Should You Provide Group Health Insurance For Your Full-time Remote Employees? Find Out Here

Due to the COVID pandemic, you want to make sure that you are solving as many problems as possible working remotely. The pandemic solidified and accelerated the upward trajectory of remote work. As more companies switch to working remotely, you need to make remote work available to everyone, no matter where they are in the world. However, there is a lack of support systems for the small teams. 

The lack of primary benefits such as health insurance is among the biggest hurdles for your globally distributed company to solve. Although healthcare benefits are optional for most small employers, they are of critical importance to most employees. You, as an employer, should be aware of the pros and cons of group health insurance benefits to your employees. Understand that health care benefits are the most popular of benefits to employees. We will discuss some of the reasons you need to provide group health insurance for your remote employees.

1. To ensure your employees are treated equally

To create a healthy working environment, you have to treat everyone on your team equally, regardless of their geographical location. In the past, human resource teams had to endure the administrative nightmare of determining a different insurance plan for each country where a member of the group was located. Also, the employee will only be covered in their host country, which is not enough since more people choose to spend part of their time working elsewhere. Another viable solution is providing a monthly stipend to each employee to find their insurance plan wherever they are. However, the practice only creates a further divide. 

2. Attract And Maintain The Most Qualified Global Talent

You must assemble a group of top-tier remote employees who understand your values and goals. Most employers understand that recruitment is one of the most challenging areas of building and growing a company. When you offer benefits, you stand out from your competitors and attract the best workers from anywhere on the globe. Having the chance to find the best possible fit for the role you are recruiting for without the limitations of a local talent pool is one of the main advantages of being a small company. According to RBC insurance, the ability of companies to hire globally is excellent. However, it means that workers have far more choices than ever before. 

Small companies have to compete for the top talents by ensuring that they offer as much freedom and flexibility as possible and have a healthy company culture. Also, the companies need to provide benefits as any other traditional company would. Allowing your employees to work remotely is no longer enough since remote work has become necessary, not a gift. Some of the benefits you can offer to your staff include the following>

• Access to conferences and professional development courses
• Adequate health and wellness stipend
• A yearly budget meant for a work-from-home office setup
• Co-working passes

If you think that benefits for remote workers are unnecessary, remember that health and dental insurance are some of the benefits most workers expect. Increased options for finding talent are always accompanied by increased responsibility for small companies to provide benefits regardless of the company’s size. With global health insurance, you can put your entire team into one plan that covers everyone and is easy to customize no matter their location. It creates a borderless workforce meaning that a team member can be based in New York but spend the summer traveling in Brazil while using the same insurance cover everywhere they visit. Additionally, you can add or remove employees with ease on the dashboard and extra access services such as maternity and dental services. 

3. To ensure a better future

Some of the biggest companies are revolutionizing work by embracing remote work, offering support to location independence, and hiring employees from all over the globe. The movement creates more opportunities for employment and higher income for a large number of people. It also promotes employee happiness, healthier ways of working, and freedom for remote staff to choose a lifestyle and team that resonates with their values. A global health insurance plan ensures that the team feels inspired, thus making growing your company easier. 

However, there are disadvantages of offering health benefits too. Health care costs have risen sharply in recent years resulting in the drainage of valuable resources from employers, thus making financial planning difficult. 

The only way for employers to control costs is to push any additional charges to the employees. While the practice may solve economic problems, it gives rise to many others. Also, global health coverage creates numerous administrative hassles. You have to spend time filling out forms, remitting premiums, and acting as an intermediary between the insurance company and your staff. There is also the risk of potential liability. Several employees have sued their employers for what they termed as their employer’s carelessness in selecting a provider. Although global health insurance has a few risks, you cannot ignore the tremendous benefits of your company.