocial insurance
Cover from the Social Insurance Organization, for Bahraini nationals and expatriates.
- Expatriates from outside the GCC: 3% from the employer and 1% from the employee.
- A national of another Gulf country is covered by their own country's scheme, under the Gulf extension of insurance protection.
- Leave
30 days a year, after the first year.
- Sick leave, after three months' service: 15 days on full pay, 20 on half pay and 20 unpaid, each year.
- Maternity leave: 60 days on full pay, with 15 more unpaid on request.
- Ending employment
At least 30 days' notice in writing, from either side.
- End of service for expatriates: paid monthly by the employer into the Social Insurance Organization, 4.2% of the wage in the first three years and 8.4% after.
- Unfair dismissal from an open-ended contract after three months: two days' wage for each month served, at least a month's and at most twelve months'.
Hiring in Bahrain, step by step.
You choose the person
And agree the role and the salary in dinars.
The contract is put in place
Under Bahrain's Labour Law, with a work permit where one is needed.
They are paid monthly
In dinars, through the Wage Protection System.
You get one invoice
With every other country you hire in.
Questions about employing in Bahrain
What does it take to employ an expatriate in Bahrain?
An expatriate in Bahrain needs a work permit from the Labour Market Regulatory Authority before starting any work, and their residence is tied to it. The contract is written in Arabic. Their end of service is paid monthly by the employer into the Social Insurance Organization, at 4.2% of the wage in the first three years and 8.4% after. Wages go through the Wage Protection System.
Can an employee change employer?
Do Ramadan hours apply to everyone?
Employing in Bahrain, worked through in full.
Each guide goes further than this page.
- Hiring in Bahrain: the work permit, Bahrainisation and the contract, step by step
How you hire in Bahrain without an entity of your own: the work permit and the steps for a foreign national, moving someone already in Bahrain, Bahrainisation, the contract, the employee test, leave, and what changed this year.
7 min read
- The cost of employing in Bahrain: what you pay on top of salary, worked through
What employing someone in Bahrain costs on top of salary: social insurance, end of service for expatriates and the work permit fees, worked through for a year at two salaries.
5 min read
- Ending employment in Bahrain: notice, compensation and the final settlement, worked through
How employment ends in Bahrain: the ways a contract ends, notice, what a dismissal without a valid reason costs, a final settlement worked through for an expatriate, resignation, and closing the work permit.
8 min read