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SALARY PAYMENT IN Thai baht (THB, ฿)
CONTRACT LANGUAGES Thai / English
PAYROLL TAX 5.2% – 6%
PAYROLL CYCLE Monthly
TIME TO HIRE 12 hours
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Thailand
Thailand is one of Asia’s strongest economies. Thailand, and especially Bangkonk, is an innovation and tech capital, with a well-educated and skilled workforce.
Thailand is a prime location for hiring overseas staff, but in doing so it is crucial to follow local labor laws and employment ettiquette.
In this guide we set out everything you need to know about hiring employees in Thailand.
Population 70M (Labor Force 68.6% of total population) | Capital City Bangkok | Languages Spoken Thai |
Currency Thai Baht (THB) | GDP per capita 6,908.8 USD (2022) | Ease of Doing Business 21st in the world |
Minimum Wage 354 THB ($8.59 USD)/day 10,000 THB ($261 USD)/month This varies per region | Average Wage 14,892.27 THB ($435 USD)/month | Paid Leave Minimum 6 days annual leave |
Thailand is a beautiful, prosperous, and easy country to do business. However, as with most nations, Thailand saw a steep decline in GDP from 2019 to 2020 due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The economy rapidly recovered again in 2021, with a 7.4% increase from the lowest recorded GDP level in 2020. Data shows that in 2022, there is forecasted growth of 3.0% – 3.5%. thanks to the revitalisation of the tourism sector since the pandemic started. As with many countries globally, forecasted inflation data from 2021 was off the mark, with inflation for 2022 rising 4-5% in comparison to only a 1.23% rise in 2021.
Over the last few years, business regulation in Thailand has gone through numerous reforms to make it quicker and easier to open a business. When it comes to governing the employee and employer relationship, as well as other employment issues, one key legislative instrument is the Thai Labor Protection Act (LPA. There are also more specific laws that aim to protect employees within the agricultural industry and maritime sector.
There are also strict rules around foreign ownership of Thai companies. These laws are found within the Foreign Business Act (FBA) 1999, with some sectors forming their own rules around foreign investment and business activity when it comes to banking, insurance and land opportunities. The FBA also regulates all other aspects of foreign entity activity across Thailand. Whether you are looking to hire talent in Thailand or expand your company abroad, it is important to understand your local labor law obligations.
Thai people are extremely friendly and courteous, and these underlying traits carry over into the Thai business culture. Foreign companies new to the Thai market can initially find it difficult when expanding their operations into Thailand, but soon overcome this because of these inherent traits. It is also important to engage in small talk before a meeting or business deal, as not doing so can be considered rude in Thai business culture. Thai people value any of their business relationships very highly.
Although business culture can vary across the country, the overall mentality of how the Thai do business is formal. This formal extends to business attire, with social status determined on how you dress, act and interact across all settings. This is also because the Thailand society and companies are still very hierarchal in structure with a high-power distance between employees and director or executive level roles. One key thing to know when it comes to classical business gestures such as business card exchanges or handshakes is to always use your right hand to receive or deliver anything. Despite the differences to western companies and nations in some aspects of business culture, doing business in Thailand is easy.
Thailand has a very low unemployment rate, so attracting and recruiting top talent requires competitive packages. The best way to recruit employees in Thailand as a foreign companies to find some of Thailand’s best talent, posting on some of the country’s top online job boards will find more success than going through some of the more tradition recruitment techniques. Some of the most popular is jobsDB.com, jobthai.com, jobkkk.com, indeed.com, or jobth.com. To post on any of these job boards can range from being free or on a per post basis.
Posting on LinkedIn is also a popular way to recruit talent in Thailand if you find it difficult to navigate through the local Thai recruitment boards. In person recruitment in Thailand can be difficult if there is not a strong foundational grounding in hiring practices and understand in Thailand.
The interviewing process in Thailand follows structures commonly seen across other developed nations. This can be online interviews, phone interviews or face to face interviews. Whatever the method, interviews should be well structured and any information that a candidate is required to know should be indicated prior. For competitive positions in large companies, the inclusion of psychometric testing or an assignment that is relevant to the role is becoming common.
