Navigating the realm of employee benefits can be daunting. Whether you're an HR lead in your company seeking the best benefits offerings for your team, or an employee who wants to understand their benefits, there’s a lot to learn–especially when you consider the way benefits change from country to country.

This guide will help demystify employee benefits and learn what benefits exist, why they’re important, and what considerations to keep in mind, so you can build the best benefits package for your workplace.

What are employee benefits and how do they work?

Employee benefits work as an additional form of compensation outside of your employees’ salary. Benefits are aimed at attracting talent, rewarding and retaining your team, and fostering employee wellbeing and productivity.

Almost anything can be an employee benefit! But it varies due to many factors, including industry, company location, employee demographic, and more. But when we think of benefits, we usually think of “core” benefits, which fall into the following categories:

• Health
• Family
• Lifestyle
• Finance
• Policies

Having a strong benefits package in place benefits both the employee and the employer. After all, employers have a duty of care to their employees. Fulfilling that duty can have real business impact, too: happy, healthy employees are more productive than unhealthy, unhappy employees, which can make all the difference in moving the needle.

Why do benefits differ from country to country?

Employee benefits vary across countries due to differences in cultural norms, labour laws, and economic conditions. For example, while some countries mandate strict employer contributions to pensions or specific parental leave policies, others may be more flexible. Economic conditions also play a role, with some countries offering national healthcare systems that reduce the need for private health insurance, unlike others where comprehensive health benefits are highly needed and expected. 

What should you consider when implementing global benefits programs? 

When thinking about a global benefits strategy, there are three main points to consider:

1. Regulatory requirements

Navigating the diverse legalities of different countries is essential to consider. Each country has unique mandates, like mandatory health insurance or specific retirement contributions. Staying compliant not only avoids legal pitfalls but also ensures fair treatment across your global workforce.

2. Minimum global standards

Establishing a consistent baseline for benefits means that all employees, regardless of location, receive essential support. This provides a unified foundation that reflects your company's commitment to employee well-being.

3. Local market practices

Understanding regional differences allows you to offer benefits that truly resonate with your globally diverse team.

By balancing these elements, you can craft a benefits strategy that not only complies with legal requirements, but also exceeds expectations and attracts best in class talent.

Types of employee benefits

While benefits vary wildly from country to country, you can typically break these down into the following categories.

Voluntary benefits: Voluntary benefits are any benefits employers provide that go above and beyond the core benefits. Think: mental healthcare, gym memberships, workplace nursery schemes, and more.

Flexible spending allowances: Flexible allowances allow you to allocate a sum of money for employees to spend on benefits of their choosing. This can be by category – for example, giving employees a budget per quarter  to put toward L&D or lunches. But it can also be for anything (yes, anything!).

There are countless benefits to explore. But we’ve put together a list of the most common ones to get you started.

Core benefits

When we think of “core benefits”, we’re usually referring to the insurances, like health insurance, life insurance, and income protection insurance, but core benefits usually also include retirement planning. While these may not be the same country-to-country, these are usually the main four employee benefits.

In most countries, core benefits are largely made up by insurance, retirement, and tax-advantaged products. 

Insurances

Insurance benefits are often considered “core benefits”, as they typically make up the baseline benefits offerings at most companies, and are benefits that talent expects to see in a company’s benefits package. With that said, regulations around these benefits will differ country-to-country.

Some types of insurance benefits include:

Life insurance: Life insurance is a type of insurance policy that pays out a lump sum (also known as a “death benefit”) to the beneficiaries if the policyholder passes away while the term is active. The death benefit offers reassurance to employees and their dependents, ensuring they have a financial safety net in the event of the worst-case scenario.

Medical insurance: Medical insurance works by the employer paying a premium to provide medical coverage for the employee. Medical insurance, often called Private Medical Insurance (PMI), gives your employees peace of mind that they’ll have access to quality healthcare and won’t be financially compromised in the case of a medical emergency, or be beholden to long wait times for treatment.

Income protection: Income protection serves as a financial safety net for employees unable to work due to illness or disability. The chosen insurer provides regular income payments to the policyholder until they are fit to return to work, mitigating financial strain if an employee isn’t able to work.

