People & HR
Payroll, employment and HR administration
You need people in Iraq. You do not need an Iraqi HR department to get them, pay them and keep the records straight.
What you receive
- A complete personnel file per employee, kept current
- A monthly payroll pack: inputs, change log, gross-to-net, payslips and a bank file for your approval
- Contribution and payroll tax documentation prepared on schedule
- A monthly HR report your head office can reconcile
- An expiry tracker for contracts, permits and cards
Candidates are not the problem in Iraq. The administration is. Every employee needs a file, contract renewals, leave balances, payroll inputs, contribution schedules and letters for banks and visas — every month, by somebody who knows how. Few foreign companies want to build that function for six people.
We run the administration. By default the employees are yours — you select them, you employ them, you set their terms — and where you would rather not carry the employment yourself, we can be the employing entity instead. Either way we keep the files, run the payroll cycle, and give your head office a report it can reconcile.
HR desk — day-to-day administration
- Employee master file and personnel records
- Contract administration and renewals
- Policy and handbook administration
- HR letters: employment, salary, experience, bank and visa support
- Leave administration: entitlement, requests and balances
- Attendance and timekeeping records
- Probation and confirmation administration
- Performance review administration
- Disciplinary and grievance record-keeping
- Employee data privacy and confidentiality handling
- HR reporting pack for head office
Drafting the contracts, approving the handbook content, and deciding a disciplinary or termination outcome sit with Salt & Associates. We administer the process and hold the record; Salt & Associates advise on the substance.
Recruitment
Delivered with licensed recruitment partners under our coordination, with interviews held in our Baghdad office where that helps.
- Role definition and job description support
- Salary benchmarking input
- Job advertising and channel selection
- Database and network sourcing
- Executive search and headhunting
- CV screening and long-listing
- Competency and technical testing
- Interview scheduling and interview rooms in our Baghdad office
- Panel coordination with head office, in person or by video
- Reference checks
- Background and qualification verification
- Offer administration and negotiation support
- Pre-employment medicals coordination
- Onboarding programme and first-day pack
- Replacement cover within an agreed period, per partner terms
Manpower and contract staffing
Supplied from our own workforce or through licensed agencies we select and supervise, depending on the role and the term. Where you would rather the people were employed than supplied, we can be the employing entity — the structure is agreed in writing before anyone starts, and the employment position is confirmed with Salt & Associates.
- Temporary office staff: administration, reception, data entry
- Drivers and transport staff
- Technicians and maintenance staff
- Site labour and semi-skilled workers for projects
- Skilled trades for mobilisation peaks
- Security-cleared staff where the role requires it
- Seasonal and surge cover
- Absence and holiday cover
- Timesheet administration and agency invoice verification
Payroll administration
Run with a licensed accountant. You approve the file; you make the payment.
- Monthly payroll inputs and change log
- Gross-to-net calculation and checking
- Payslip preparation and distribution
- Bank transfer file prepared for your approval
- Payroll tax documentation
- Social-security contribution schedules
- Allowances, overtime, deductions and advances
- Final settlements and end-of-service calculations
- Payroll reports and a general-ledger summary
- Payroll data confidentiality controls
Benefits, training and welfare
- Medical insurance sourcing and enrolment
- Life and personal accident cover
- Claims administration support
- Allowance scheme administration
- Arabic and English language training
- Health and safety and first-aid training
- Compliance and anti-bribery training for local teams
- Staff transport, meals and catering arrangements
- Team and national-day events, and long-service recognition
Who it is suitable for
- Foreign companies with between two and fifty Iraqi employees
- Operations whose HR is currently done by a country manager at weekends
- Companies whose head office cannot see what Iraqi payroll actually costs
- Projects that need surge staffing through licensed agencies
Where this touches legal work. Employment contracts, policies, discipline, termination and disputed entitlements are legal work and sit with Salt & Associates, engaged separately. Tax registration, social security registration and formal immigration applications are also theirs. We administer, calculate and document; we do not advise on Iraqi employment law.
Common questions
Do you provide Employer of Record (EOR) services in Iraq?
If you have no Iraqi entity yet, or the team is for a defined project, we can employ the staff for your account — which is the arrangement usually meant by Employer of Record. It is not automatic and it is not always the cheaper option: it carries different obligations from employing them through your own entity, and the employment position is confirmed with Salt & Associates before either route is set up. Ask for both costed side by side.
Is this corporate HR consulting, or administration?
Administration, with advice attached to it. Corporate HR consulting in Baghdad is often sold as a policy document and a workshop; what you get here is the payroll actually run, the records actually kept and the filings actually made — and our view, when you ask for it, on what the local market pays and what an Iraqi team of that shape normally costs to run.
Do you act as a recruitment agency?
We source, screen and shortlist locally and you decide. There is no placement fee and no percentage of salary — recruitment sits inside the same monthly arrangement as the payroll and the records, which is why we have no incentive to churn your team.
Are the employees employed by Salt?
Usually yours — you select them, you employ them, you set their terms, and we run the records, the payroll cycle and the reporting. Where you have no Iraqi entity yet, or the team is for a defined project, we can employ them for your account instead. The two arrangements cost different amounts and carry different risks, so we set out both before you choose, and the employment position is confirmed with Salt & Associates.
Who pays the salaries?
You do. We prepare the bank transfer file and the supporting documentation for your approval, and you make the payment. Salt does not hold client funds.
Can you draft our employment contracts?
Salt & Associates draft and advise on the terms. We administer the contracts, the renewals and the file once they exist, which is the part that runs every month.
What does the monthly HR report show?
Headcount and movements, leave balances, attendance exceptions, payroll totals with a general-ledger summary, contract and permit expiries, and open actions with owners.
Related services
Related products
Put the administration somewhere it gets done.
Tell us how many people you have in Iraq and what currently goes wrong each month.
One Desk in Baghdad. Turnkey back-office infrastructure.
Salt Corporate Services runs all ten areas below — 33 services and 15 configured products, under one account lead, one request channel and one monthly report. Most clients start with one area and add the rest as the operation grows.