How do I set up HR for a 20-person company in Myanmar?

What this looks like in practice

A 20-person Myanmar company is well past the 5-employee SSB trigger and is running structured monthly payroll. The compliance posture shifts from "founder handles it" to "one HR owner plus software". The Factories Act 1951 (for factories) or Shops & Establishments Act (for offices, retail, restaurants) starts to bite on attendance, OT and weekly-rest records, and the township labour register is checked routinely.

Step-by-step setup

1. Hire a junior HR officer or office manager with payroll exposure (MMK 500,000–900,000/month in Yangon).
2. Move payroll off Excel to a cloud HRMS that handles PIT brackets, SSB cap and IRD forms automatically.
3. Refresh ESDL contracts for all 20 employees — confirm probation, notice and severance match Notification 84/2015 tenure bands.
4. Confirm SSB registration and run the monthly contribution return by the 15th. Cap is MMK 300,000 wage base — max MMK 6,000 employee + MMK 9,000 employer.
5. Implement a digital attendance system (biometric, app or web) and keep an OT authorisation log.
6. Document the leave policy — annual 10 days, casual 6, sick 30 (post-6 months), maternity 14 weeks, public holidays per gazette.
7. Schedule wage payment by the 7th, PIT remittance by the 15th, SSB return by the 15th.

Tools, templates and costs

• Cloud HRMS: MMK 200,000–500,000/month for 20 employees.
• Junior HR officer: MMK 500,000–900,000/month gross.
• Biometric device: MMK 150,000–400,000 one-off.
• Templates: appointment letter, payslip, leave application, OT authorisation, exit checklist.
• Outsource: annual PIT reconciliation if no in-house tax skill.

Sector notes

If 20 employees include any factory floor (cutting, sewing, packing, assembly), the Factories Act 1951 overrides the S&E Act — that means a 48-hour week (vs 44), a stricter OT cap, and women-on-night-shift restrictions. Hospitality and retail run 7-day rotations, so the weekly-rest register and shift-roster documentation become the primary compliance evidence.

Pitfalls to avoid

• Excel payroll past 20 employees — PIT bracket errors and SSB cap mistakes compound monthly.
• No OT authorisation log — overtime worked without prior written authorisation is still payable, but inspectors penalise the missing log separately.
• Treating S&E rules as universal — any factory-coded site triggers Factories Act 1951.
• Ignoring the township labour register — first thing inspectors ask for.
• Contractor misclassification — full-time staff on "consultancy" terms is an ESDL violation.

Related: running payroll for a small business, digitising attendance, and HR KPIs that matter for Myanmar SMEs.