Guinea-Bissau is a small West African country that has seen big changes to its economy lately. Since 2005, the country’s economy has grown by more than five times, and a further 5.1% growth is expected in 2025. This country’s more than 845,000 workers are in high demand from an increasing number of employers in mining, food processing, timber production, financial services, transport, and hospitality.

Like employers everywhere, those operating in Guinea-Bissau compete for top talent and work hard to get the best employees working for them. However, they also need to make sure that their recruitment processes are helping them find people who will actually be successful workers long term. Their employees also want to be assured that they’re working for reliable employers in roles they’ll enjoy.

Probation periods can help both sides find the reassurance they require. This guide will explain how a probation period in Guinea-Bissau can benefit both employers and workers in new employment relationships.

Definition of Probation in Guinea-Bissau

A probation period, known as a período de experiência in Guinea-Bissau’s official language of Portuguese, is a trial period that allows employers and their new employees to assess the durability of an employment arrangement. These periods have reduced protections for employers and employees to allow for fair assessment and easier terminations if required.

Employees normally use their probation periods to find out if they have the ability to perform their roles well. They try to figure out if they’ll like working under the provided conditions, be able to work constructively with their colleagues, and fit into the company culture. Importantly, they also take this time to check that the benefits and conditions promised by their employers during recruitment are accurately delivered.

For employers, probation periods provide time to assess the skills and abilities of their new hires and to find out if they match the claims they made on their applications and in interviews. They also try to evaluate the fit of the people they’ve selected with their teams and the overall organization. Probation periods also provide them with the opportunity to help their new employees improve their skills and bring them up to full productivity.

Probation periods in Guinea-Bissau start when new employees first begin working. They will either continue on to their prescribed durations or will stop when either party terminates their contract. Both the employee and the employer can choose to leave the contract during the period, but if neither does, it will be considered successful. Workers who pass their probation periods become full employees.

Lengths of Probationary Periods in Guinea-Bissau

While probationary periods aren’t required by law in Guinea-Bissau, they are advantageous for employers and are widely used across most industries. The maximum length of a probation period allowed in Guinea-Bissau is three months, but durations vary and depend on employee roles and contract types.

Permanent Contracts

For employees on permanent contracts, probation periods can normally last up to two months. This can be extended to a maximum of three months for highly-skilled workers or those in high-level executive or managerial positions.

Fixed-Term Contracts

Probation periods for employees on fixed-term contracts may normally last only one month. However, for contracts longer than four years’ duration, probation periods with a maximum length of two months can be used.

Legal Considerations for Probation Periods in Guinea-Bissau

Workers in Guinea-Bissau are protected by the Labor Code 2021 and other laws and international conventions. The specific regulations that relate to probationary employees, which you should know about, include:

Pay and Working Conditions

The minimum wage in Guinea-Bissau hasn’t been updated for over ten years. As of 1 January 2015, workers must be paid at least 59,000 XOF (West African CFA francs) per month, which is around 105 USD/month. Probationary workers can’t be paid less than the minimum wage, nor can they be paid less than they would as full employees.

Bissau-Guinean employees normally work five or six days a week and a total of 40 regular hours weekly. When they perform overtime, they must be paid at least 150% of their normal wages. They are only allowed to work 10 hours of overtime a week and 100 hours a year.

Workers on probation are also protected by these limits and cannot be required to perform more hours of work than their fully employed coworkers.

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Termination and Notice

During a probation period in Guinea-Bissau, both the employee and the employer are allowed to terminate their contract at any time. The employee can resign at any time and doesn’t need to provide their employer with notice.

The employer can dismiss the worker without needing to justify their reason and doesn’t need to provide any notice if the dismissal is made in the first 60 days of a probation period. For a period that lasts over 60 days, however, the employer has to provide seven days’ notice of termination. It’s easy for both parties to end their employment arrangement during the probation period, but not as simple once this period has elapsed.

Employees on fixed-term contracts that are shorter than six months deserve two weeks’ notice and one month’s notice if their contracts are longer. Employees on permanent contracts are normally entitled to between two weeks and three months, depending on the length of service they’ve provided for their employers.

Fixed-term contract workers can be entitled to two or three days’ wages for each month they’ve worked in severance pay, while permanent contract employees can receive 15-30 days’ wages for each year of service they’ve given their employers.

Vacation / Holidays

In Guinea-Bissau, there are typically ten public holidays celebrated on days of national and religious (Christian and Islamic) importance. All employees should receive these days off work at full pay, including probationary workers.

If they are made to work on public holidays, probationary and full employees must be paid 150% of their normal wages. Bissau-Guinean employees accrue two days of annual leave for each month they work, which works out to 24 working days of leave annually.

However, they’re only entitled to this leave once they’ve worked for their employers for a full year. This means that while their months of probation help them build their annual leave entitlements for the following year, employees are not able to take leave while on probation.

Benefits of Probation Periods in Guinea-Bissau

Probationary periods in Guinea-Bissau aren’t mandatory, but since they can create a lot of advantages for employers and their workers, they’re very commonly used. Some of these advantages include:

  • For Employees

The chance to try out a new job and see if they enjoy it.

Opportunities to judge their fit with the other people on their teams and with their employing organization’s specific culture.

An easy way to leave a job if it doesn’t look like it will be a good fit, and the ability to look for new employment quickly.

  • For Employers

The chance to assess new employees’ skills and aptitudes on the job.

A way to find out if new workers will fit in well with their colleagues.

Reduced protections that let them dismiss workers quickly and easily if they’re not meeting requirements.

An opportunity to refine recruitment and interviewing processes, based on the number of employees who successfully pass through their probation periods.

Conclusion

In Guinea-Bissau, employers like to use probation periods to test their workers’ abilities and fit for their roles, and employees do the same. These periods are fairly strictly controlled to give employers a fair chance to assess workers while protecting their labor rights. They let both sides terminate their agreements easily if they aren’t working out, which lets them quickly find new employment relationships that will be more successful.

Frequently Asked Questions

No, these periods aren’t required, and employers can waive their right to use them if they wish. However, if they choose to use probation periods, they must include the details in their employment contracts.

Probation can last one month for most fixed-term contract workers and two months for most permanent employees. They can last up to three months for skilled employees and those in managerial or supervisory positions.

As long as the periods don’t last longer than two months, neither party has to provide the other with notice of termination. For longer periods, however, employers need to provide seven days’ notice.