Employee benefitsin Botswana

Botswana’s Ministry of Health operates public healthcare through hospitals, clinics, health posts, mobile services and community programmes. Private hospitals, practitioners, mine hospitals and non-profit facilities provide additional care. Public provision and private employer medical cover are separate routes to treatment; employment by itself does not define every patient’s entitlement or charges.

Botswana Telecommunications Corporation provides medical aid through third parties as part of eligible employees’ reward packages. The employer’s scheme sets eligibility and funding.

The Association of International Certified Professional Accountants gives employees and family members free confidential support, including eight counselling sessions per person, per issue, per year.

Botswana Telecommunications Corporation provides a recreation allowance, wellness programmes and social support for staff.

Employers must take reasonable steps, including reasonable workplace accommodation, to eliminate disability discrimination in employment policies and practices and promote equal opportunity. The adjustment must respond to the employee’s circumstances and the work involved; this protection is distinct from a private disability-insurance payout.

The Association of International Certified Professional Accountants provides Botswana employees life cover equal to twice annual salary.

The Association of International Certified Professional Accountants provides employee total permanent disability cover equal to twice annual salary.

Botswana Telecommunications Corporation contributes 16% of pensionable earnings to a defined-contribution pension fund for eligible citizen employees. Retirement value depends on contributions and investment performance.

Botswana Telecommunications Corporation pays expatriate and contract employees a gratuity at contract end under their employment terms.

Employees earn at least 1.25 working days of annual leave with basic pay for each month of employment, equivalent to 15 working days over a 12-month leave cycle. At least eight working days must be taken within six months after the cycle ends. Up to seven remaining working days from a cycle may accumulate, subject to a ceiling equal to three years of annual entitlement.

Leave dates are agreed with the employer; if agreement is not reached, the employer determines the dates but must allow the leave. Public holidays and customary weekly rest days are additional. Unused accrued leave is paid at current basic pay when employment ends. A medically certified illness during paid annual leave converts the affected period to sick leave.

Employees admitted to a medical facility receive basic pay for up to 20 working days spent there in each year of continuous employment. This entitlement is separate from ordinary sick leave. If admission continues after those days are exhausted, ordinary sick leave may follow; after sick leave is exhausted, annual leave or unpaid leave may be used.

Employees receive basic pay for at least 20 working days of medically recommended sick leave in each year of continuous employment. The employer pays for an examination by its nominated medical practitioner; an employee choosing their own practitioner pays for that examination. Employees must report illness as soon as reasonably practicable. An absence of 24 hours or more requires a medical certificate or other evidence satisfactory to the employer on return.

Employees with more than four months of service who work at least four days per week receive three paid days in each leave cycle for a death or serious illness in the family. Covered relatives include children, a spouse, parents, grandparents, siblings and parents-in-law, including the specified adoptive family relationships. Whole or partial days can be used; payment is the wage ordinarily due for the day, paid on the normal payday. Unused days expire at the end of the cycle. Additional unpaid days require employer authorisation.

The Association of International Certified Professional Accountants grants 20 paid annual-leave days, prorated for starters and leavers.

The Association of International Certified Professional Accountants grants two paid volunteer days annually, subject to manager approval.

Pregnant employees receive at least 14 weeks of maternity leave, paid by the employer at no less than 70% of basic pay and the other benefits they would otherwise receive. Leave may begin from six weeks before the expected birth; work must not resume until eight weeks after birth.

The employee must give notice at least six weeks before the expected birth, supported by a medical practitioner’s or registered nurse-midwife’s certificate, and confirm the actual birth date with a certificate within 21 days after birth. Employment continues during leave, and the employee is entitled to return to the same or an equivalent position at the same pay rate. Working for another employer during this absence forfeits maternity benefits. Each employer must pay the allowance where the employee has more than one employer. Pregnancy-related certified illness and protection against termination are also addressed by the Act.

Fathers receive at least five days of paid paternity leave in a leave cycle, taken within the mother’s 14-week maternity period. The employer may require reasonable proof of paternity, and may authorise additional unpaid days. The Act applies the maternity-benefit pay rule of at least 70% of basic pay and other benefits to paternity leave.

If the mother becomes incapacitated, falls ill or dies during maternity leave, the father can take the remainder of that leave, supported by the relevant medical or death certificate. If she recovers and a medical practitioner certifies recovery, she resumes the remaining maternity leave.

An employee adopting a child under two years of age receives at least ten consecutive weeks of adoption leave. Leave starts when the court grants the adoption order or places the child with the prospective parent, whichever occurs first. Written notice of intended departure and return dates is due at least one month beforehand, or as soon as reasonably practicable.

