How to build a global benefits plan
Remote's specialists explain how to provide benefits that are relevant locally yet competitive globally, how to remain compliant as you expand internationally, and how to promote fairness and build trust across your multinational team!
- How to develop an equitable global benefits programme
- How to ensure compliance with local labour laws
- How cultural norms and expectations can affect your benefits plans
- How to attract and retain top talent through excellent 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 offer outstanding global benefits but unsure where to begin?
Providing strong benefits and ensuring fairness across your workforce need not be complex. Remote hires in 70+ countries worldwide. In our free Global Benefits Guide, our specialists explain what global benefits look like and how to roll them out in ways suited to your company’s particular needs and objectives.
The state of remote and flexible working
Remote and flexible working are clearly important today, but which 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 types of insights available in the full research report:
- Our research shows health insurance is the highest priority in the USA
- Additional parental leave ranks as the most important benefit for parents with one child
- Employees in the Netherlands want contributions from their employer towards home office setup
Research highlights
The Remote Global Benefits Guide explains which benefits employees value most.
Parents with one child value remote work more 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—still see remote work as valuable. Remote work combined with flexible hours allows parents to arrange their working patterns to suit their family circumstances.
Companies should recognise that many employees are most productive outside the traditional 09:00 – 17:00 window, often because of childcare or other external commitments.
Permitting staff to pick the hours that suit them can lower the risk of stress and burnout, cut employee absences and improve job satisfaction.
Offering remote work and flexible hours increases an employer’s chance of attracting highly skilled professionals with young children who are actively seeking roles that include these provisions.
Employees in the Netherlands place the highest value on remote work
Dutch employers are generally accustomed to staff working fully remotely or in hybrid arrangements. Even prior to the pandemic, the Netherlands had a flexible work culture. That background may explain why respondents from the Netherlands are likelier than those in other surveyed countries to consider remote work an important benefit. Employers recruiting Dutch talent should enable remote working to attract and retain top candidates.
The UK, Germany and the USA follow the Netherlands, while employees in France are least likely to regard remote work as important, whether it is offered part-time or full-time.
Remote work matters most to employees in advertising and IT roles
Full-time remote work is the top priority for employees in advertising roles, whereas part-time remote work is more important to those in IT roles.
Whether part-time or full-time, employees in production and sales roles are markedly less likely to want remote work than those in other functions. This suggests employers should consider ways to make remote work more accessible for these job types so they can also benefit from remote arrangements.
This underlines the value of offering remote-work options, at least part-time, when the role allows. The most effective benefits packages consider who the employees are and are tailored to their needs.
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 are most desirable when contemplating a job move, across genders, parental statuses, job roles and industries. When people consider switching employers, they compare their current benefits package with those on offer elsewhere. That comparison influences whether they stay and, if they choose to leave, which roles they will apply for.
Whether an employer aims primarily to attract or retain talent, our survey of 10,000 full-time employees in France, Germany, the Netherlands, the UK and the US shows the top three perks to include are flexible working hours, company-sponsored retirement plans or pensions, and early finishes on Fridays. From a health-benefit perspective, employees in the US place greater importance on paid time off for self-care/mental health and on private and family health insurance than respondents in the European countries we surveyed. Residents of France, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK benefit from universal healthcare, whereas in the US healthcare costs tend to fall on the individual.
It is therefore essential for employers to develop customised benefits packages that reflect what is most valued in each business region. Providing medical insurance to help US employees with healthcare costs will show you care and help preserve equity across your global team.
In almost every job function, employees want flexible work hours, especially HR
Flexible working is the top benefit across almost all job functions, with the exception of production and other roles. Employers with large numbers of staff in production or in roles outside those listed in our survey may find it beneficial to include company-sponsored retirement plans or pensions in their benefits packages.
Further survey results show that access to dedicated breastfeeding rooms at the office is most important to employees in advertising roles.
Regardless of industry, employers should consider providing private, dedicated breastfeeding spaces for parents. Alongside promoting inclusion, this supports new parents returning to work and is likely to attract a more diverse pool of high-quality candidates.
