Are you ready to take your Employee Benefits to the next level ?
We believe that Employee Benefits have now become a strategic imperative
- With new CSRD (European Directive) requirements, better awareness of the costs to the company related to employee health, disengagement, turnover and increased competition in these areas, maintaining the status quo is no longer an option;
- Achieving seamless alignment between departments such as DE&I, ESG and Health & Safety is crucial as it significantly enhances the effectiveness of the Employee Benefits strategy;
- Required now by the market in every company, whatever its size, since the base salary has become only one aspect of what employees look at when choosing their employer;
- Translation of the Employee Value Proposition… or the inspiration for its adjustment;
- Expected to be streamlined towards more equity and transparency in all countries where a company operates, despite country-specific laws and common practices (with minimum social protection or Care Programs);
- Does not have to be unaffordable or pricey, but rather tactical and optimized.
An optimized and meaningful Employee Benefits strategy
benefits both employees and employers
SoBenefit® services to define & implement a first-class employee benefits strategy that will benefit your business
Global Benefits Consulting
from collaborative strategic thinking to hands-on execution
- audit and benchmark
- regulatory landscape and country-specific requirements
- market data and analysis
- training and workshops
- multinational pooling opportunities
- global benefits strategy
- country-specific implementation packages design
- connection and contracting with local providers
- monitoring and cost-control tools
- employee benefits governance
- communication
- onboarding documentation support
- French employee benefits ecosystem decomplexification to support foreign multinationals expansion in France
We design and implement the optimal global benefits strategy that drives employees’ engagement and companies’ success.
Interim Benefits Management
in a period of change, growth, upskilling or ambitious comp&ben project
- definition and deployment of the clients’ benefits policy by providing internal technical expertise to their subsidiaries
- drafting of employee benefits policies
- monitoring of all regulations and developments applicable to employee benefits in France and worldwide via a network of local providers
- development of the monitoring tools required to manage the schemes worldwide
- internal communication content for employees
- design of processes for new employees onboarding
- training of HR teams on employee benefits programs and tools
- qualitative and quantitative management of employee benefit programs
We act as a dedicated outsourced Senior Benefits Manager in order to lead the needed transformation project.
Selection of brokers, insurers, and other employee benefits providers
when the current provider does not deliver the services to align programs on the strategy and costs associated can be negotiated
- scoping of the tender
- design of tailor-made specs for local countries or global projects
- recommendation on and selection of the suppliers to be consulted
- tender advertisement
- management of the bidding process
- collect of the suppliers’ responses
- tender evaluation process
- implementation of new contracts
- drafting of new employee benefits policies
We scope, prepare and organise local and global tenders to select the most appropriate broker, insurer or supplier, in alignment with the employee benefits strategy.
Transition Benefits Management
in M&A separation, integration and transition Sell-side or Buy-side situations
- employee benefits due diligence and PMO (Project Management Organisation)
- harmonization and integration
- liaison with lawyers,payroll providers and PEO (Professional Employer Organisations)
- implementation of plans on Closing or at the end of the TSA (Transitional Service Agreement) period in line with SPA (Sale and Purchase Agreement) requirements
- employees communication and support with enrolment and onboarding process
- employee benefits governance implementation in the new structure
- transition management post closing
- monitoring of plans
- global benefit strategy from year n+1
We intervene at a crucial turning point.
We leverage our GlobalCare® proven methodology to support your vision
This is how we collaborate in order to ensure we create tangible results within a short period of time.
Vision
Co-construction
Team motivation
Expertise
Resources
Action plan
Communication
Celebration
What clients say about SoBenefit® 's methodology
Types of benefits to consider when structuring a global employee benefits strategy
Health & wellness
Medical, dental vision and maternity insurance
Life, disability, accident insurance
Medical networks, wellness and fitness centres
Healthy food
Counselling Services
Financial security
Retirement
Savings plans
Long term disability insurance
Vouchers
Employee discounts
Discounted loans
Financial counselling services
Work-life balance
Remote work policy
Work-life balance initiatives
Social events
Mobility and commuting
Holidays and vacations
Sick time
Bereavement leave
Volunteer work
Family support
Childcare support
Maternity leave
Paternity leave
Adoption leave
Maternity concierge
Parental leave
Child sickness
Learning
Contribution to education
Collaborative tools
Learn from each others initiative
Onboarding support
Back to work support (maternity, sickness.)
Contribution to professional associations membership
Why you can rely on SoBenefit® to strategize globally
and fine-tune locally
We are global
We know no geographical boundary and are internationally very well connected.
We are independent
We sell solutions, not products and are not affiliated to any insurance company.
We are pragmatic
We just do whatever it takes to be an efficient shortcut and design solutions that create results.
The steps we take
No matter how, no matter what.
We audit
We identify
We rationalise
We optimise
We choose
We design
We implement
We communicate
We coordinate
We monitor and measure
Client cases
Tangible results we can co-create in your company
- tailor-made solutions with high attention to details
- optimized costs of employees benefits packages
- affordable top-notch benefits policy in place
- ad hoc single or multi-vendor selection, not imposed by a broker
- strengthened employer brand
- clear and streamlined benefits strategy for your Employee Value Proposition
- end of individual country-specific negotiations
- improved alignment with the company's ESG values
- HR team empowerment and upskilling
- reduced management time (and therefore FTE) for the central and the local teams
- ad-hoc research and data collection upon request
- global overview instead of working in silos
- increased work life quality, balance and well-being of employees
- increased spending power of employees
- moving away from the siloed approach and product push
- speed of execution: we are a shortcut and avoid costly pitfalls
- scalable solutions
We make sure that every euro you put on the benefits management table
is an investment, not an expense.
