A 120-person logistics-software company in Austin, Texas, has won its first large Latin American customers and wants people close to them: an account director in Mexico City, three implementation engineers in São Paulo, a six-person support team in Medellín and a customer-success lead in Toronto. The VP of People copies the US offer — medical, dental and vision, a 401(k) match, unlimited PTO — and asks the employer-of-record provider to mirror it.
The reply is polite but blunt. Unlimited PTO means little in Brazil, where 30 days’ paid holiday plus a one-third bonus is law. The Mexico City offer ignores the aguinaldo and profit share every finance candidate will calculate. In Medellín the prima, cesantías and caja de compensación are statutory, and what the support team really wants is prepaid medicine. The Toronto candidate asks whether the plan includes dental, because employer dental access decides whether her family still qualifies for the federal dental plan. Same budget, four different packages.
In the Americas two benefit systems meet. In the United States and Canada, benefits are mostly voluntary insurance and savings plans with tax advantages, and the employer’s plan fills gaps the state leaves open. South of the Rio Grande, labour codes make the big items statutory cash — extra salaries, profit sharing, severance funds — and the market adds private health cover and vouchers on top.
This guide separates, for the US, Canada, Mexico, Brazil and Colombia, plus Argentina and Chile, what the law requires, what candidates expect and what wins the right person, with the 2026 rule changes and local providers. It is part of our Finding the Right Person series; see also the country-by-country benefits map and the benefits package question set.
- In the US, health insurance is the offer: employers with 50+ full-time equivalents must offer affordable cover (9.96% of income for 2026) or risk penalties, and a 401(k) match is expected.
- Canadian group plans cover what provincial medicare leaves out — drugs, dental, vision — and dental access now interacts with the federal Canadian Dental Care Plan.
- Latin American law makes the big items statutory: aguinaldo and PTU in Mexico, 13º salário and FGTS in Brazil, prima and cesantías in Colombia, SAC in Argentina, gratificación in Chile.
- Above that floor, private health insurance is the benefit Latin American candidates value most, followed by meal and food vouchers.
- Reforms are live: Mexico’s 40-hour week, Brazil’s meal-card rules, Colombia’s pension reform, Argentina’s 2026 labour law and Chile’s rising employer pension contribution.
Two models: buy cover privately, or pay benefits by statute
The three layers — law, expectation, differentiator — look very different north and south. In the US and Canada the legal floor is thin and the expected layer is thick, so most of the benefits budget goes on insurance premiums and retirement matches. In Latin America the legal floor is heavy and largely paid in cash, so the voluntary budget is smaller and should go where candidates feel it most: health cover for the family. Simple arithmetic shows the weight: in Brazil the 13th salary, the one-third holiday bonus and the 8% FGTS deposit add about 2.4 months’ pay to the twelve on the contract; in Colombia prima, cesantías and their interest add about 2.1 months; in Mexico the aguinaldo and holiday premium add at least 0.6 months, before profit sharing.
The United States: health insurance is the offer
No federal law requires a US employer to provide paid vacation, a pension or, for small firms, health insurance — which is why the voluntary package matters: for most American candidates the health plan is the most valuable item after salary.
The Affordable Care Act’s employer mandate applies to employers with 50 or more full-time and full-time-equivalent employees in the prior year. They must offer minimum-value cover to at least 95% of full-time staff (30+ hours a week) and keep the employee’s share of self-only cover affordable — no more than 9.96% of household income for 2026. The indexed 2026 penalties are about US$3,340 per full-time employee (minus the first 30) for not offering cover, or US$5,010 per subsidised employee for unaffordable cover (IRS employer shared responsibility rules).
Candidates expect medical, dental and vision, with the employer paying most of the premium; KFF’s annual employer survey has long found workers paying roughly a sixth of the premium for single cover and about a quarter for family cover. The main carriers are UnitedHealthcare, Elevance Health (Anthem), Aetna, Cigna, the regional Blue Cross Blue Shield plans and Kaiser Permanente. Smaller employers often buy through a PEO such as Justworks, TriNet or Insperity for large-group rates — see our PEO comparison — or reimburse individual policies through an ICHRA. Provider names in this guide are editorial and independent; no provider paid to be included. Check current terms directly with each provider.
Tax makes the plan cheaper than cash. Premiums are paid pre-tax through a Section 125 plan; a high-deductible plan can pair with a health savings account (US$4,400 self-only, US$8,750 family in 2026) held with providers such as HealthEquity or Fidelity; a health FSA takes US$3,400 pre-tax; and the dependent-care FSA limit rose to US$7,500 from 2026.
The US retirement and leave patchwork
After health, candidates look at the 401(k). In 2026 employees can defer US$24,500, plus US$8,000 catch-up from age 50 and US$11,250 at ages 60 to 63; catch-ups by employees who earned over US$150,000 must now be Roth. A match is expected — 50–100% of contributions up to 3–6% of pay is the middle of the market — and 401(k) plans set up after 2022 must auto-enrol new employees under SECURE 2.0, with exemptions for very small and new businesses. Fidelity, Empower, Vanguard and Principal dominate recordkeeping.