When Thai interview, they are inherently polite so Thai candidates will not talk over or interrupt an interviewer, so questions must be open and direct. It is also important to give candidates enough time to answer. Due to the importance of social status which is judged by how a person dresses and acts, it is common for Thai candidates to dress formally and take interviews very seriously.
There are no specific laws in Thailand that regulate if you can ask a candidate about their previous salary. There are also no explicit laws that mandate for a candidate to answering this question if asked. There is a range of anti-discrimination laws that protect prospective employees from being discriminated against for a role based on race, age, nationality, religion, sex, disability or political orientation. This means throughout the recruitment process, there should be limited questions related to any of these areas.
For those looking to move to a new job, the typical salary increase expectation varies based on the industry. The range is anywhere from a 9% increase up to a 20% increase.
The expectations of the onboarding process in Thailand are similar to other nations basic requirements. It’s important to have an induction day to assimilate an employee into the new role and team, fill out any forms relevant for salary or by regulation. Any immediate training will be during this period also unless it is incorporated into the probation period. Onboarding in Thailand should only take a few days.
Thailand has some of the highest internet speeds in South East Asia, so remote working tools popular all over the world are consistently utilised for remote work and hybrid working conditions. Slack, Zoom, Skype, Microsoft teams and Google suite are used throughout Thailand.
There are usually 19 public holidays a year in Thailand. It is a requirement that a company allows employees to take at least 13 at minimum of these days off per year. These holidays are:
| Date | Holiday name |
|---|---|
| 31 Dec – 1 Jan., 2023 | New Year’s Day |
| 16 Feb., 2023 | Magha Puja |
| 06 Apr., 2023 | Charkri Memorial Day |
| 13 – 15 Apr., 2023 | Songkran Festival |
| 01 May, 2023 | Labor Day |
| 04 May, 2023 | Coronation Day |
| 13 May, 2023 | Royal Ploughing Ceremony |
| 16 May, 2023 | Vesak |
| 03 June, 2023 | Queen’s Birthday |
| 13 Jul., 2023 | Aslha Puja |
| 14 Jul., 2023 | Buddhist Lent Day |
| 28 Jul., 2023 | The King’s Birthday |
| 12 Aug., 2023 | The Queen Mother’s Birthday |
| 23 Oct., 2023 | Chulalongkorn Day |
| 05 Dec., 2023 | King Bhumibol’s Birthday/Father’s Day |
| 10 Dec., 2023 | Constitution Day |
The typical salary increase for employees in Thailand sit at around 2.2% a year on average. This is consistently above the global average for salary increases.
In Thailand, it is possible to hire freelancers or independent contractors. If you do hire freelancers in Thailand, you are not expected to meet any standards when it comes to paying benefits or social security payments. This makes hiring freelancers in Thailand much cheaper in comparison to hiring freelancers in other regions such as Europe, the US or from Australia.
Thai laws provide numerous barriers for Thai companies or foreign subsidiary’s to hire foreign in Thailand. For example, for a Thai company to hire a foreigner in Thailand, they must have a ratio of 4 Thai nationals to every 1 foreign employee to meet Thai employment laws. On top of this, a company must prove they have around 30 million THB per 1 foreign employee.
The FBA put several restrictions on what foreign entities can do in Thailand. This extends to the requirements to open either a subsidiary or branch office.
To open a foreign subsidiary in Thailand, foreign entities must fulfil the following criteria.
All foreign entities that want to do business in Thailand must follow the regulations set out under the FBA and seek relevant approvals from the MOC.
To hire employees in Thailand, you’ll need to have a legal entity such as a foreign subsidiary set up. An alternative is using a global EOR/PEO which can help support your company by taking on the administrative, legal, and human resources work when hiring employees in Thailand.
Your business can easily hire employees in Thailand without opening a local entity. We handle local employment law, complex tax regulations, and international payroll in 180+ countries worldwide. All you need to do is focus on your business.
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Headquarters – Singapore
71 Robinson Road #13-153
Singapore 068895
+65 3105 1170
Skalitzer Str. 85/86
10997, Berlin
+49 30 3119 9653
1700 S. Lamar Blvd Suite 338
Austin, Texas 78704
+1 (737) 265-6065
See more locations
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