The Oriental Republic of Uruguay is a South American country known for its lush landscape and beautiful beaches. Squeezed between Brazil and Argentina, Uruguay has a population of just 3.5 million. However, counting this small country out of the global tech conversation would be a mistake. Uruguay has been on the cutting edge of tech adoption. Harvard University called it one of the region's most advanced software development centers.
Uruguay has invested heavily in tech infrastructure and education. It was the first Latin American country to adopt the IPv6 protocol and deploy 5G commercial mobile. Back in 2008, Uruguay was the first country in the world to implement the One Laptop per Child program to bring technology education to all of its children. Uruguay has a literacy rate of almost 99%, with many high school graduates enrolling in computer science, IT, and engineering programs.
With a deep pool of talented citizens, a low cost of living, and a stable government that's heavily invested in creating a favorable climate for tech innovation, Uruguay has a lot to offer businesses that are looking to hire internationally.
Although hiring in Uruguay has a lot of benefits, it can also be a complicated undertaking. Navigating the employment and tax laws in a foreign country requires specialized knowledge, and setting up a business entity in another country can require a significant investment of time and money. To conserve their resources, many companies choose to hire internationally with the help of a professional employer organization (PEO).
A PEO is human resources (HR) outsourcing company. An international PEO will handle administration tasks related to your employees, such as payroll, filing, reporting, and paying taxes and benefits administration. Every PEO operates differently, so you'll have to do some research to find one that provides the services you need.
There are many benefits to partnering with an international PEO provider, particularly for companies that are interested in expanding globally. A PEO can shoulder a lot of the administrative burden of hiring and managing international employees.
Complying with local tax and labor laws in Uruguay and other foreign countries can be challenging. If you're handling your HR tasks yourself, you'll need to consult experts in employment and tax laws to avoid the penalties and fines associated with noncompliance, which can be severe.
A global PEO will offer you complete visibility into your payroll and taxes, so you know exactly where your money is going. You'll gain insight into the costs of doing business regardless of the physical location of your employees.
If you offer benefits to your domestic employees that you want to offer to your international employees, an international PEO can administer them for you. Offering your international employees the same benefits as your domestic employees will help you build a cohesive, inclusive team and increase employee satisfaction and retention.
Setting up an entity in Uruguay or another foreign country can be expensive. Hiring legal and tax experts and an on-site HR team increases your costs even more. Using an international PEO lets you build your team in new markets at an affordable price.
Many global PEOs have established connections in the countries where you're looking to hire. They may be able to help you recruit qualified local talent to fill your open roles.
The tech talent shortage is affecting the entire world. Empty roles in your tech team can slow down progress on your projects and bring your company's growth to a screeching halt. International PEOs that offer talent platforms can help you hire skilled workers in a few days rather than a few months. Your new hires can integrate seamlessly with your existing team and be contributing members in far less time than it would take you to source and vet applicants yourself.
You can jeopardize your intellectual property rights if you're unfamiliar with foreign market labor laws. Using a PEO will ensure that you follow all the regulations to protect your IP rights. This is particularly helpful if you're working with independent contractors and hiring employees. Working with a qualified PEO can also ensure you're following all the data protection regulations that apply and keeping your company's confidential data secure.
Uruguay's capital city is Montevideo. Its currency is the Uruguayan Peso (UYU), and its fiscal year runs from January 1 through December 31. Although Uruguay's business climate encourages outside investors, it also offers significant worker protections you should be aware of when hiring.
A PEO in Uruguay will handle the payroll and mandatory benefits administration for your Uruguayan employees, including:
The minimum wage in Uruguay is 18,067 UYU monthly.
The standard work week in Uruguay is 44 hours. Any hours worked beyond 44 are paid an overtime rate established by collective bargaining. The general rule is that overtime is limited to eight hours per week and is paid at twice the employee's regular wages. If overtime is worked on a holiday or other nonstandard working day, the employee is paid two and a half times their standard wage.
Uruguay guarantees employees a 13th salary, with half paid in June and half paid in December.
Employees in Uruguay are entitled to 20 days of paid leave after completing one year of service. After every four years of service, their leave time is increased by one day up to a maximum of 25 days.
Employees are entitled to up to one year of sick leave, which is compensated at 100% of their salary for the first three days. Starting on the fourth day, employees are compensated at 70% of their salary by the Uruguayan social security system, Banco de Previsión Social (BPS). Employees must present a medical certificate to qualify for sick leave.
