Colombia is a nearshore favorite for bilingual professional talent. The salary looks affordable, then prima, cesantÃas, and parafiscales add roughly a third on top. Here is what a hire really costs, and the structures that keep it compliant.
Employment follows the Substantive Labor Code: written contracts (fixed-term or indefinite), social security enrollment, and a set of built-in extras (prima, cesantÃas, transport allowance for lower salaries) that first-time employers routinely underbudget. TGTC employs your hire on a compliant local contract and carries all of it.
Around COP 1,423,500 per month in 2025* plus a transport allowance for employees earning up to two minimum wages. Adjusted every January.
Monthly or biweekly payroll. The prima de servicios adds one month's salary per year, paid half in June and half in December. CesantÃas add another month per year into a severance fund.
18 public holidays, among the most anywhere; most are moved to Mondays.
Social security and fund enrollments precede day one. Probation is capped at two months on indefinite contracts. A TGTC hire typically starts within days.
Social security plus the parafiscales plus the statutory accruals push the employer burden to roughly 35% on a typical professional salary.
Prima and cesantÃas together add roughly two months of salary per year. For salaries above 13 minimum wages, an integral salary can fold these extras into one agreed number (with a 30% factor), simplifying payroll for senior hires; it must be explicit and in writing.
Employees contribute 4% pension and 4% health through withholding, plus progressive income tax on higher salaries*.
15 working days of paid vacation per year of service.
18 weeks at full pay, funded through the health system.
2 weeks paid.
Sick leave is employer-paid for the first 2 days, then covered by the health system at two-thirds of salary. Bereavement leave runs 5 working days.
Indefinite contracts can be ended with or without just cause; fixed-term contracts require 30 days' notice before expiry to avoid automatic renewal. Dismissals for cause need documented process.
Without just cause, indemnity is owed: for salaries under 10 minimum wages, 30 days for the first year plus 20 days per additional year. Higher salaries follow a reduced scale.
Two months maximum on indefinite contracts; up to one-fifth of the term on fixed contracts.
A prestación de servicios contract is for genuinely independent work. Someone on your schedule, your tools, and only your revenue is an employee to a labor inspector, with back social security, prima, and cesantÃas on reclassification.
*All figures are estimates from public sources (2025-26), pending ops verification - same basis as the EOR cost calculator. Not tax or legal advice.
Compliant local contract, prima, cesantÃas, social security, and payroll - handled. One invoice, flat $399/month.