Employee benefits, insurance & workspace: What EORs provide in Egypt
- Gegidze • გეგიძე | Marketing
- Aug 4
- 10 min read
Table of contents:
Introduction
If you've ever tried hiring remotely in Egypt without proper benefits or a workspace setup, you know exactly how it feels to be ghosted.
You sign the contract. You send the money. You think everything’s going great, until suddenly your top developer vanishes faster than your motivation after a third Zoom call.
Why? Because payroll alone doesn’t make someone feel employed. It makes them feel outsourced. Disposable. Like they’re one missed invoice away from being forgotten altogether.
If you want talent in Egypt to actually stick around, you’ve got to offer something more convincing than a WhatsApp promise and a smile. You need real benefits, legitimate workspace support, and clear legal coverage, exactly what an Employer of Record (EOR) in Egypt delivers.
In this guide, we’ll break down how using an EOR in Egypt helps you hire competitively, legally, and without building an HR empire from scratch. Because the only thing worse than losing a good hire is never understanding why.
What benefits are legally required in Egypt?
Remote hiring in Egypt without understanding the mandatory benefits is like agreeing to software terms; everyone clicks "accept," but no one reads the fine print. The difference here is that when you skip Egypt’s fine print, you don't just risk frustration, you risk fines, penalties, and top talent quietly slipping out the back door.
Here’s exactly what you're legally obligated to provide:
1. Social Insurance (think of it as government-mandated peace of mind)
This isn’t optional. Your Employer of Record (EOR) provider in Egypt registers your employees with Egypt’s social insurance system, covering healthcare, pensions, maternity, disability, and sickness. The 2025 rate is clear:
Employer pays: 12% of gross salary
Employee pays: 9% of gross salary
Miss this step, and you’ll find out exactly how quickly government auditors can ruin your Thursday.
2. Annual Paid Leave (not a perk, mandatory recharge)
Egyptian law spells it out plainly:
21 paid days per year after one full year of service
Jumps to 30 days after ten years of employment
Extra 7 days if your job’s officially classified as “dangerous” (which, hopefully, coding your app isn’t)
If your employee has been around for less than 6 months, leave isn't required. Between 6–12 months, it's prorated. It’s not complicated math, but get it wrong, and your HR inbox becomes a complaint department.
3. Paid Public Holidays (yes, they all count)
There are 13–15 official public holidays each year. Major religious, cultural, and national events mean your employees are legally entitled to days off, fully paid. No, you can't negotiate around this.
4. Sick Leave (180 days of “please don’t sneeze on Zoom”)
Employees are allowed up to 180 days of paid sick leave annually, provided with medical proof. The EOR handles the paperwork, the tracking, and the headache so you don’t have to.
5. Maternity & Paternity Leave (2025: Egypt gets progressive-ish)
Mothers are legally entitled to 90 days of paid maternity leave, at least 45 days taken after birth. Starting in 2025, dads finally got a nod from Egyptian labor law with a modest, but legally mandated, paternity leave. Welcome to the modern world.
6. Minimum Wage Compliance (you have to meet it, period)
Don’t even think about skipping this; Egypt’s national minimum wage for part-time employees is now set at EGP 28 per hour (as of March 2025). Your EOR ensures compliance, avoiding those awkward conversations with labor inspectors.
Is private health insurance mandatory in Egypt?
Legally? No. Expected? Absolutely.
Let’s break this down:
Egypt does not require private health insurance by law. What it does have is the Universal Health Insurance System (UHIS), a public system that’s rolling out in phases through 2030. It’s mandatory for citizens. It’s designed to be “universal.” But here’s the thing:
Try telling your senior backend developer that they can wait three months for a referral.
Here’s the reality for employers:
UHIS = Basic coverage, slow queues, limited access to private hospitals
Private insurance = Speed, comfort, actual choice
Market expectation = Private top-up coverage if you want to be taken seriously
So while no one’s going to throw legal shade if you skip private insurance, your top hires might ghost you by the second interview.
What skilled employees in Egypt actually expect
If you’re hiring engineers, product leads, or anyone who’s ever said the word “Kubernetes” in a sentence, they’ve likely worked for companies that offered private health coverage. It’s become an unofficial standard in Egypt’s white-collar and tech sectors.
It’s not just about hospitals. It’s about:
Coverage for family
Shorter wait times
Better clinics
English-speaking doctors
Less stress overall
Why global companies offer it anyway
Because it’s not expensive and it matters.
