How to build a global benefits plan
Experts at Remote show you how to provide benefits that are locally relevant yet globally competitive, how to meet compliance requirements when expanding overseas, and how to create equality and build trust across your multinational team.
- How to develop an equitable global benefits program
- How to ensure compliance with local labour laws
- How different cultural norms and expectations can affect your benefits plans
- How to attract and keep top talent with standout benefits for global workers
- When and how to provide benefits to contractors
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Download the guide
Want to provide the best global benefits but aren’t sure where to begin?
Offering strong benefits and creating equity across your team doesn’t need to be complex. At Remote, we employ people in more than 70 countries worldwide. In our free Global Benefits Guide, our experts explain what offering global benefits entails and how to roll them out in ways that suit your company’s specific needs and goals.
The state of remote and flexible working
Remote and flexible working is now essential, but which employees value these arrangements most?
By surveying 10,000 full-time employees across genders, industries, job functions, countries and parental statuses, we identified the most sought-after employee benefits in 2022. The highlights below provide a snapshot of the insights from the full research report:
- Our research showed that health insurance is the top priority in the US
- Additional parental leave matters most to parents with one child
- Employees in the Netherlands want employer contributions towards home office setup
Research highlights
The Remote Global Benefits Guide explains which benefits employees value most.
Parents with one child place more value on remote work than those with multiple children
Remote work is most important to parents with one child, although the majority of employees—regardless of family status or future plans—consider remote work important. Offering remote roles and flexible hours enables parents to work in ways that better suit their family circumstances.
Organisations should acknowledge that many employees are most productive outside the traditional 9:00 am – 5:00 pm window, often because of childcare or other external commitments.
Letting staff choose hours that suit them can lower stress and burnout, cut employee absences and boost job satisfaction.
Offering remote work and flexible hours improves employers’ chances of attracting highly skilled professionals with young children who are actively looking for roles that include these benefits.
Employees in the Netherlands value remote work most
Dutch employers are more accustomed to teams adopting fully remote or hybrid working models. Even before the pandemic, the Netherlands had a notably flexible working culture, which may explain why Dutch employees are more likely than those in other countries we surveyed to see remote work as an important benefit. Employers hiring Dutch talent should make remote working straightforward to attract and retain top people.
The UK, Germany and the US trail the Netherlands, while employees in France are least likely to rate remote work as important whether it’s offered part-time or full-time.
Remote work matters most to employees in advertising and IT roles
Full-time remote work ranks highest among advertising professionals, while part-time remote work is most important to those in IT.
Both part-time and full-time remote work are much less desired by employees in production and sales roles than by others. This suggests employers should consider making remote options more accessible for these functions so those workers can also benefit.
This highlights the value of offering remote options, at least part-time, when the role allows. The most effective benefits packages consider who they’re for and are tailored to those employees.
The most important employee benefits when considering a job move
We surveyed 10,000 full-time employees in France, Germany, the Netherlands, the UK and the US to identify which benefits matter most when people contemplate changing jobs, across genders, parental statuses, job roles and industries. When thinking about leaving, workers compare their current benefits with those on offer elsewhere to decide whether to stay and, if they choose to go, which roles to apply for.
Whether an employer’s primary aim is to attract or retain top talent, our survey of 10,000 full-time employees across France, Germany, the Netherlands, the UK and the US shows that flexible working hours, company‑sponsored retirement plans or pensions, and early finishes on Fridays are the top three perks to consider including in benefits packages. From a health-benefit perspective, employees in the US place greater importance on paid time off for self-care/mental health and private family health insurance than those in the European countries we surveyed. Residents of France, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK have access to universal healthcare, whereas in the US medical fees are generally an individual cost.
It’s therefore essential for employers to design benefits packages tailored to what’s valued in each region. Offering medical insurance to support US employees with healthcare costs will demonstrate your care and help maintain equity across your global team.
In almost every job function, employees want flexible work hours - especially HR
Flexible working is the top benefit across most job functions except production and other roles. Employers with many staff in production or roles not listed in our survey might be better off adding company‑sponsored retirement plans or pensions to their benefit packages.
Access to dedicated breastfeeding rooms in the office is most important to employees in advertising roles.
Regardless of industry, employers should consider providing private breastfeeding spaces. This promotes inclusion, supports parents returning to work, and can attract a more diverse range of high-quality candidates.
