Get to Know the Major Global Employee Populations

At Allegiant Global Partners, we specialize in serving international NGOs and the diverse needs of their global employee populations. But over the years, we’ve found there is a fair amount of confusion around the delineation between employee populations — let alone a robust understanding of the unique benefits and challenges each face. 

As part of our ongoing mission to make insurance more equitable and accessible, we’ve compiled the following guide to four of the most common global employee populations. For the sake of consistency, the following populations will refer to a U.S.-based organization operating internationally. 

U.S. Local Employee

A U.S. Local Employee is a person domiciled in the U.S. while working for a U.S. employer. The definition of “domiciled” is someone living and working in the U.S. for more than 365 days. A U.S. Local Employee can be an American citizen or a U.S. Inpat” — the term for a non-American living and working in the U.S. on a temporary work visa. 

Insurance plans for U.S. Locals

Most insurance plans for U.S. Local Employees include in-network and out-of-network options for U.S. providers, plus some kind of domestic travel coverage. International travel insurance is usually not included and most organizations choose to purchase it separately if necessary. 

U.S. Expatriate (Expat) Employee

A U.S. Expatriate (or “Expat”) Employee is an American living and working for more than 365 days outside of their home country. Many Expat Employees bring their families with them abroad — but if their family chooses to stay in the U.S., they are considered “trailing dependents.”

Insurance plans for U.S. Expats

Insurance plans for U.S. Expats often include in- and out-of-network coverage for when the employee is in the U.S. and outside the U.S. The dependents of U.S. Expats are also eligible for coverage whether they join the employee abroad or remain behind as trailing dependents. The cost to insure a U.S. Expat is often less than a U.S. Local since travelers (even long-term ones) typically receive less maintenance care while abroad. 

Third-Country National Employee

Here is where things start getting more complicated. Keeping in mind our U.S.-based perspective, a Third-Country National (TCN) is classified as someone who is not domiciled in the U.S. but works for a U.S. employer in a country other than the U.S. or their home country. For example, a British citizen employed by a U.S. organization to work in India is considered a TCN. 

TCN is also used outside the U.S. to describe this particularly global employee type. A British citizen employed by an Indian organization to work in France is a TCN, as is an Indian citizen employed by a French company to work in Britain.   

Insurance plans for Third-Country Nationals

In terms of the far-reaching scope of coverage, insuring a TCN is much like insuring a U.S. Expat. However, the industry has found TCNs cost even less to insure because non-Americans access healthcare significantly less than Americans. One of the best ways to save money is to procure separate plans and/or premium rates for U.S. Expats and TCNs (instead of clustering them together) since covering TCNs is so much cheaper. 

Local National Employee

A Local National Employee is someone domiciled outside of the U.S. but hired by a U.S. employer to work in their home country. For example, a Kenyan hired by a U.S.-based NGO to work in Kenya. Common, interchangeable terms for LCNs include Local Host Country Nationals, Host Country Locals, Domestic Staff, and Domestic Local Country Nationals. Even if the U.S. employer has a locally registered entity, these employees would still be considered LCNs for purposes of insurance procurement.

Key Local National (KLN) Employees are identified as a sub-group within the Local National category. For example, an INGO operating in Kenya hires fifty Local Nationals, two of whom are promoted to managers. The managers are required to travel internationally, which means they need additional travel coverage. Providing more robust coverage to these “Key” Local Nationals used to be common practice — but recent conversations around benefit equity have cast the discrepancy between KLNs and Local Nationals into question.   

Insurance plans for Local Nationals

As we recently covered, one of the biggest challenges facing the INGO community is securing benefit equity for Local Nationals — since employers are not required to meet the same Duty of Care for Local Nationals as they are for other employee types. Availability of coverage, access to cash, marketplace sophistication, and local regulators pose additional challenges to equitable coverage for Local Nationals. The good news is, our data shows that covering Local Nationals is far less expensive than covering U.S. employees; the yearly per person cost for insurance in Africa is as low as $800, mere pennies compared to the $21,000 it costs to insure the average American. 

Summarizing the 4 major global employee types

Save this infographic for the next time you’re confusing your TCNs and KLNs!

Need to dig a little deeper into the nuances of coverage for a variety of employee types? Our seasoned insurance professionals are happy to answer all your questions during a complimentary consultation.