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Benefits your expat employees will really want
International employee benefits are a collection of non-cash benefits that employers provide for staff working overseas. They often include things like parental leave agreements, lifestyle benefits like gym memberships, as well as pension and insurance schemes.
At William Russell, we’re here to take care of the insurance side of things. Our international employee benefit packages are specially designed to provide great cover with a personal touch, allowing your employees to get the care and support they need, wherever they are in the world.
Designed especially for employers of international staff, our international employee benefit policies offer high-quality health, life and income insurance, making it easy for you to protect your overseas staff.
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International employee benefits
with William Russell
We’ve designed our international employee benefits to help you provide the best possible cover for employees working abroad. Our portfolio of international employee benefits brings together medical insurance, life insurance and income protection cover for international groups. Together, they give your expat employees all the tools they need to enjoy an excellent quality of life overseas. These policies can also be purchased individually. Let’s take a closer look.
Group international
health insurance
International group health insurance (also known as international private medical insurance or IPMI) is often essential for expat employees to access local healthcare while working overseas. Without insurance, medical care can be very expensive, and could make it hard for expat employees to access even basic medical services.
By providing international group health insurance, you’ll be showing a dedication to your employees’ health and well-being, allowing you to attract the best candidates while helping international employees live life to the full.
Our international medical insurance features high cover limits and comes with dedicated account management, giving your expat employees access to 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, their children and loved ones will be supported financially.
Our international group life insurance can cover up to US$2m per employee. William Russell’s life cover will also pay 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 stops them from working.
This benefit is perfect for 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, we have international employee benefits plans for businesses of all shapes and sizes. What’s more, for groups with 20 or more employees, international income protection insurance can be bought through a single application form.
Small businesses
3-9 employees
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.
Medium-sized businesses
10-39 employees
Mid-size teams (10-39 employees) might require greater flexibility. To help give your expat employees the right level of cover, we’ll let you create sub-divisions for your plan. This makes it easy to increase or decrease cover as and when individuals or teams relocate.
Large businesses
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 different territories.
Why choose William Russell
Cancer care
Few like to think about cancer diagnoses. But if your expat employees find themselves facing one, it’s good to know they’ll be supported, from genetic testing to counselling.
Medical evacuation
International group health insurance can be tailored with medevac cover, providing an extra safety net to expat employees working in developing countries or remote locations.
Mental health support
Help support your expat 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 best, so you set the level of income support you offer. We’ll help you protect up to 75% of your employee’s earnings to give them added peace of mind.
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 EllisFrequently asked questions
Should you offer international employee benefits to expat staff?
If you employ staff overseas, international employee health insurance can form part of an excellent benefit package that not only attracts but retains the right talent for your business.
International health insurance gives your expat employees access to high-quality healthcare and offers financial peace of mind. It should also come with protection plans that secure the future for employees and their loved ones, should the worst happen.
Find out more about offering international employee benefitsHow 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.
When taking out a new health insurance policy, you’ll have the option to choose moratorium underwriting. With this approach, we won’t need employees to complete individual medical questionnaires, however, this type of policy does exclude pre-existing conditions.
Another option with health insurance policies, and if your employees are likely to require cover for pre-existing conditions, is medical history disregarded (MHD) underwriting. This will require you to insure 10 or more employees and also complete an employee census.
Read more about group medical underwritingHow much will international employee benefits cost my business?
The cost of international employee benefits depends on the products you select, the number of employees you’d like to cover and the options you add on. It also takes into account your preferred approach to medical underwriting.
Personal circumstances, such as what country your employees live in, can also make a difference. Age and medical history are factored in too.
At William Russell, we believe in people and sustainability, so we calculate premiums with a view to the long term. This means we’re often able to help you avoid unexpected cost increases, and our range of tailoring options can support with this too.
More about how we calculate premiumsWhy choose William Russell?
Since 1992, we have been supporting businesses of all sizes with their employee benefits packages. Our international health, life & income protection plans are offered separately or combined (if you prefer to have all your cover under one roof).
Find out more about our group international health insurance