International Employee Benefits

Benefits your expat employees will really want

"People power" means a lot to companies working across borders. So our international employee benefits help protect your most important asset–your staff. When you give to your employees, they often give back, so working with a benefits partner that provides great cover options and a personal touch can let your expat employees know value them.

No call centres
Quick onboarding
Personal account manager

International employee benefits
with William Russell

We’ve designed our international employee benefits to help you find the right insurance coverage for your employees’ circumstances. Invest in a group insurance plan for healthy, happy, and reassured international employees and to help your staff adapt to overseas living. Our portfolio of employee benefits brings together medical insurance, life and income protection cover for international groups. Your people aspire to live well overseas, so our insurance benefits work to help international employees flourish by shielding them against the worst while helping them stay at their best.

Group international
health insurance

Group international health insurance (also known as international private medical insurance or IPMI) is often necessary for employees to access the healthcare they need while working overseas. Whilst it helps HR departments and corporate managers meet their duty of care to expats, it’s also a great perk to help attract the best candidates and helps international employees live life to the full.

Our international medical insurance features high cover limits and comes with dedicated account management, helping group employees access the best healthcare across the world.

Group international life insurance

When your staff are far from home, international life cover protects those they hold dear. It reassures them that, if the worst should happen, dependants can be supported financially, so it’s a desirable benefit among employees with families and commitments.

Our group international life insurance can cover up to US$2m per employee. We know everything can change if the worst happens, so our life cover pays employees early if they’re diagnosed with a terminal illness and given less than a year to live.

Group international
income protection insurance

Money matters too, and for international employees, income and lifestyle go hand-in-hand. Our group income protection policies safeguard up to 75% of your employees’ incomes, up to US$200,000 – helping to cover costs if a long-term illness or injury prevents them from working.

This benefit can be especially attractive to employees working overseas where they might not get access to the same safety nets as they would at home. It also protects you and your business from the impact of long-term sick pay liabilities.

Company sizes we cover

With a range of customisable cover options, it’s easy to find what works with William Russell. We make it easy to be the boss that keeps your staff healthy, no matter what size your operation. What's more, for groups with 20 or more employees, international income protection insurance can be secured through a single application form – and you won’t need medical underwriting.

Small businesses

International employee benefits aren't just reserved for large corporates. Small businesses (3-9 employees) can benefit from global health, life and income protection insurance at an affordable price too. You can enhance plan by tailoring it with add-ons including adding your staff’s dependants too.

10-39 employees

Mid-size teams and firms might require greater flexibility. Our plans in this category can be split by employee category and are portable enough to move with individuals or teams when they relocate.

40+ employees

If you’re running a larger organisation, you need a provider that can cater to your corporate needs. With William Russell, your dedicated account manager can help curate bespoke plans to suit employees spread across territories.

Why choose William Russell

Cancer care

Few like to think about cancer diagnoses – but if your employees find themselves facing one, it’s good to know they’ll be supported from genetic testing to counselling.

Medical evacuation

Group international health insurance can be tailored with medevac cover, providing an extra safety net to employees working in developing countries or remote locations.

Mental health support

Help support your international employees as they adjust to a new way of life with cover for mental health treatment on our comprehensive plans.

Accident benefits

Optional extras make it possible to tailor your international employee benefits – add accident cover to your group life insurance policy and staff or their families could receive a lump sum if they suffer a serious accident.

Flexible income protection

You know your employees, so you set the level of support – up to 75% of their earnings.

William Russell helps us to deliver the service levels we pride ourselves on, guaranteeing the utmost localised security to our global employer of record workers. Working with a well-regarded organisation like William Russell helps our clients to understand we are providing a collective safe pair of hands to protect workers worldwide.

CEO at Mauve Group Ann Ellis

What are international employee benefits and who are they for?

International employee benefits are a series of non-cash provisions employers make for staff who work overseas. They may span your own company policies, such as parental leave provisions, plus pension and insurance schemes. We focus on the insurance side of things.

International employees often have different needs to domestic staff, since they may not have access to the same healthcare system, so comprehensive medical provisions are a standard part of many expat packages. The two other key insurance benefits focus on life and income protection.

International employee benefits could be key for any business or HR department that deploys staff across borders.

Should you offer international employee benefits to expat staff?

If you employ staff overseas, international health insurance can form part of an excellent benefit package that not only attracts but retains the right talent for your business.

It should encompass access to high-quality healthcare and offer financial peace of mind, with protection plans that secure the future for employees and their loved ones, should anything unfortunate happen.

Find out more about offering international employee benefits

How do your group policies approach medical underwriting?

Although our international employee benefits policies are purchased by businesses, we sometimes need to know a little about the employees themselves to understand their health situation and assess risk – this is known as medical underwriting.

There are several options, which vary by insurance type. If we need to go through full medical underwriting, we’ll ask your employees to fill in a health questionnaire and may add exclusions or terms for certain pre-existing conditions.

Moratorium underwriting does not ask employees to complete a medical questionnaire but excludes recent pre-existing conditions. We can also extend corporate policies already arranged in this way.

If your employees are likely to require cover for pre-existing conditions, then medical history disregarded (MHD) underwriting may be the best fit – for this, you’ll need to insure 10 or more employees and complete an employee census.

Read more about group medical underwriting.

How much will international employee benefits cost my business?

The cost of international employee benefits depends on the insurance products you select, the number of employees you’d like to cover and the customisable options you add on – including your preferred approach to medical underwriting.

Personal circumstances, such as the part of the world your employees are located in, can also make a difference. Age and medical history are sometimes factored in.