UK businesses now operate in 128 countries across 234,000 separate operations, and 84% of those businesses are SMEs. Yet half of all multinationals do not have a competitive employee benefits package in place. The gap is becoming harder to ignore as smaller firms push into new markets.
Howden Employee Benefits and data firm Beauhurst published the findings in their joint Emerging Multinationals research, which challenges the assumption that international expansion is the preserve of large corporations.
The UK’s tech sector is driving much of that growth. More than 3,000 companies in the digital and technology sector have operations abroad, including 565 specialist AI businesses. There are 24,700 UK companies fewer than five years old with multinational operations.
Europe remains the primary destination, with UK companies accounting for 84,800 operations across the continent. Asia and the Pacific are growing in prominence, with more than 17,000 and nearly 9,000 UK businesses present in each region.
The expansion trend shows no sign of easing. Aviva research found that 73% of UK SMEs anticipate growth over the next year, with 48% planning to increase headcount. A separate Aviva study found that 92% of SMEs would pay higher insurance premiums to access wellbeing services for their staff.
Despite the pace of expansion, half of multinational businesses do not have a competitive employee benefits package in place. This figure comes from the Reward and Employee Benefits Association (REBA).
The gap is widening as SMEs compete directly with larger firms for the same talent. SMEs are turning to brokers and insurers for packaged health and wellbeing programmes.
Insurers now provide utilisation data, absence management outcomes, and productivity impact insights to help employers justify benefits spend, according to industry analysis published in January 2026.
Mark Ramsook, managing director of Global Employee Benefits Services at Howden Employee Benefits, said the gap creates serious risk for fast-growing firms competing for talent across borders.
“To win the international talent war, emerging multinationals need enterprise-grade benefit structures built for lean teams,” Ramsook said. “Many are scaling without a cross-border partner to bridge that gap.”
Ramsook said benefit design, financing models, and benchmarking are necessary components for UK firms operating overseas. These tools allow technology and AI businesses to offer compliant and competitive packages to small and distributed teams.
He also pointed to challenges facing inbound firms. Converting benefits expectations such as US-style 401(k) plans and healthcare into UK equivalents, including private medical insurance, auto-enrolment pensions, and life assurance, is a common friction point.
“As the line between local start-ups and global enterprises blurs, a compliant, localised and competitive benefits proposition is no longer optional,” Ramsook said. “It is increasingly what separates businesses that scale internationally from those that stall.”
Howden has been expanding its capacity to serve this market. Its November 2025 acquisition of Evelyn Partners Financial Services added a team focused on mid-market and fast-growing firms.
The deal followed its March 2025 acquisition of Barnett Waddingham, which doubled the headcount of Howden’s global employee benefits business to approximately 4,000 and pushed combined revenue toward £500 million.
Howden Employee Benefits said it developed a Multinational Guide to help growing businesses manage the transition. The firm targets mid-sized multinationals that are too complex for a local broker but not suited to large corporate consultancies.
