Opening an office in Ireland? A benefits checklist for your first hires

Hiring your first people in Ireland is the point where benefits stop being abstract. Here’s a practical checklist to get a compliant, competitive package in place without over-engineering it.

1. Sort the statutory basics first. Register as an employer, get payroll and PRSI running, and make sure contracts reflect Irish entitlements — annual leave, public holidays, statutory sick pay and family leave.

2. Decide your pension approach. Choose deliberately between running an occupational defined-contribution scheme and letting eligible staff default into auto-enrolment (My Future Fund). For most employers competing for talent, a properly designed scheme is the stronger offer — but it’s a decision worth modelling.

3. Put group risk in place. Death-in-service (group life) and income protection are expected at most professional employers. Smaller headcounts can affect terms and minimum-lives requirements, so this is worth getting right early.

4. Choose a medical insurance approach. Decide whether you’ll offer PMI, who pays, and how it’s structured — remembering the benefit-in-kind treatment and the annual review discipline that keeps costs sensible.

5. Document and communicate. Set out the package in contracts and a simple benefits statement so new hires understand — and value — what they’re getting.

6. Build in compliance from day one. Auto-enrolment obligations apply immediately to eligible staff, and the forthcoming contractual-retirement-age changes will affect policy and group-risk design. Getting the structure right at the start avoids retrofitting later.

Setting up benefits for a first Irish team is exactly what we do for incoming international employers — from the statutory floor up to a package that helps you win the talent you came here for.