Going Global with Benefits

In most companies, the first international new hires are salespeople. Typically, the head of sales comes to HR and says something like, “Hey, we’re going to expand” or “I just hired someone in Ireland.” (Or Bolivia, or The Netherlands, or ________ ).

Now it’s in your lap to figure out benefits for Ireland.

The first thing you have to understand about international benefits is that every country is different in their healthcare—with its own national health program.

Lumity has local benefits experts in every country.

Lumity has a partner with on-the-ground benefits experts worldwide. We have an approach that easily scales as you extend your global presence, and we specialize in serving tech firms.

The way that we do it is we break it up into two options. Regardless of which one best fits your needs, you’ll have Lumity as a single point of contact for all your benefits.

Option 1 - PEO Model

This option is ideal if you’re hiring one or several international employees. Lumity works with a partner that has a benefits expert on the ground in every single country. They function very similar to a professional employer organization (PEO). On your behalf, they will handle:

• Employee onboarding
• Payroll
• Setup on the national healthcare benefits plan
• Enrollment in a retirement plan (if applicable)
• All the different benefits pieces

As part of your Lumity service, we front all of that. Just let us know, “Hey, we need to hire someone in Ireland.”

We’ll contact our partner. They will arrange for the onboarding for that person in Ireland. Then anything our international partner gives to us, we will pass through to you. Even if you have people in 17 countries, we’re working with our partner on your behalf to make sure everything is running smoothly.

Option 2 - Brokerage Firm

Eventually, you may expand to the point where you want to set up a legal entity in a country. You’re bringing on more people, and you’ve outgrown the PEO model. (You’re setting up an office, getting licensed to do business, and so on).

It’s time to shift to a brokerage firm to help you with that. Lumity has a network of brokerage firms we work with in every country. Lumity will:

• Find the right partner with expertise in your specific industry
• Work with that partner to get benefits set up
• Handle end-to-end benefits on your behalf

Most brokerage firms charge extra for what Lumity provides as part of our standard service.

There are no additional service fees with Lumity as your benefits partner. And our service model delivers consolidated information for all your employees worldwide.

We understand how tech companies expand, the unique tech needs in each country, and how to communicate these needs effectively with our international partners.

Let’s start a conversation about your specific situation. My team and I are ready to deliver a seamless benefits program as you scale.