Mothers are entitled to 14 weeks of maternity leave, including six weeks before birth and eight weeks after birth. They're compensated by the BPS.
Fathers are entitled to 13 days of paternity leave.
A fixed- term contract can be terminated for:
Employees must receive a notice and a written explanation for the reasons for the termination. If the reason for the termination is worker misconduct, the worker is entitled to a warning and must be given the chance to explain. All terminated employees are entitled to severance. Severance pay is equal to one month of salary for each year of service, up to six months.
The notice period is usually one and a half weeks for both the employer and the employee.
The probationary period is up to three months.
The payroll contributions for employers include:
The payroll contributions for employees include:
Given the importance of your payroll and HR services, you should carefully consider who you trust with them. A significant part of your employee satisfaction and employee retention relates to benefits and compensation. If your payroll is handled ineptly, it can damage your reputation and your future business prospects. Here are some considerations for choosing the best PEO service:
When you're looking to expand your team internationally, look for a PEO service provider who provides services in all of the locations where you may want to hire. Unless you're certain you only want to hire in Uruguay, don't limit yourself to a PEO covering only one country. One of the benefits of remote work and the digital transformation is that you can hire the most talented people regardless of location, so don't necessarily limit yourself.
Cybersecurity concerns almost all businesses, given the ongoing rash of highly publicized data breaches and their consequences. Even giant tech companies such as Apple, Meta, and Twitter have fallen victim, so it's natural to be concerned. The same features that make hiring and working remotely so easy and appealing also increase your attack surface.
Malicious actors can exploit vulnerabilities in your systems to gain access to your employees' and company's sensitive data. It's imperative that you vet third-party vendors such as your PEO service for security concerns. Ask them about their cybersecurity profiles and check out their history to find out if they've had any data breaches.
One of the main benefits of outsourcing the hiring and management of your Uruguayan employees is mitigating the risk associated with foreign tax and labor laws. You want to be sure the company you choose has the legal expertise to correctly handle your payroll and benefits. When you're choosing a service, ask about their experience in Uruguay and any other countries you're considering.
Ask for the contact information of current clients for any company you're considering. Ideally, you want to contact several different clients of varying sizes. When you get in touch, here are some questions you can ask to gain insight:
Look for a company that easily integrates with the existing systems you use, such as your accounting software and tie and attendance platforms. The fewer applications you need to add or change, the simpler the implementation process will be. System integrations will allow your data to flow seamlessly between the platforms. While this shouldn't be an issue with modern services, you should ask to be sure.
You don't want to pay for features you don't need, but conversely, you want to be sure the service you choose can grow with your company. Some of the most common features PEO services offer include:
Your PEO should automatically calculate your employees' pay based on wage rates, shift differentials, leave, overtime, holiday pay, and deductions. Payments will be made directly to your employees via direct deposit, prepaid debit cards, or paper checks.
Based on your payroll, your PEO will withhold deductions from employee paychecks, file your quarterly taxes, and pay your taxes to the proper governmental agencies. They will also issue W-2s and 1099s at the end of the year.
PEOs can handle collecting paperwork on your new hires, onboarding them, and reporting them to the proper agencies.
Your PEO can handle tracking how much leave your employees have used and how much they have remaining. Some companies will even take care of approving and facilitating leave time based on your policies.
International PEOs can provide your global employees the same benefits you provide to your domestic team members, helping all of your employees feel equally valued regardless of their location.
Employees frequently need access to their pay stubs and other financial information, such as when they're applying for a mortgage or other loan. They should also be able to change their personal information when necessary. Look for a company that offers a self-service portal for your employees.
Uruguay offers an exciting opportunity for finding highly skilled tech talent in a competitive labor market. Working with a tech talent partner such as Revelo can help you with all aspects of the recruiting, hiring, and managing process for your employees in Uruguay. Every day, we help companies like yours find, hire, and pay world-class remote engineering talent who speak fluent English and live in aligned time zones. Reach out today to find out what we can do to help your company grow internationally.
Our remote engineers are in US time zones or adjacent. Not 10+ hours ahead. Enjoy real-time collaboration with your hires.
We can provide professional employer organization services for all these countries in Latin America.