For less than the cost of your Slack subscription, you can include private insurance that:
Makes your offer more attractive
Signals that you value employee wellbeing
Reduces churn and builds loyalty
And if you’re using an EOR, the setup is even easier. They handle the plan, the payments, and the paperwork. You just tick a box and retain your top hires.
What other perks do competitive employers offer?
If you’re only offering what’s legally required, don’t expect your offer to turn heads.
The Egyptian job market, especially in tech, finance, and white-collar sectors, has quietly raised the bar. Perks that were “nice-to-have” five years ago are now just part of a competitive offer. And no, we’re not talking about free coffee and a chair that doesn’t squeak.
Here’s what you’re up against:
The new normal for benefits in Egypt
1. Internet & phone stipends
Remote employees expect fast, reliable internet, and someone else to pay for it. Monthly reimbursements or flat stipends are the default now.
2. Meal support
Whether it’s cash, Sodexo-style cards, or prepaid apps, daily lunch support is common across Cairo’s mid-to-high-end employers.
3. Gym & wellness perks
Think discounted memberships, ClassPass-style partnerships, or wellness stipends that cover therapy, yoga, or even nutrition consults.
4. Upskilling budgets
Certifications, Coursera, Udemy, TOEFL prep, and conference passes, anything that helps employees learn, grow, and build a CV that could land them in Berlin someday. And yes, you should pay for it.
5. Workspace support
Coworking memberships. Home office stipends. Decent chairs. External monitors. All expected if you're hiring remotely.
6. Additional PTO or life leave
Marriage, moving house, and pet adoption, employers are getting creative. If you're not adding extra days, you’re behind.
Local norms vs international expectations
A junior hire might be okay with public healthcare and a paycheck.
But if you’re hiring for experience, especially tech leads, marketers, or anyone who’s worked for an international company, they’ll be benchmarking your offer against global standards.
And that means:
Health + dental + family coverage
Learning budgets
Remote-first perks that don’t feel like an afterthought
If your “benefits” are just government-mandated insurance and national holidays, don’t expect long-term loyalty.
How EORs make this easy
Managing all these perks sounds like a full-time job. That’s because it is.
But when you work with an EOR like Team Up, you don’t have to build it all yourself. We:
Localize perks for Egypt’s market
Handle payments, taxes, and reporting
Bundle optional benefits into compliant contracts
So your team feels supported, and you don’t lose sleep figuring out how to offer gym reimbursements in Cairo.
Workspace support for remote employees in Egypt
Let’s be honest, no one wants to work full-time from a dining table next to a crying toddler and a broken router.
And yet, that’s what a lot of “remote-first” employers expect in Egypt. Hire someone in Cairo or Alexandria, hand them a contract over email, and assume their home is magically work-ready.
It’s not.
If you want retention, productivity, and actual performance from your remote hires in Egypt, workspace support is no longer optional.
So, what does workspace support actually mean in 2025?
It starts with equipment. Laptops, monitors, keyboards, and even ergonomic chairs. If you're not sending the gear, you're signaling: “You're not a real part of this team.”
It includes connectivity. Spotty internet isn’t just annoying, it’s a work blocker. Smart employers either:
Pay a monthly internet stipend
Provide a router and SIM package
Or both
Then there’s a home office setup. No, you don’t need to buy everyone a standing desk. But a one-time allowance for basics, desk, chair, lighting is becoming standard across EOR-led hiring in Egypt.
But what about legal obligations?
Egyptian labor law is still catching up with remote work. There’s no single remote work law (yet), but…
Employment contracts must define remote arrangements
Companies are responsible for safe work conditions
Data protection and cybersecurity are part of your duty of care
Expense reimbursement policies need to be written and clear
No policy? No clarity? That’s how good employees churn.
What Team Up does differently
When you hire through Team Up’s Employer of Record service in Egypt, we don’t just help you “hire remotely.” We help you do it right:
Provide or reimburse essential tools
Structure workspace perks into contracts
Maintain compliance with local laws and evolving norms
Keep your offer competitive with multinationals hiring from the same talent pool
Because workspace support isn’t a bonus anymore.
Who provides equipment and tools?
If your job ad says “remote-friendly,” but your onboarding email says “use your own laptop,” you’re not remote-friendly. You’re just cheap.
In Egypt, just like everywhere else, remote workers need actual gear, not goodwill, to do their jobs.
So who’s responsible?
You are.
(Or, if you're hiring through Team Up, we are.)
Here’s how it works when you're doing it right:
Laptops, monitors, accessories – provided directly or purchased with a one-time setup allowance.