No plan? Check the state. About fifteen states, including California (CalSavers), Oregon and Illinois, run auto-IRA mandates that require employers above a headcount threshold to sponsor a plan or facilitate payroll deductions, and Minnesota and New York phased in registration during 2026. No employer contribution is required, but missed registration can bring penalties.
Leave is the second patchwork. There is no federal right to paid vacation or holidays; unlimited PTO is common in tech, but 15–20 days plus about ten paid holidays is the professional norm. FMLA gives 12 weeks’ unpaid, job-protected leave at employers with 50+ employees. Paid sick leave is required in a growing number of states and cities, and state paid family and medical leave keeps spreading: Minnesota and Delaware began paying benefits in January 2026 and Maine in May 2026, while Maryland moved its start to January 2028.
The differentiators: fertility and family-building benefits (Carrot, Progyny, Maven Clinic), mental-health platforms (Lyra Health, Spring Health, Modern Health), paid parental leave beyond state law, and student-loan help — up to US$5,250 a year tax-free under Section 127, made permanent in 2025. Our wellbeing platforms guide compares the vendors; the US recruiting playbook, the US expat payroll guide and the US expat compliance guide cover hiring and payroll.
Canada: filling the gaps public healthcare leaves
Canadians get hospital and physician care through their province, so a group plan is judged on what medicare leaves out: prescription drugs, dental, vision, physiotherapy, psychology and travel cover. The statutory layer is lean — Canada or Québec Pension Plan, Employment Insurance, workers’ compensation, two weeks’ vacation in most provinces (three after five years in many) and statutory holidays.
The expected package is extended health and dental, group life and long-term disability, from insurers such as Sun Life, Manulife, Canada Life, Desjardins, Green Shield Canada, iA Financial Group and the Blue Cross plans. Employer-paid health and dental premiums are not taxable federally, but employer-paid life premiums are a taxable benefit, and Québec taxes employer-paid health premiums provincially.
Dental has a federal twist. The Canadian Dental Care Plan covers residents with adjusted family net income under CA$90,000 who have no access to dental insurance, and access through an employer counts even if declined. Employers report each employee’s access on the T4 slip (box 45). For lower-paid roles a thin dental plan can remove eligibility for a fuller public one, so design with that in mind.
Retirement savings run through a group RRSP, often paired with a deferred profit-sharing plan (DPSP): employer contributions to the RRSP count as salary for payroll taxes, DPSP contributions do not, so many employers route the match through the DPSP. For 2026 the RRSP limit is CA$33,810 and the DPSP limit CA$17,695 (CRA limits).
Health spending accounts administered by firms such as Olympia Benefits, virtual care, higher psychology limits and parental-leave top-ups differentiate. In Québec, group plans must include prescription drug cover meeting the public plan’s standard, employers with five or more employees and no plan must offer a voluntary retirement savings plan (VRSP), and communications must be available in French. See the Canada recruiting playbook, the Canada expat payroll guide and the Canada expat compliance guide.
Mexico: aguinaldo, PTU and the vouchers everyone counts
Mexican candidates add up an offer the way the law does. The Federal Labour Law guarantees an aguinaldo of at least 15 days’ pay by 20 December; profit sharing (PTU) of 10% of the company’s taxable profit, capped per worker at three months’ salary or the average of the last three years’ PTU, whichever is higher; and, since the 2023 reform, 12 days’ vacation in the first year rising by two a year to 20 in year five, plus a vacation premium of at least 25%. IMSS social security, 5% INFONAVIT housing contributions and rising retirement contributions complete the floor.
The next change is hours. Congress approved the 40-hour week in April 2026: the maximum falls from 48 hours to 46 in 2027 and by two a year to 40 in 2030, without pay cuts, with tighter overtime rules and electronic time records. For shift-based teams, cost the transition now.
Professionals expect food vouchers (vales de despensa), exempt from IMSS contributions up to 40% of the UMA reference value; a savings fund (fondo de ahorro) in which the employer matches employee savings, often up to 13% of salary; and major medical insurance (SGMM) from GNP Seguros, AXA, MetLife México, Seguros Monterrey New York Life or Allianz. Voucher issuers include Edenred, Pluxee and Sí Vale. A 30-day aguinaldo, family SGMM and a car or home-office allowance differentiate.
See the Mexico recruiting playbook, the Mexico expat payroll guide and the Mexico expat compliance guide.
Brazil: the CLT package and the meal-card rules that just changed
For employees on a CLT contract, the law builds a heavy statutory layer: the 13th salary (13º salário), paid in two instalments by 30 November and 20 December; 30 days’ paid holiday with a one-third bonus; a monthly deposit of 8% of pay into the employee’s FGTS severance fund; and the transport voucher (vale-transporte), with the employer covering commuting costs above 6% of base salary. Establishments with 30 or more women over 16 must also provide childcare arrangements or reimburse them.
