Looking to hire? Simple employer checklist
Here are some questions to tackle when looking to hire to your Estonian company.
Firstly, is employment the right choice or should it in fact be a service agreement? In the first case the person will be under direct supervision and control of the employer. In case of a service agreement it is more a project based work and the contractor can choose the means and time when the work is performed.
Employment is regulated by the Employment Contracts Act . There are a lot of mandatory rules the employer has to follow and although having the employment agreement in written is strictly speaking not a MUST it is nevertheless highly recommended.
When hiring a non-Estonian make sure you check if they have a legal right to stay and work in Estonia. It is the employer's obligation.
The employees need to be registered in the Employment Registry that is kept by the Tax Board of Estonia. For this and payroll issues we recommend using a professional accountant.
By law the maximum probation time is 4 months and it is recommended to insert it in the employment agreement - it is time meant to really assess the employee and if needed, terminate the employment agreement under slightly easier conditions than normal.