Internet bills – reimbursed monthly, or prepaid via mobile data packages.
Electricity, software licenses, VPNs – covered when clearly part of the job.
Support and maintenance – if the tech breaks, it’s not the employee’s fault. You fix it.
And yes, it should all be in writing.
Clear policies = fewer surprises = lower churn.
What if employees use their own equipment?
That’s legal. But you have to:
Get written consent
Define usage terms
Pay for wear & tear, data, or electricity
Otherwise, you’re just outsourcing costs onto your team, and they’ll notice.
How Team Up handles it
When we hire through our EOR model in Egypt, we structure everything up front:
What equipment’s included
What’s reimbursed
How maintenance works
What to expect if someone leaves
No weird guesswork. No team member feels “less than” because they’re abroad.
Just real jobs, with real tools, like it should be.
Why these perks matter for retention
You can offer market-rate pay, tick all the legal boxes, and still lose your best people. Why? Because the competition is offering more, and your team knows it.
In Egypt’s white-collar job market, perks aren’t perks anymore. They’re expected.
Perks ≠ Fluff
They’re retention tools in disguise.
Let’s break it down:
Private health insurance (with family coverage) says “we’ve got your back.”
Training budgets say “you’re not stuck here.”
Wellness stipends say “we want you to be okay.”
These aren’t bonuses. They’re signals. Signals that say this isn’t just a gig—it’s a real job. With long-term thinking behind it.
You know what doesn’t keep top performers?
An HR policy that hasn't been updated since 2017.
A salary and “standard benefits” and… nothing else.
A remote contract with no equipment, no internet stipend, no culture.
People leave when they feel like an afterthought.
What retention looks like with Team Up
When we manage your team through our EOR in Egypt, we help you:
Benchmark perks that matter
Customize benefit packages by role, level, and expectation
Create consistency across markets (so your Cairo hire feels as supported as your Berlin one)
It’s not about being flashy. It’s about being thoughtful.
And that’s what keeps good people around.
Final comparison: EOR vs building HR ops in Egypt
Let’s say you want to hire in Egypt.
You’ve got two choices: EOR vs. setting up a local entity in Egypt:
Use an EOR and skip the paperwork, or
Build your own HR machine from scratch, including contracts, payroll, labor office, and all.
Both can work. But one lets you start in weeks. The other needs lawyers, patience, and a big budget.
What EOR gets you (without the headache)
Using an Employer of Record in Egypt means:
Your hires are legally employed on your behalf
Contracts are drafted in Arabic (mandatory)
Salaries are paid in Egyptian pounds
Social insurance, sick leave, maternity, and taxes? All handled
You don’t open a company. You don’t deal with Egyptian labor authorities. You just get a compliant, ready-to-go team.
Here’s what else you get:
Fast onboarding – 1 to 3 weeks
Cost clarity – One invoice per employee, predictable monthly fee
Full compliance – Local experts keep you covered
Low admin – No entity, no red tape
Easy exit – Just offboard employees if plans change
It’s lean, fast, and low-risk. Perfect for pilots, small teams, or new market entry.
What entity setup gets you (and what it takes)
Opening your own company in Egypt gives you full control.
You hire under your name. Build your own culture. Design your own benefits.
And… also take on:
Labor and tax registrations
Local accounting and HR setup
Arabic contracts and legal filings
Payroll compliance and social contributions
Legal support (because one missed rule = trouble)
You’ll need a budget—think $10K–$50K+ to set up and run it right.
And you’ll wait 2–4 months minimum before you're operational.
It can pay off at scale, usually once you hit 50+ employees. Below that? You’re likely spending more than you need.
So, which path is right?
If you're testing the market, scaling quickly, or hiring <50 people, EOR wins.
If you're investing long-term, building a local brand, or going big, entity setup makes sense.
Either way, Team Up can help.
Conclusion
Here’s the thing: if you’re hiring in Egypt and your offer stops at salary and tax compliance, you’re going to lose the talent war.
Today’s workforce expects more:
Health coverage that actually helps.
Workspace support that makes remote work... work.
And perks that show this isn’t just a gig, it’s a real job worth sticking around for.
That’s where a smart EOR comes in. Not just to run payroll, but to help you retain the people you fought hard to hire.
With Team Up, you don’t have to guess what’s expected or figure it out on the fly.
You’ll have local experts managing the details, from social insurance to laptops and bonuses.
Ready to make your Egypt hires feel like part of your real team?
