Global Benefits

What are employee benefits?

Employee benefits are mandatory and optional forms of compensation that are offered to full-time employees such as healthcare, travel stipends, PTO, retirement accounts, and stock options. Companies offer benefits in addition to wages and salaries.

What are global employee benefits vs. universal benefits?

Offering global benefits means ensuring that employees in each country receive local insurance, retirement options, and other relevant benefits. Global benefits are not necessarily universal, since each country has different health care systems, pension, and paid-time-off policies.

Many companies post their compensation packages on their “Careers” page.

In Mexico and Canada, for instance, the state provides basic healthcare services. To remain competitive, companies can offer private insurance options, in addition to the state-sponsored plan.

Retirement

In many countries, the government deducts taxes for state-backed retirement, such as social security in the United States or the CPP in Canada.

However, companies can offer additional retirement options in many countries. In the United States, many companies provide 401k plans, usually with an employer match ranging from 0 to 6% or profit sharing. Many countries offer similar employer-sponsored retirement accounts, such as the RRSP in Canada.

Private healthcare

Unlike the United States, most countries across the Americas and Europe offer basic healthcare through the government. However, companies can offer private medical and dental coverage. In many countries, private insurance can provide better facilities, improved access to specialists, and easier access to last minute appointments.

Company-wide perks

Each country’s labor laws vary widely, which can make team members in one country feel as if they are not receiving the same benefits as employees in another country.

To help employees feel aligned, HR can launch company-wide perks, such as company-wide mental health days and weekly lunch vouchers.

Mental health

Each country has a different relationship to mental health. Argentina has the highest number of psychologists per capita in the world. While each country’s approach to mental well being services are different, companies generally offer mental health benefits as an additional perk.

Wellness

To promote wellness, many employers offer perks such as virtual exercise classes, subscriptions for meditation apps, gym memberships, or even at-home equipment like a Peloton.

Life/ADD insurance

In most countries, employers can offer some form of life or ADD insurance, which protects employees and their families in worse case scenarios.

Why do businesses partner with an EOR services to offer benefits?

Keeping distributed teams that are spread across multiple companies happy, healthy, and compliant can be a real headache for HR. Companies need to offer compliant, user-friendly, and cost-effective compensation packages that are tailored to each country.

Researching compensation packages in each country can be time-consuming. That’s why many companies partner with EOR services like Via to ensure that they offer competitive benefits packages in each country.

With Via, we guarantee that your employees will receive comprehensive coverage that attracts and retains top talent. As your employer-of-record, we take full responsibility for ensuring that your employees receive the resources they need to feel healthy and protected.

FAQ 

Should I hire a remote employee?

Yes! Since Covid-19 struck in March 2020, more and more employers are realizing the benefits of hiring remote employees. By hiring remote workers, you can find people with relevant experience without needing to worry about paying for relocation expenses. It’s also more efficient, since remote employees can get started working as soon as they fill out the necessary paperwork.

How do I hire the best remote worker?

To find the best remote workers possible, you will still want to have in place a strategic hiring and recruiting process, which means:

• Sourcing candidates with the right right skills using LinkedIn
• Evaluating resumes and portfolios
• Speaking to the candidate’s references to ensure that their resume matches their accomplishments
• Introducing candidates to your team via a virtual interview, sometimes called a virtual onsite
• Creating excellent onboarding materials that allows new remote employees to hit the ground running as quickly as possible

Can you hire someone from another country to work remotely?

In the US, you can legally hire foreigners living outside of the country to work for a US-based company. However, you will need to make sure that you are following the foreign country’s local labors to ensure compliance. This means you will probably need to open an entity or subsidiary, or partner with an EOR service like Via.

How do you hire someone virtually?

To hire someone virtually, you should take the following steps:

• Find candidates through LinkedIn, job postings on sites like Glassdoor, or referrals from current team members
• Meet with the candidate on Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, or another video conferencing software
• Engage the candidate with group interviews so that other members of the team can offer their insights
• Assign the candidate a short take-home assignment so that you can evaluate their skills
• Speak with the candidate’s references to understand their strengths and areas for future improvement
• Ensure that the candidate has all of the necessary information to complete onboarding, including enrolling in benefits