Providing Insurance For Remote Workers: How Can Businesses Do It?
Remote work is becoming increasingly normalized. Because workers can complete their tasks from anywhere, they eliminate or significantly reduce the need to commute or travel to the office.
However, that new flexibility means employers are now struggling to find ways to provide their remote workforce insurance across states and sometimes countries. Insurance is important in keeping top talent, but it can be confusing and expensive to find a plan that can work for everyone everywhere.
If your business is embracing remote employment, here’s a simple guide to providing insurance to your remote workforce.
Research Remote Health Insurance
If your company has already offered insurance to your employees, start researching the extent of its coverage. Some insurance companies, especially the large providers, may have alternative plans that enable coverage to cross state borders or be used internationally.
If you haven’t provided insurance yet, look for a provider that offers international plans. Don’t just compare life insurance quotes or health insurance coverages; instead, learn about the localization and specificity of coverage to ensure your remote employees receive equitable benefits.
Consult A Professional
Insurance consulting companies can help your company navigate the wide and complicated insurance market. They’ll help you find suitable comprehensive coverage that generally fits your employees’ needs and the company’s budget.
Seeking professional advice is especially important if you plan to or already have remote employees in several countries. Consulting local providers can give you a better understanding of what constitutes comprehensive coverage in various global markets.
Regardless of what specialist you speak with, always have your employees’ demographic information prepared in advance. This, alongside the nuances of insurance you learned from your research, will enable you to sufficiently address your organization’s needs and ask the right questions.
Know All Your Options
It’s not hard to find insurance alternatives for your remote workers anymore. With the rapid adoption of remote and hybrid work setups across the world, a new wave of insurance providers has entered the market.
Here’s a quick overview of insurance options for remote employees:
- Traditional insurance: This option is viable if your company has a remote workforce within one region or country where the insurance provider operates. Your company will have to directly engage with a local insurance company and choose a coverage that addresses the needs of your remote workforce.
- Global health insurance: This is by far the best health insurance option for WFH workers, digital nomads, and freelancers. It’s tailored to the remote workforce, offers global coverage, and has online accessibility. The only downside is that these plans are often very costly.
- Medical insurance stipend: This is a good option if your company doesn’t want to get involved directly in setting up insurance for your remote workforce due to legal and tax obligations. As its name implies, your company will provide a uniform sum of money to all your remote workers, and they’ll use it to invest in insurance plans or fund health services in their local area themselves. It’s the most convenient for many companies.
- Business travel insurance: This is recommended if you have employees who frequently travel either locally or abroad for work. It covers emergencies and sometimes repatriation (the process of returning someone or something to their home country), but it doesn’t usually include routine medical care. Carefully read a policy’s terms and conditions since others only cover workers when they’re only working in a foreign office, not when they’re at home abroad.
- Through Professional Employment Organizations (PEO): This option will act as “the employer of record” (EOR) in the areas where your remote workers reside. With this, the remote workforce can conveniently avail of insurance through local insurance providers. If your company has larger dispersed teams, opt for global PEOs.
Discuss The Plan With Your Team
Once you find the insurance coverage that fits your organization’s needs and company’s budget, set up a meeting to discuss it with your team, as you’ll want your employees to understand the plan specifics and get the most out of the coverage. Work with your human resource department or someone with a similar role to make this successful.
Final Thoughts
Both a company and its workforce will gain from employees’ insurance benefits, whether health, retirement, or life coverage. Ensuring that all employees — whether remote or not — have access to quality insurance plans will increase their morale and engagement. When they’re highly engaged, business profitability will increase. That’s why insurance benefits have always been an excellent recruitment and retention tool for any business.
| I’m Lauren Cordell, a full-time writer hailing from Miami, Florida. My daily work routine generally involves writing about the importance of proper business management and financial literacy. In my leisure time, I tend to travel and share my adventures on my side blog.
This article is part of Buildremote’s contributor series. Occasionally, we’ll share other people’s ideas about running a remote company. If you have a topic you’d like to pitch for Buildremote, send us an idea here. |
