How to develop a global benefits plan
Remote's experts outline how to provide benefits that are locally relevant yet competitive globally, how to maintain compliance when expanding internationally, and how to create equality and build trust across your multinational team.
- How to design an equitable global benefits programme
- How to secure compliance with local employment laws
- How varying cultural norms and expectations may affect your benefits plans
- How to attract and retain top talent with compelling benefits for global workers
- When and in what manner to offer benefits to contractors
Download the guide · research/permanent-establishment-risk-guide
Download the guide
Keen to provide top global benefits but uncertain where to begin?
Delivering robust benefits and securing parity across your workforce need not be complicated. Remote hires in 70+ countries around the world. In our free Global Benefits Guide, our experts set out what offering global benefits entails and describe how to implement them so they suit your organisation’s particular needs and objectives.
Overview of remote and flexible working
The significance of remote and flexible working is unquestionable in the present day, yet which groups of employees value these arrangements most?
By surveying 10,000 full-time employees across genders, industries, job roles, countries and parental statuses, we identified the most sought-after employee benefits in 2022. The highlights below indicate the insights available in the complete research report:
- Our study revealed that private medical insurance is the most important benefit in the USA
- Additional parental leave is the benefit most valued by parents of one child
- Employees in the Netherlands expect employer contributions towards home office setup
Research highlights
The Remote Global Benefits Guide explains which benefits employees value most.
Parents with a single child place greater importance on remote work than parents with multiple children
While parents of one child rate remote work particularly highly, employees across different family situations and plans generally agree remote work matters. remote work and flexible hours enable parents to arrange work in a way that better fits their family circumstances.
Employers should recognise that many staff are most productive outside the traditional 9 AM – 5 PM schedule, often because of childcare or other external commitments.
Permitting employees to choose the hours that suit them can reduce the likelihood of stress and burnout, lower absenteeism and improve overall job satisfaction.
By offering remote work and flexible hours, employers are more likely to attract highly skilled professionals with young children who are actively seeking roles with these provisions.
Employees in the Netherlands value remote work most highly
Dutch employers are accustomed to staff working fully remotely or in hybrid models. The Netherlands had a flexible working culture even before the pandemic, which helps explain why employees there are more likely than those in other surveyed countries to view remote work as an important benefit. Employers hiring in the Netherlands should enable remote work to attract and retain top talent.
The UK, Germany, and USA follow the Netherlands, while employees in France are least likely to say remote work is important whether offered part-time or full-time.
Remote work is most important to employees in advertising and IT roles
Employees in advertising roles prioritise full-time remote work, whereas those in IT tend to prefer part-time remote work.
Whether part-time or full-time, remote work is noticeably less desired by employees in production and sales roles than in other functions. This suggests employers should seek ways to make remote work more accessible for these functions so those staff can also benefit from it.
These findings demonstrate the importance of offering remote work options, at least on a part-time basis, when the role allows. The most effective benefits packages are those tailored to the specific types of employees they will serve.
Most important employee benefits when considering a job move
We surveyed 10,000 full-time employees across France, Germany, the Netherlands, the UK and the US to determine which benefits are most desirable when contemplating a job move, analysed by gender, parental status, job role and industry. When evaluating a potential change in employment, workers typically compare their current benefits with those on offer elsewhere; this comparison influences their decision to stay or to leave and, once they decide to depart, helps identify which vacancies to pursue.
Based on our survey of 10,000 full-time employees in France, Germany, the Netherlands, the UK, and the US, employers aiming to attract or retain talent should prioritise flexible working hours, company-sponsored retirement plans or pensions, and early finishes on Fridays in their benefits packages. From a health-benefits perspective, employees in the US place greater importance on annual leave for self-care/mental health and private and family private medical insurance than those in the European countries we surveyed; residents of France, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK generally have access to universal healthcare, whereas in the US medical fees are an individual cost.
It is therefore essential for employers to develop customised benefits packages informed by what is most valued in each business region. Offering medical insurance to support US employees with healthcare expenses demonstrates care and helps maintain equity across a global team.
Across almost every job function, employees favour flexible work hours — this preference is particularly strong in HR
Flexible working is the most important benefit in every job function except production and certain other roles. Employers with many staff in production or in roles not explicitly listed in our survey may be better served by including company-sponsored retirement plans or pensions in their benefits packages.
Further survey results show that access to dedicated breastfeeding rooms in the office is most important to employees in advertising roles.
However, regardless of industry, employers should consider creating dedicated private spaces for parents to breastfeed. Alongside promoting inclusion, this measure supports new parents returning to the workplace and is likely to attract a broader and higher-quality pool of candidates.