The maternity-benefit provisions apply, including employer payment of at least 70% of basic pay and other benefits. Where two parents adopt, they choose which parent takes adoption leave and which applies for parental leave.

An employee returning from maternity leave can take two paid breaks of half an hour each working day to nurse or personally feed her child, for six months immediately after maternity leave. The breaks are paid at basic salary as working time. At the employee’s option and with the employer’s agreement, the two breaks may be combined into one continuous hour.

The Association of International Certified Professional Accountants grants ten consecutive paid working days for the birth or adoption of a child.

The statutory paid holidays are New Year’s Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, 1 May, President’s Day, the following day, Botswana Day and Christmas Day. These eight statutory paid holidays are distinct from the wider government public-holiday calendar. More favourable contractual or industry arrangements can add paid days.

If a paid holiday falls on a rest day, the next day that is not itself a rest day is treated as the paid holiday. Work on a paid holiday attracts at least double the ordinary wage or a paid day off within ten days. Basic pay is otherwise due for the paid holiday. Mining has a specific rule for customary recognised holidays that must be no less favourable.

Botswana Telecommunications Corporation uses discretionary performance-bonus pools and awards linked to profit or individual performance.

Work between 18:00 and 06:00 requires agreement, an allowance as prescribed, and transport available between home and work at the start and end of the shift. Regular work after 23:00 and before 06:00 also triggers information about health risks and employer-funded medical-examination rights. Where night work causes a health condition, transfer to suitable daytime work is required where practicable.

Botswana Telecommunications Corporation provides staff handsets, monthly data and airtime bundles, plus subsidised landline and broadband packages.

The Association of International Certified Professional Accountants allows a half day on the final workday during nine summer weeks, usually July–August. The initiative is discretionary.

Botswana Telecommunications Corporation funds technical and leadership development. Its 2026 report records BWP1,676,562 in total training costs; this is an organisation total, not an employee allowance.

A person providing work or services is presumed to be an employee when any statutory indicator is present, unless the recipient is shown to be a client or customer of a business genuinely carried on by that person. Indicators include control over work or hours, integration into the organisation, economic dependence, equipment supplied by the recipient, working only for that recipient, or averaging at least 40 hours a month over three months or longer.

Calling an agreement a consultancy does not determine status. Genuine independent businesses negotiate their fees, deliverables and client-funded support separately; employee leave entitlements cannot simply be assumed to extend to them.

A fixed-term contract or successive fixed-term contracts cannot extend beyond 12 months without a limited-duration job or another justifiable reason. Examples include temporary replacement, a defined project, seasonal work and time-limited external funding. A non-compliant arrangement is treated as indefinite employment. The offer or renewal must be written and state the reason for fixing the term. Part-time and fixed-term workers also have protection against less favourable treatment compared with appropriate permanent or full-time employees.

Ordinary working time is limited to eight hours a day and 48 hours a week; a five-day week may use nine-hour days. A rest break of at least 30 minutes is required after no more than five consecutive hours. The five-day arrangement requires breaks totalling at least one hour. Continuous operations have specific meal-break rules.

Ordinary overtime is paid at 150% of the normal wage and is generally capped at 14 hours a week. Certain management contracts paid without reference to hours can exclude occasional exceptional overtime pay. Weekly rest is at least 24 consecutive hours, ordinarily including Sunday; rest-day work attracts double wages or time off at the employee’s option. Regular shift work uses an average limit of 48 hours over four weeks.

Probation must be reasonable for the work and cannot exceed six months. Its duration must be communicated in writing before the employment contract is entered into. The employer must assess performance, identify shortcomings and provide reasonable evaluation, instruction, training, guidance or counselling. After inviting the employee’s representations, an employer may terminate for unsuitability with notice or payment instead. If the appointment is neither confirmed nor a reason for non-confirmation communicated, it is deemed confirmed.

Minimum notice is seven days for employees paid daily or weekly and one month for monthly paid employees. A contract may set a longer period, equally for both parties. Notice must state the reason and date in writing, with an oral exception for an illiterate party. It cannot be given during statutory leave or run alongside that leave. Basic pay can be paid instead of the required notice or its unworked remainder.

Dismissal also requires a valid fair reason and fair procedure. Serious misconduct can justify termination without notice. Final settlement includes wages earned, accrued unused annual leave, notice pay, severance and transport allowance where due. The employee may request a certificate recording the employment and work performed.

Non-citizens need permission to work in Botswana for reward or to invest for profit. The standard application requires an employment contract, offer letter, recent job advertisement, passport and qualifications, with professional clearance where relevant. Documents go to a Labour Office; the government states a 14-working-day service target. Renewal applications should be submitted six months before expiry. Residence permission and any nationality-specific entry requirements must also be addressed.