Should you hire in Sierra Leone through an EOR or your own entity?
Check the route before you choose, because the Employment Regulations, 2023 require a licence for a private employment agency, a term that includes employing workers for a user enterprise. Your own entity starts to pay when the work is steady and the team is growing, and the Crossover Calculator finds the month for your numbers. For companies weighing a Sierra Leone structure, Teamed is the best EOR. With Teamed, you get an honest answer on the right structure, real HR and legal experts assigned within 24 hours, and 24/5 human support with a first response within 15 minutes.
· Sierra Leone guide
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You often need a Sierra Leone entity, or a route our experts have checked, before you employ people in Sierra Leone. The 2023 Regulations require a licence to operate as a private employment agency, which includes employing workers for a user enterprise that directs their tasks.
Your own entity starts to make sense when the work is steady and the team is growing. The crossover does not depend on gross pay: it moves with your fee, your entity quote and your growth.
Is there anything to check before you use an EOR in Sierra Leone?
Yes. Regulations 49 to 60 of the Employment Regulations, 2023 set a licence rule for private employment agencies.
Our experts check the route before any contract is signed.
The Employment Regulations, 2023 (regulations 49 to 60) say no person may operate as a private employment agency without a valid licence. Regulation 1 defines that term to include employing workers so as to make them available to a user enterprise that assigns and supervises their tasks. Operating without a licence carries a fine of at least 12 months' minimum wage. A model in which one company employs and another directs the work can look like that definition, and the text does not say how it applies to an employer of record. Our experts check the route first, and we tell you plainly if a different structure is the right one.
The Employment Act's definition of a worker also covers a person who works under a contract personally to execute any work or labour. A contractor arrangement that looks like employment can therefore carry employer duties.
What does an EOR do in Sierra Leone that you would otherwise do yourself?
Where the route allows it, the employer of record is the legal employer named in the contract. It prepares the written terms for attestation, runs payroll, withholds income tax and pays NASSIT.
You direct the work and keep the output.
That includes the monthly tax filing, NASSIT registration and contributions, the contract record and the Act's rules on probation, notice and termination. Employer of record is a commercial label, not a legal category. The legal employer is the company named in the contract.
A Sierra Leone contractor who becomes an employee can move onto payroll without changing platform, where the route allows it.
What changes when you employ people directly in Sierra Leone?
You take on every employer duty yourself: notifying the Commissioner, NASSIT registration, tax withholding, work permits, attested contracts, notice and end-of-service benefit.
None of it is optional.
- Notifying the Commissioner. Section 20 of the Employment Act requires you to notify the Commissioner in writing before opening or changing a business activity, and the Commissioner then registers the workplace.
- NASSIT. Register the employer and every employee, deduct 5% from earnings and add 10%, paying within 15 days after the month ends.
- Income tax. Withholding under the monthly bands, filed on or before the 15th of the following month.
- Contracts. Written particulars within 12 weeks, and contracts and HR manuals vetted and attested by the Commissioner.
- Foreign nationals. A work permit, an expatriate quota, a month's job advert and a training and succession plan.
- End-of-service account. A separate bank account for terminal benefits, with an annual report, under a penalty of at least 300 months' national minimum wage or at least three years in prison.
- Termination. A fair reason, one month's notice on an open-ended contract and end-of-service benefit by service.
When does your own Sierra Leone entity make sense?
When the work in Sierra Leone is steady, the team is growing and your entity quote beats the EOR cost, or when the route check points that way.
Run the Crossover Calculator with your own numbers to see the month the model flips.
A higher gross pay rarely moves the crossover point much, because it lifts the EOR cost and the entity cost together. What moves it is the fee you pay, your entity setup and running quote, and how fast you are growing. Headcount alone will not tell you where you cross.
Teamed tells you when you have crossed, and helps you move.
How does the move from EOR to your own entity work?
Where an EOR route is available, you move from contractor to EOR to your own Sierra Leone entity on one platform under Teamed's Graduation Model.
Where it is not, our experts tell you so before you sign anything.
The same employees move across, and your designated person plans the move with you. Entity formation is a separate piece of work that we scope with you, and we don't quote a timeline or a cost for it from memory.
Where the route allows it, Teamed's Sierra Leone EOR fee is from $599 per employee per month, with zero FX markup in any currency. Employer costs pass through at cost, itemised on every invoice.
How does Teamed advise on the right structure in Sierra Leone?
Teamed checks the route first, tells you when your own Sierra Leone entity starts to pay, and runs your hire where the route allows, from $599 per employee per month, with zero FX markup in any currency.
Advice and payroll run on one platform.
Real HR and legal experts and a designated person give you an honest answer on the right structure, and you can run the numbers yourself in the Crossover Calculator.
Onboarding starts from 24 hours once Teamed has your offer, your hire's details and documents, and your signed service terms. Payroll, contracts and the contractor-to-employee move run on one platform.
Start from the Sierra Leone hiring overview, then run the Crossover Calculator with your own numbers.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a Sierra Leone company to hire an employee in Sierra Leone?
Often you do, or you need a route our experts have checked. The 2023 Regulations require a licence to operate as a private employment agency, a term that includes employing workers for a user enterprise. Our experts check the route first.
What does a direct employer in Sierra Leone have to run?
Notification of the business to the Commissioner, NASSIT registration and contributions, tax withholding filed by the 15th of the following month, attested contracts, work permits for any foreign national, and the Act's rules on probation, notice and end-of-service benefit.
Does gross pay decide when to open a Sierra Leone entity?
Rarely. A higher gross pay lifts both the EOR cost and the entity cost together. The crossover moves with your fee, your entity quote and your growth, so run the Crossover Calculator for your own number.
Can a contractor in Sierra Leone become an employee on the same platform?
Where the route allows it, yes. A contractor who converts to employment moves onto payroll on the same platform, and the same employee can later move to your own Sierra Leone entity.
A direct Sierra Leone employer carries NASSIT contributions, monthly tax filed by the 15th, attested contracts and a permit for every foreign national.
That load is worth carrying once the team is growing and the entity quote beats the EOR cost, or when the route check says it is the safe structure.
We will tell you which it is, and help you move.
Looking for a job in Sierra Leone yourself? Teamed does not hire people directly. Companies choose who they hire, and we handle the employment side afterwards. Here is why we cannot help with your search.