Meal and food cards (vale-refeição and vale-alimentação) are not required by federal law, but collective agreements often require them and candidates assume them. Under the Workers’ Food Programme (PAT) they are not treated as salary. Decree 12.712 of November 2025 changed the market: issuers may no longer give employers discounts, rebates or cashback; merchant fees are capped at 3.6% and settlement at 15 days from February 2026; large closed networks had to open by May 2026, with full interoperability due by November 2026. Competition now happens on service, not on negative fees. Issuers include Alelo, Ticket (Edenred), Pluxee, VR, Flash and Caju.
Health insurance (plano de saúde), with dental, is the benefit Brazilians value most; Bradesco Saúde, SulAmérica, Amil, Unimed, Hapvida NotreDame Intermédica and Porto Saúde lead group plans, and the co-payment design matters to candidates. Differentiators are profit sharing (PLR), free of social charges when paid under a negotiated plan; fitness platforms such as Wellhub, founded in Brazil as Gympass, and TotalPass; and private pensions from providers such as Brasilprev.
See the Brazil recruiting playbook, the group health insurance guide and the meal voucher providers guide.
Colombia: prestaciones sociales, cajas and a pension reform on the clock
Colombian law adds a bundle known as prestaciones sociales: a service bonus (prima de servicios) of 30 days’ pay a year, paid in halves by 30 June and 20 December; severance (cesantías) of one month’s pay a year, deposited in the employee’s fund — Porvenir, Protección, Colfondos, Skandia or the Fondo Nacional del Ahorro — by 14 February; 12% annual interest on cesantías, paid to the employee by 31 January; 15 working days’ holiday; and, up to twice the minimum wage, a transport allowance and work clothing. Employers also pay 4% of payroll to a family compensation fund (caja de compensación familiar) such as Compensar, Colsubsidio, Cafam, Comfama or Comfandi, whose subsidies, recreation and education services employees genuinely use.
Senior hires can be paid an integral salary (salario integral) of at least 13 minimum wages, which folds the prestaciones into pay. The 2025 labour reform (Law 2466) phases the Sunday and holiday surcharge up to 100% by July 2027 and brings night work forward to 7 pm, which matters for support centres.
Candidates expect prepaid medicine (medicina prepagada) or a complementary plan from Colsanitas, Sura, Colmédica or Coomeva on top of the mandatory EPS, a need sharpened by financial strain and government interventions in several large EPSs. Non-salary bonuses and food vouchers (Pluxee, Edenred) are common, but payments agreed as non-salary stay outside the contribution base only up to 40% of total pay.
Pensions are in flux. The 2024 pension reform (Law 2381) was largely upheld by the Constitutional Court in August 2026, with nine articles returned to the House to fix procedural defects, and is now set to take effect on 1 April 2027; contributions on earnings up to 2.3 minimum wages will go to Colpensiones and the rest to a private fund. With a new government in office since August 2026, confirm the status before you promise pension advice. Our Colombia recruiting playbook covers the hiring side.
Argentina and Chile: reform, inflation and the private health layer
Argentina’s statutory layer includes the aguinaldo (sueldo anual complementario, SAC) — half of the best monthly salary in each half-year, paid by 30 June and 18 December — holidays of 14 to 35 days by seniority, workplace accident insurance (ART) and contributions to an obra social, the union-linked health fund. The Labour Modernisation Law (Law 27.802), promulgated in March 2026, allows holidays to be split into blocks of at least seven days, creates a Labour Assistance Fund (FAL) financed by employer contributions to back severance, requires salaries to be paid through banks and permits hour banks by agreement. What candidates compare is the prepaid health plan (prepaga): employees can redirect contributions to a prepaga such as OSDE, Swiss Medical, Galeno, Medifé or Omint, and the employer pays the difference for a better plan. The frequency of pay updates matters as much as any perk.
Chile’s pension reform (Law 21.735) created an employer pension contribution: 1% from August 2025, 3.5% from August 2026, rising to 8.5% by 2033 (Undersecretariat of Social Security). The legal gratificación — usually paid monthly as 25% of salary, capped at 4.75 minimum wages a year — unemployment and accident insurance and 15 working days’ holiday complete the floor; employers with 20 or more women must provide day care (sala cuna), and the maximum week fell to 42 hours in April 2026, with 40 due in 2028. Candidates expect complementary health and dental insurance on top of Fonasa or an Isapre, meal and transport allowances and customary bonuses at Fiestas Patrias and Christmas; collective voluntary pension savings (APV colectivo) and extra days off differentiate.
The statutory pay calendar
In the US and Canada benefit costs flow monthly as premiums and contributions. Further south the year has peaks: June and December are heavy payroll months in Colombia and Argentina, Brazil’s 13th salary lands in November and December, and Mexico’s aguinaldo and PTU fall in December and May. Accrue them monthly, or the December payroll will surprise your cash-flow forecast.
Answer these before you price an offer in the Americas
Work through these per country before you set the pay band.
Take the answers into the pay-band question set and the final hiring decision framework; for the European side, read employee benefits in Europe and Türkiye.
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