Bosses Play Russian Roulette With Staff Health Overseas

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Health needs of staff overseas ignored, with two fifths of expats being offered the same package as their counterparts in the UK

Companies of all sizes are increasingly looking to expand overseas but businesses are taking unnecessary risks when it comes to their employees’ health, the “Anatomy of an International Business” has found. The research, from international healthcare provider Expacare, examined employers’ duty of care to staff they send abroad.

Worryingly, the benefit options provided by employers operating internationally varied little from those provided for employees solely based in the UK, this is despite those working overseas needing specific benefits such as a relocation allowance and private medical insurance. The majority of employers questioned in the poll typically look to post an employee overseas for between three to six months, with over a quarter (27%) looking to send their employees away for six months to a year.

The research has found that businesses are increasingly looking to capitalise on growth opportunities overseas, but that they are not offering the necessary tailored benefits packages for their international staff. In fact, over two fifths of employers said that the overall value of the package offered to UK and international based staff did not differ (41%). Furthermore, employers placed a low priority on offering a relocation allowance to staff, with less than a quarter (24%) seeing this as a core provision. Meanwhile, less than one in 10 employers (8%) placed any importance on family, with a school allowance not being seen as a core part of an employee’s international package.

Encouragingly, employers felt that offering their staff private health insurance was important and this was the most common benefit provided for both international and domestically based staff (32%). However less than one fifth (17%) placed an importance on offering their staff critical illness cover in the event of long term or serious illness.

In addition, the research also examined a business’s level of responsibility towards international staff and their families and found that almost a third (30%) would feel more responsibility to staff members who had been placed overseas, but not towards their families. However a quarter of employers said that they only felt a responsibility towards an

employee’s finances and work (25%), while just over one in ten said that it is ultimately an employee’s responsibility to move and therefore their responsibility (12%).

Employers also revealed differing attitudes towards health insurance provision for their employees with over three in 10 (33%) stating that it is a personal choice for employees and nearly a quarter (24%) saying they would like to provide it but cannot afford to. Surprisingly, the research also revealed a lack of clarity for the almost one fifth (16%) who think that travel insurance will cover their staff for health provision when working overseas, and the one in ten employers (10%) who think that there is no need in the EU for health insurance provision.

Beverly Cook, Managing Director of Expacare, commented: “The research has shown that employers are all too often leaving their staff vulnerable when relocating them to work overseas. There seems to be real confusion over policies, with far too many businesses assuming that their employees will be covered if they are located in the EU and that an employee’s travel insurance policy will cover all their health needs, which is rarely the case.

“Relocating employees internationally poses unique challenges to employers large and small and with health inflation at an all-time high it has never been more important for them to ensure that their staff are properly protected. Encouragingly, private health insurance is a valued benefit for staff in both the UK and overseas, but care for chronic and palliative is often overlooked. Businesses need to adopt a rigorous approach to cost containment without cutting corners so they can be sure they have reliable cover without an exorbitant price tag.”

The research also unearthed the health insurance provisions staff value when working overseas. Nearly two fifths wished for medical evacuation (39%), well over a third requested a 24 hours helpline (36%) and just over a quarter asked for a choice of doctors and medical facilities. Ensuring that staff are covered for cancer was also important (20%), although palliative care (11%) and treatment of on-going chronic conditions (13%) were less valued benefits.