Hire and pay employees in
Hong Kong, hassle-free

With Deel, your business can easily hire employees in Hong Kong. No more worrying about local laws, complex tax systems, or managing international payroll. Deel takes care of everything in 150+ countries.

The average onboarding time frame in Hong Kong is 2 days with Deel.

Currency

Hong Kong Dollar (HKD)

Capital

Official Language

Chinese and English

Payroll Cycle

Monthly

Onboard, pay and manage employees in Hong Kong with Deel.

Usually, to hire in Hong Kong, your business needs an entity. That means a local office, an address registered as a subsidiary, and an account with a local bank. All of this, plus navigating regional benefits, payroll, tax, and HR laws, can take months.

Deel lets you hire employees in Hong Kong quickly, easily, and compliantly. We even automate tax document collection, payroll, benefits, and more. For your existing direct employees, we can manage your entire payroll operation from end-to-end.

Download the Guide

All the necessary benefits for Hong Kong
built right in

Deel allows you to provide localized benefits for employees in Hong Kong within minutes. All in one manageable online dashboard.

  • Pension Fund
  • Workers Compensation Insurance
  • Private Healthcare - Unisure (optional)
  • Private Healthcare - Allianz (optional)

Our quickstart guide to hiring in Hong Kong

Navigate the tabs below to learn everything you need to know about hiring an employee in Hong Kong

Minimum Wage Requirements

The minimum wage is HKD 6,300 per month.

Individual Income Tax

The individual income tax ranges from 0% to 17%. Income tax is calculated according to progressive rates. Multiple additional factors may impact overall rates such as the household status and the number of children.

Gross Annual Income Tax Rate (%)
Up to HKD - 50,000 2%
Up to HKD - 100,000 6%
Up to HKD - 150,000 10%
Up to HKD - 200,000 14%
Over HKD - 200,000 17%

Payroll Cost

The employer cost is generally estimated at 5% of the employee salary.

  • Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) - 5%

Overtime Pay & Maximum Hours

Standard working hours are 8 hours per day, 40 hours per week. The standard workweek is from Monday to Friday. 

Overtime payment is not mandatory. Overtime can be agreed upon between an employer and employee in an employment agreement. 

Maternity Leave

Maternity leave in Hong Kong is complex. Pregnant employees who have worked for 12 consecutive months are entitled to 14 weeks of paid leave. 2 weeks must be taken before the child's birth. 

The employee will receive 80% of their average monthly salary from the last 12 months and the employer will be responsible for this pay.

Paternity Leave

Employees who have worked for 40 consecutive weeks are entitled to 5 days of paid paternity leave. The leave can be divided however the employee sees fit. 

The employee will receive 80% of their average monthly salary from the last 12 months and the employer will be responsible for this pay.

Parental Leave

In Hong Kong, no law covers parental leave. However, employees may be entitled to maternity leave and paternity leave.  

Sick Leave

Employees are entitled to paid sick leave for up to 120 days if accrued. The first 4 days are unpaid and considered as a qualifying period.

Entitlement to sick leave is accrued at the rate of 2 paid days for each month of service during the first year of employment and at the rate of 4 paid sickness days for each month thereafter, up to a maximum of 120 paid sickness days. Leave is paid at different rates and by different payers depending upon length:

Period Pay Payer
0 - 4 days 0% N/A
5 - 120 days 80% of base salary Employer

Termination Requirements

Terminations must respect complex rules and the rules of an employee’s employment country. The off-boarding is always handled by the Employer with the primary stakeholders. It may include ad-hoc fees as well as required or recommended steps on specific termination cases.

Terminations in Hong Kong can be complex. There is no at-will termination in Hong Kong for employers and termination must be done for just cause.

Compliant terminations include:

  • Voluntarily by the employee
  • By mutual agreement
  • Unilaterally by the employer based on:
    • probation period
    • objective grounds
    • disciplinary dismissal
    • performance due to unsuitability for the job
  • By the expiration of the contract

Notice Period

The minimum notice period is 7 days and will be increased according to the length of the employment.

  • 7 days if the length of service is greater than 1 month and during the probation period
  • 30 days if the outside of the probation period

Severance for Employees

In Hong Kong, all employees who are terminated due to redundancy are entitled to severance pay, provided they have 2 years of continuous service. 

Severance pay is calculated as two-thirds of the employee's monthly wage or two-thirds of HK $22,500, whichever is less, for each year of service. The total statutory severance payment is capped at HK $390,000.

Paid Time Off

Both full-time and part-time employees are entitled to 8-16 working days of paid time off (PTO) a year. PTO and accrual rate varies depending on the length of services. During the first year of employment, an employee is not allowed to take more than the number of days they have accrued while working.

Years of Service PTO per Year Accrual Rate of PTO per Month
1 - 2 years 7 0.58
3 years 8 0.67
4 years 9 0.75
5 years 10 0.83
6 years 11 0.92
7 years 12 1
8 years 13 1.08
Over 9 years 14 1.16

Public Holidays

Hong Kong celebrates 16 national holidays.

National public holidays include:

  1. Lunar New Year's Day
  2. The second day of Lunar New Year
  3. The third day of Lunar New Year
  4. The fourth day of Lunar New Year
  5. Ching Ming Festival
  6. Good Friday
  7. The day following Good Friday
  8. Easter Monday
  9. The day following Labour Day
  10. The day following the Birthday of the Buddha
  11. Tuen Ng Festival
  12. Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Establishment Day
  13. The second day following the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival
  14. National Day
  15. Chung Yeung Festival
  16. The first weekday after Christmas Day
  17. The second weekday after Christmas Day

Onboarding

Onboarding takes 2 business days after the client signs the SOW.

Employment Contract Details

Contracts must be in English and can be bilingual. A contract must include:

  • Name
  • Start date
  • Length of the employment
  • Job description
  • Termination conditions

Probation Period

Probation periods are not mandatory. There are no minimums or maximums. However, standard practice is 90 days.
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Hiring in Hong Kong, hassle-free

With Deel, your business can easily hire employees in Hong Kong with our EOR solution. If you have an entity, our Global Payroll solution takes care of payroll and compliance for your direct employees. Our 250+ in-house experts handle everything from managing local laws, complex tax systems, or your payroll in Hong Kong and 150+ countries.

Group (8)

Starting at 599 USD

Management fee

Group (9)

5-7%

Estimate Employer Cost

*of employee salary

Want to learn the cost of hiring an employee in Hong Kong?

View our Employee Cost Calculator

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