Critical illness: Critical illness insurance plans provide coverage for individuals diagnosed with severe medical conditions such as cancer, kidney failure, heart attack, stroke, or those requiring an organ transplant. In the event of a claim, the policyholder is paid out in a lump sum.

Dental cover: Dental cover is a type of health insurance that covers some of the costs of dental care. It insures the policyholder for things like routine check-ups, x-rays, root canals, fillings, and crowns, among other treatments, ensuring your employees can receive necessary dental treatment without financial burden. It does not usually cover cosmetic care.

Retirement 

As a core benefit, retirement planning typically involves an employer's contribution to a pension plan, which may be mandatory or voluntary depending on the country's regulations. The aim is to ensure that employees have financial security once they retire. 

Tax advantaged offerings 

Tax-advantaged products can include various schemes like health savings accounts, flexible spending accounts, or salary sacrifice schemes. Implementing these can benefit both the employer and employees by reducing taxable income and therefore lowering tax liabilities. These offerings need to be carefully structured to comply with local tax laws, which can differ significantly between countries. 

Supplemental / Voluntary Benefits

 1. Wellness programs

These benefits prioritise your team's wellbeing, either physically, mentally, or both. Wellness benefits can include gym memberships, fitness classes, cycle to work schemes, stop smoking support, and more.

 2. Mental health support

Prioritising your team's mental health is vital. Mental health support benefits like therapy coverage and mindfulness apps can help support your team through challenging times.

 3. Childcare

Childcare expenses can be substantial for parents, making childcare benefits a significant help for employers in alleviating financial burdens for parent employees. Workplace nursery schemes, for example, are a popular benefit designed to save parents money on childcare.

4. Learning and development

Allocating a dedicated budget for learning and development fosters your team's growth within the company. 

 5. Equity

Offering equity shares in your business can enhance your team's motivation, loyalty, and sense of ownership. This is a common benefit in start-ups, as it attracts top talent who may otherwise be taking a risk due to less job security.

6. Retirement planning

Enhanced employer contributions to an employee's retirement or pension scheme beyond the standard rate can be an attractive employee benefit for those thinking toward retirement planning.

7. Financial wellness

Financial wellness benefits can help your employees take control of their financial future and build long-term security. These can take the form of employer-provided access to budgeting apps, financial coaching services, and investment services, among others.

Flexible benefits

Flexible employee benefits are benefits that put the control in the hands of your employees. For example, you might choose to create a benefits package that allows your employees to opt-in or opt-out of benefits you offer so that they’re only enrolled in the ones that matter most to them. Or, you might offer your employees a flexible allowance that they can spend on what they really need.

Flexible benefits are also low cost for the employer, but can result in high employee impact, meaning opportunity to give your team choice and flexibility without significant additional costs.

Want to learn more about flexible benefits?

What are the mandatory benefits for employees?

Mandatory (or “statutory”) benefits vary depending on where your company is located. Here are some examples of common mandatory benefits around the world:

• Health insurance
• Dental care
• Retirement contributions
• Sick pay
• Long-term disability coverage
• Social security

But where most countries require a mandated contribution into a retirement fund of some kind, some countries mandate other types of benefits, like 13 month pay. Usually, there will be commonalities between regions – so similar mandatory benefits across Europe, across North America, and across Asia Pacific are very common. This can make offering employee benefits across multiple different countries a bit tricky.

Let’s walk through a few common mandatory benefits in more detail.

Health insurance

Healthcare benefits vary greatly from country to country. In the United States, for example, many employees rely on workplace healthcare benefits to help ease the financial burden of medical care. But even in countries like the UK or Canada with state-funded healthcare, health insurance (also known as “private medical insurance”) remains a popular benefit, as it allows individuals to choose the level of care that’s right for them and avoid potentially long wait times for treatment.

Retirement contributions

In some countries, like the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, and Italy, employers are obligated to participate in a workplace retirement or pension plan. The employer typically contributes to the pension fund on behalf of their employee alongside the employee’s own contributions, which are invested over time to generate returns. When the employee retires, they’ll receive regular payments from the pension fund to support their living expenses post-employment. Pension systems vary across countries, with some offering state-sponsored pensions, while others rely on private pension plans or a combination of both. Regulations, contribution rates, retirement ages, and payout structures also differ between countries.

