Supporting Globally Mobile Employees: What Multinational Employers Need to Consider

Global mobility creates significant challenges for multinational employers in ensuring employees can access and continue healthcare seamlessly across different countries. Effective support requires clear communication, navigation assistance, and continuity of care to address the complexities of varying healthcare systems and administrative processes.

A globally mobile workforce adds complexity to healthcare support

Globally mobile employees may include people relocating between global locations, employees on international assignments, business travellers, and global remote workers. Their circumstances vary, but each may need to navigate different healthcare systems, provider networks, and local arrangements.

These challenges sit within an already pressured workforce health environment. Only 57% of employees worldwide report good overall health, while one in five experience symptoms of burnout [1]. For those moving between geographies, that pressure can be compounded by the practical demands of arranging and continuing care.

The Cigna Healthcare International Health 2026 Globally Mobile research found that 73% of respondents wanted more support before moving abroad [2]. Clear healthcare navigation was among their top needs. This suggests that as people prepare for new arrangements and consider how their care may be affected, employers have an opportunity to provide additional support and guidance.

The question is not only whether healthcare is available, but whether employees can understand, access, and continue using it as their circumstances change.

The challenges multinational employers need to manage

Healthcare systems, provider networks, and local arrangements vary by location, affecting the services employees can access. Administrative processes may also make care harder to navigate. In 2025, 23% of people across 30 countries identified bureaucracy as one of the biggest problems facing healthcare in their country [3].

Another challenge is clearly communicating the benefits available to globally mobile employees. Health insurance education can help people understand how to use their benefits as they move between healthcare systems, where local practices and processes may differ. Clear guidance can reduce confusion and barriers to care, while helping employees maintain continuity and navigate periods of change with greater confidence.

When employees relocate, local differences can disrupt continuity of care. Records, prescriptions, and established clinical relationships may not transfer easily, and employees may need support to continue treatment, find an appropriate provider, or access virtual care when their location changes.

Supporting employees through these transitions often requires coordination across multiple teams, providers, and local arrangements. EY found that 62% of employer mobility teams responsible for international assignments and relocations spend most of their time on reactive tasks rather than longer-term strategic work [4]. This workload must be managed alongside financial pressure, with three-quarters of multinational employers concerned about controlling healthcare costs [5]. Together, these pressures require a balance between managing operational complexity and supporting the employee experience.

What employers should look for from a benefits provider

For multinational employers, supporting globally mobile employees requires more than broad healthcare coverage. Employers should consider not only the healthcare services available, but also how effectively a provider helps employees understand and use their benefits, navigate different healthcare systems, and maintain continuity of care across international locations.

1. Create a clear and consistent healthcare experience

Globally mobile employees may encounter different healthcare systems, provider networks, and administrative processes as they move between locations. Benefits information should be clear, transparent, and supported by guidance at the point of need, with communications that reflect local language, culture, and healthcare practices.

2. Support continuity of care across locations

Changes in location should not create unnecessary disruption to healthcare access or ongoing treatment. Benefits providers should help connect care across services and locations through local healthcare knowledge, international capabilities, and technology that supports care navigation, provider access, and virtual care.

3. Provide insight to improve employee support

Benefits providers should help employers identify where employees experience barriers to care, where services may be underused, and where gaps exist across locations. These insights can inform communication and service design while helping employers understand whether healthcare access, continuity of care, and employee experience are improving.

Cigna Healthcare’s perspective on global insight and local knowledge

As employees move between international locations, differences in healthcare systems, provider networks, and local processes can influence how easily they are able to understand, access, and continue care. Helping employees navigate those differences can be just as important as ensuring coverage is in place.

Local healthcare knowledge and experience supporting globally mobile populations can help employers better understand where barriers to care may arise as employees move internationally. This can provide valuable context around how healthcare is accessed and experienced in different locations, helping employers identify where additional support may be needed to improve healthcare navigation and continuity of care.

Global mobility will continue to create complexity for employers and employees alike. Managing it well will depend on looking beyond benefit availability and ensuring employees can understand, access, and continue using care as their circumstances change.

Discover more Cigna Healthcare insights on supporting the health of a multinational workforce.

 

Sources

1. World Economic Forum and McKinsey Health Institute (2025). Thriving Workplaces: How Employers Can Improve Productivity and Change Lives.
https://reports.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Thriving_Workplaces_How_Employers_can_Improve_Productivity_and_Change_Lives_2025.pdf

2. Cigna Healthcare International Health (2026). Turning Global Mobility into a Performance Edge: Cigna Healthcare International Health Study — 2026 Globally Mobile Edition.
https://www.cignaglobal.com/static/cigna-rebranding/pdf/cignaglobal-uvsl/globalmobility_cignahealthcare_2026_final.pdf

3. Ipsos (2025). Ipsos Health Service Report 2025.
https://www.ipsos.com/sites/default/files/ct/publication/documents/2025-10/Ipsos_health_service_report_2025-en.pdf

4. EY (2026). Mobility Reimagined Survey 2026.
https://www.ey.com/en_gl/insights/workforce/mobility-reimagined-survey

5. Business Group on Health (2025). 2026 Employer Health Care Strategy Survey.
https://www.businessgrouphealth.org/resources/2026-employer-health-care-strategy-survey