What clients say about SoBenefit® 's results
Questions that matter
Employee benefits cover the indirect remuneration of a workforce, such as the following myriad of things that can be offered to employees of an organisation:
- work benefits (flexible working hours, skills development, homeworking allowances)
- health benefits (mental health support, physical health support)
- financial security benefits (pension plans, stock options, financial benefits, financial literacy programs, parental leave, workers’ compensation, commissions)
- lifestyle benefits (work-life balance, childcare allowance, legal services, mobility such as public transport or carpooling, relocation assistance)
The Covid pandemic has forced employers to rethink the positioning of their overall benefits policy for local employees abroad, not only in terms of coverage but also in terms of wellbeing, flexibility and work/life balance.
As a medium-sized company, you are fighting for talent acquisition against large organisations. Reviewing the entire benefits package should not be seen as an expense, but as an investment. You may realise that you don’t even know how much you are paying for each benefits in each country and how these costs could be increasing over time without any control or monitoring to date.
At SoBenefit®, we have solutions to help you, no matter how big your business is or how complex your international operations are, to understand your local market positioning, streamline your costs and make your employees understand the value you add to them outside of their pay.
A multinational pooling is a mechanism that allows multinational companies to combine the local insured employee benefit plan experience of their subsidiaries in different countries with an insurance network. Only the P&L are combined, i.e. : the sum of all premiums (profits) versus claims /reserves and charges (losses). Each insurance policy is underwritten locally to comply with local requirements and benefits usually differ from a country to another one, in line with market practice (see “why is it the right time to conduct an audit ?”). In case profits exceed losses, then the surplus is paid to the pooling policyholder, the mother company, as an international dividend or this budget is allocated to improve local benefits. There are protections in case the claims charges and reserves exceed the premiums.
You need to attract a minimum of interest from the insurance networks. You can start small with even one country, as long as you can demonstrate your commitment to grow the pooling. Nowadays, the main integrated networks able to reinsure risks are definitely focusing on other mechanisms for larger companies. There are however still networks willing to support the implementation of multinational pooling to start a partnership with smaller companies. And even if you are not eligible for the payment of an international dividend, you will get access to valuable reporting information on your own plans and facilitate access to implement new plans to support your growth strategy. This is a no brainer when considering starting a global benefits strategy. At SoBenefit, we can help you assess the potential value created by a multinational pooling.
Such an important (and recurring) question! They should, but they don’t. As a company, you change and adjust benefits policies and packages, but since you have less control and resources locally, the onboarding documents are not always or hardly ever up to date.
At best, it can create a first bad impression on your employee. But if you reduced the benefits and the documents still describe a higher benefits package, it can really be an issue and open up unwanted discussions…
Are you in doubt about how these documentations could be handled? This is the right time to check and implement a process!
Employee benefits are part of the employee experience. They ensure the right level of benefits for your local employees abroad (are you sure all your employees benefit from a minimum level of benefits in case of death?). They reflect your company brand positioning. The right employee benefits strategy adds value, simplifies processes and avoids frustrations.
SoBenefit® can help you brainstorm on what could be your very own core and extra employee benefits, implement them and make sure they are properly communicated to your employees so they actually make the most of them. Starting small facilitates the implementation of an employee benefits governance and is a great differentiator on the market when recruiting new employees.
At SoBenefit®, we have more than 15 years experience in M&A and carve out work as employee benefits PMO. Timing and anticipation are key to a successful implementation. We can coordinate the different providers and make sure requirements are fulfilled on time for the transfer of your employees with no cover interruption. We can also help compare buyer and seller plans to work with you on harmonized plans. We can also support when you cannot implement local entities and need to use Professional Employer Organizations to employ your workforce in your smaller countries.
We are committed to being your additional dedicated resource during this very special and crucial period.
We advise you to work with local brokers that will bring the advice and support you need locally and will negotiate costs and conditions with insurers in your best interest. Obviously, the more countries you have on your list, the more brokers you will have to manage. Also, you need them to follow instructions you give to implement your employee benefits policy worldwide. SoBenefit® can coordinate these local brokers on your behalf. We indeed have more than 25 years experience in coordinating integrated and non integrated brokers’ networks. As an independent advisor, we will either suggest local brokers (or help you conduct RFPs to select them) or work with your existing local brokers. In a M&A situation, given the usual tight timeline, we recommend securing plans with existing providers and then discuss steps to consider aligning programs on your preferred provider strategy for the next renewals.
A Benefits Manager is key to deploy the employee benefits strategy worldwide by providing internal technical expertise to subsidiaries and helping monitoring regulations, plans and costs with the support of local brokers and other providers.
This is even more relevant to get one when you have small local HR teams with little or no experience in employee benefits. For a local HR team, managing local employee benefits on top of everything else means less time dedicated to other important HR tasks such as recruitment. In addition, employee benefits are often a source of frustration for employees when they feel they cannot find answers to their questions and might wrongly feel not considered by the headquarters.
Employee Benefits is part of the employee experience. According to the 2022 Linkedin Global Talent trends, companies are recognizing that the key to their own success starts with fostering a culture that prioritize the mental, physical and emotional well-being of their employees.
Why should this function be limited to large companies only? At SoBenefit®, we have the solution, we are the solution. We provide you with part-time support to reflect on your needs based on the number of countries and employees. Depending on the level of centralization of your company, you need the support of a Benefits Manager more or less days per week. Let’s speak !