Sick pay

Mandatory sick days are a common feature of labour regulations worldwide. These benefits typically mandate that employers grant a certain number of paid sick days per year to employees, allowing them to take time off work without financial repercussions. The exact entitlements vary significantly from country to country, with some countries stipulating minimum sick leave requirements by law, while others leave it to employers.

Thirteen month pay

A 13 month salary, also known as an end-of-year bonus, is an extra paycheck usually equal to an employee’s monthly salary. At least 25 countries around the world mandate this benefit, with many more including it as a “customary” benefit.

What benefits do employees want globally?

Employees’ needs not only vary country to country, but company to company. For example, if your company’s employee demographics skew younger, they may be more interested in financial education benefits, as they have been brought into the workforce among a high cost of living crisis and other economic uncertainties. There is no one-size-fits-all solution, which means its important to communicate with your team to get the best insight into what they really want.

To give you a starting point, we’ve put together some data from our Benefits Benchmarking Survey. The survey revealed that out of over 400 companies in 25+ countries, 39% of employers are looking to increase their benefits budget in the next 12 months. Almost half of those surveyed would like to add flexible allowances to their employee benefits package.

Here’s a look at the most popular benefits, according to the survey:

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Medical cover and pension benefits remain popular with employees worldwide, but in the wake of Covid-19, remote working has also become a benefit talent expects.

Your team, however, may have different benefits in mind, so it’s important to go straight to the source and ask your employees directly.

How much do employee benefits cost?

The cost of your employee benefits package varies greatly depending on a few factors, including:

• The size of your team
• The types of benefits you would like to offer
• The level of coverage of the benefits (ie. with insurance products)
• The number of benefits you will offer

But when it comes to building a global benefits package, there are also other factors to consider, like:

State provisions: Healthcare benefits, for example, will cost significant less in countries with partially state-funded healthcare like the United Kingdom and Japan, compared to countries with privatised healthcare like the United States and 

Competitive benefits market: In mature markets like in the US or UK, there may be more benefits providers covering a category. That means they’re more likely able to offer competitive pricing, whereas other countries may have fewer competitors in the market. 

International vs. local benefits plan: An international plan that covers every employee in every country will cost significantly more than a localised plan.

Tax advantages: Some countries have specific tax advantages. Spain, the UK, India, Hong Kong, and Singapore, for instance, favour salary sacrifice benefits, which come with a great tax savings component. 

To help you get a better idea of how much it might cost your company, we’ve created a benefits cost calculator. 

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How does a strong employee benefits package help your company?

Attracting talent is critical for building the best team, and a great employee benefits package can be the deciding factor when deciding to work for your company.

Let’s take a look at why benefits are so important and how a great benefits package benefits both your employees and your company.

Talent recruitment

Great benefits attract great talent. In a fiercely competitive talent market, the expectation for a strong benefits package has gone beyond a nice-to-have and become the standard. Strong benefits show prospective talent that your company really values its employees and places importance on company culture and wellbeing.

Retain talent

It’s not just about getting talent on board, but keeping them. “Better benefits” were in the top three reasons millennials report that they changed jobs in 2020 (Linkedin Global Talent Report 2020), so it’s vital to think beyond pay and about what their total compensation package looks like.

Employee engagement

Employees are more dedicated to their roles when their benefits package meets their needs – both personally and professionally. Whether that’s giving employees the opportunity to tailor their benefits themselves, like adding family onto their healthcare plans, or offering outside-the-box benefits that your employees can make the most out of.

For example, offering financial education as a benefit can mean that your employees can make the most out of their paycheque, meaning more satisfaction with their compensation. It can also lead to reduced financial stress at home, so they can show up to work with a clearer head.

Want to learn more about why employee benefits are vital? Read more: Employee Benefits: Why are they important?

How to implement an employee benefits program

 1. Determine what you’re trying to achieve

The first step to developing a fantastic global employee benefits program is clearly determining what you’re trying to achieve with your strategy – this will provide you with the source of truth for each step to follow.

