The number of employers that operate a global benefits framework has grown in the last few years.
Offering benefits on this basis can offer several advantages for employers. As well as achieving cost and efficiency savings, it can also help an organisation build a single, overarching benefits brand that is recognisable to employees wherever they are in the world.
Where an organisation employs globally mobile expatriate employees, offering a package that they can take with them ensures their benefits remain consistent no matter where they are posted.
However, offering benefits on an international scale also has its challenges, most notably getting to grips with myriad tax and legislative regimes around the globe. Cultural differences must also be taken into account.
Where respondents offer benefits to staff based outside the UK, perhaps unsurprisingly, Europe is the most common continent to do so. This is followed by Asia-Pacific, which is currently undergoing significant growth as a business location.
When it comes to the benefits employers offer to employees outside the UK, private medical insurance (PMI) is the most popular – provided by 92%. This may reflect the fact respondents appear more likely to offer benefits to expatriates rather than to local employees overseas. Ensuring staff are covered in the event they become ill while overseas is vital, particularly if they are based in an area where there is little access to state healthcare or where private healthcare is very expensive.
Read more Benefits research 2012