How to build a global benefits plan
Remote's experts set out how to provide benefits that meet local needs while remaining competitive worldwide, how to secure compliance as you expand internationally, and how to promote fairness and trust across your multinational team!
- How to develop an equitable global benefits programme
- How to ensure compliance with local labour laws
- How different cultural norms and expectations can affect your benefits plans
- How to attract and retain top talent through strong benefits for global workers
- When and how to provide benefits to contractors
Download the guide – research/permanent-establishment-risk-guide
Download the guide
Looking to provide top global benefits but unsure where to begin?
Providing strong benefits and creating fairness across your organisation does not have to be complicated. Remote hires in 70+ countries around the world. In our complimentary Global Benefits Guide, our specialists explain what offering global benefits looks like and how to implement them in a way that fits your company’s particular needs and goals.
The state of remote and flexible working
Remote and flexible working are clearly important today, but which groups of employees value these arrangements most?
By surveying 10,000 full-time employees across different genders, industries, job functions, countries and parental statuses in 2022, we identified the most in-demand employee benefits. The highlights below give a flavour of the insights available in the full research report:
- Our research shows health insurance is the top priority in the USA
- Additional parental leave matters most to parents with one child
- Employees in the Netherlands want employers to contribute 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
The option to work remotely matters most to parents of a single child, though most employees, regardless of family circumstances or future plans, agree that remote working is important. Remote roles and flexible hours allow parents to work in a way that better suits their family’s situation.
Companies should recognise that many employees’ most productive hours fall outside the traditional 09:00–17:00 timeframe, often because of childcare or other commitments.
Allowing employees to choose the hours that suit them can reduce the likelihood of stress and burnout, lower absence levels and improve job satisfaction.
Offering remote work and flexible hours helps employers attract highly skilled professionals with young children who are actively seeking roles with these provisions.
Employees in the Netherlands value remote work the most
Dutch employers are used to staff working fully remotely or in hybrid models. Even before the pandemic, the Netherlands had a notably flexible working culture, which may explain why Dutch respondents are most likely to view remote work as important. Employers hiring in the Netherlands should enable remote working to attract and retain talent.
The UK, Germany and the USA follow the Netherlands, with employees in France least likely to say remote work is important whether it is offered part-time or full-time.
Remote work is most important to employees in advertising and IT roles
Full-time remote working is most valued in advertising roles, while part-time remote working matters most in IT roles.
Whether part-time or full-time, remote work is far less desired by employees in production and sales roles than in other functions. This suggests employers should consider making remote options more accessible for these job types so they can also benefit from flexible working.
This highlights the value of offering remote work at least part-time where the role allows. The best benefits packages take into account the people they are designed for and are tailored accordingly.
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 discover which benefits influence a decision to change jobs, taking account of gender, parental status, role and industry. When contemplating a move, workers compare their current benefits with those on offer elsewhere to decide whether to stay or apply for new positions.
Whether an employer aims to attract talent or keep it, our survey of 10,000 full-time employees across France, Germany, the Netherlands, the UK and the US shows flexible working hours, company-sponsored retirement plans or pensions, and early finishes on Fridays are the top three perks to consider. From a health benefits perspective, employees in the US place greater importance on paid time off for self-care/mental health and on private family health insurance than respondents in the European countries we surveyed. France, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK all provide universal healthcare, whereas in the US medical costs are typically an individual expense.
It is therefore essential for employers to design benefits packages tailored to what matters most in each region. Offering medical insurance to support US employees with healthcare costs will demonstrate care and help maintain equity across your global team.
In almost every job function, employees want flexible working hours, particularly those in HR
Flexible working is the top benefit across nearly all job functions except production and some other roles. Employers with a high proportion of production staff or roles not covered in our survey may be better served by including company-sponsored retirement plans or pensions in their packages.
Elsewhere in the survey, access to dedicated breastfeeding rooms on site is most important to employees in advertising roles.
However, regardless of industry, employers should consider providing private spaces for parents to breastfeed. Alongside promoting inclusion, this supports new parents returning to work and is likely to attract a more diverse pool of high-quality candidates.