2. Answer: What kind of global company are you?

What you do with your benefits will differ based on how you plan to grow your headcount in different locations. So you’ll want to determine exactly what kind of global company you are.

You might be:

• A large multinational with a lot of people in many locations and no central HQ
• One very large HQ and and a few smaller locations  
• Fully distributed, with very few people in a lot of different locations) 
  

3.  Establish your budget

The first step to building a benefits program is to know your budget. It can be exciting to jump into the thick of planning, but it’s no use if it’s out of the realm of possibility financially-speaking.

That said, not all benefits cost money – some can actually save you money (think: working from home).

4. Figure out your offering

Every company has their own unique needs, and catering to those means less likelihood of falling into the trap of employee benefits programs’ typically low engagement.

Run a survey with your team to see what your employee really prioritise and need out of their benefits, so you can design a package that they’ll actually use.

When designing a global benefits package, you’ll also want to determine if you’ll want to offer international products or local products tailored to each region. 

Local plans are often more affordable and tailored to the local market’s needs. But for some companies, their employee base in a country may be too small to warrant local plans. In these cases, while international plans may be more expensive, they may be the better choice for a more globally agile workforce.

Need an idea of how your current benefits offering aligns with similar companies? Use our Benefits Benchmarking Tool and access real-time data to see how your benefits package compares across the market.

 5. Negotiate with providers

When you have an eye on the benefits you’d like to offer your team, you can do one of two things:

1. Speak to each provider individually
2. Work with a benefits platform or broker

But beware, the DIY route can be complex when negotiating with several providers at once.

A benefits platform like Ben can help put the best program together at preferred rates, all without the admin.

 6. Launch your program

Once you’ve put your package together, it’s time to communicate it to your team, so they can get excited about it, too!

Take a look at these examples of videos put together by Ben customers to promote their new benefits, so you can get an idea of how to let your team in on the excitement: 

 7. Manage admin

Your benefits aren’t done once you’ve rolled them out. Keeping them up to date is crucial for keeping engagement high, since your employees’ needs will change over time.

But the admin side of things can take a lot of time and effort. For example, if you work with an insurance broker, they’ll have to be notified each time an employee joins or leaves your company.

A benefits platform can make all of this easy but automating the admin for you, so you can use that time to really make an impact.

Other considerations

Are you finding it tricky to manage an employee benefits program for your international, remote team?

Offering a world-wide benefits program is never straightforward. However, it is becoming less complex and more accessible thanks to innovation happening in this space. A universal package can be a great way to make distant employees feel included in your company culture.

Local regulations

Different regions have different legislation when it comes to total compensation and employee benefits. For example:‍

• In France, it’s a legal requirement for businesses to provide employees with lunch vouchers
• In the USA, all companies with over 50 employees are required to provide Health Insurance

Even if it’s not required by law, in some cultures there are certain employee benefits that are expected on a local level.

Making sure you’re aware of these regional differences is crucial for your benefits package’s success.

Cost multiplication

The definition of total compensation can go well beyond salary depending on which country you are looking at. Bonuses and benefits are often included which could lead to your costs being much higher than you might expect.

The more countries you consider, the more standards you’ll have to meet, and the more complex things get. Unfortunately, this will inevitably multiply your costs.

Final thoughts

Understanding the nuances of employee benefits–especially across global teams–is crucial. 

A world-class benefits package will go the extra mile in attracting top talent worldwide--and showing your global team that you have a commitment to their wellbeing, no matter where they are in the world.

FAQ:

How can you make sure employees in different countries are getting equal access to benefits?

In an ideal world, all employees would get the same access to benefits, regardless of their location – but that’s not always realistic, unless you were to restrict employee benefits in all countries to the maximum benefits levels in your least mature benefits market.

How can you balance global benefits consistency with local customisation?

Your global strategy should be a framework, not a set of rules. Local markets should have some level of autonomy to customise even global benefits with culture and local availability in mind. And where employees in other regions are getting different benefits that might not be available in one country yet, it’s important to be transparent –  let employees champion change and move the needle over time.