Purpose
Produce a consistent, decision-ready statutory benefits and leave profile for a single country — covering what an employer is legally required to provide, what the competitive market typically adds, and where the compliance risks sit — so a global benefits team can move from "we're entering this country" to "here's our benefits framework" without starting research from scratch each time.
When to Use
Invoke this skill when the user asks to:
- Research statutory benefits and leave for a country they're expanding into
- Build a country benefits profile for a new market entry
- Understand mandatory employer contributions in a specific jurisdiction
- Compare statutory leave and termination rules across markets
- Standardize benefits documentation into a repeatable global playbook format
- Prepare a benefits framework before engaging an EOR or local counsel
Inputs Required
Before starting, collect:
- Country: The specific jurisdiction (name the country; note if a sub-national region has distinct rules)
- Employee type: Full-time direct employee, EOR/PEO-employed, or contractor
- Employee count / entity plan: Whether hiring 1–5 people, scaling a team, or setting up a legal entity
- Employee level mix: Predominantly individual contributors, management, or mixed
- Budget posture: Statutory minimum only vs. market-competitive vs. market-leading
- Comparison markets (optional): Other countries this profile will be benchmarked against
- Effective date / currency preference (optional): For contribution figures and thresholds
If employee type is not specified, default to full-time direct employees and note that EOR arrangements shift some obligations to the EOR of record.
Instructions
Step 1: Statutory Framing
Open with a 3–4 sentence orientation covering: the primary employment law source(s) in this country, whether rules are national or vary by region/state, and the role of any mandatory collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) or works councils that override defaults. Flag explicitly if the country has a strong CBA culture where the statutory floor is rarely the operative standard.
Step 2: Mandatory Employer Contributions
Present all required employer-side contributions as a table:
- Contribution type (pension, social security, health insurance, unemployment, work injury, payroll tax, 13th-month, etc.)
- Employer rate (% or fixed amount)
- Employee rate (for context)
- Contribution base / cap (salary ceiling if applicable)
- Notes (thresholds, exemptions, who administers)
State the effective all-in employer contribution burden as a percentage range of gross salary. Note where a mandatory 13th (or 14th) month salary applies and whether it is treated as statutory pay or a benefit.
Step 3: Statutory Leave Entitlements
Cover each leave type with the minimum legal entitlement and any accrual, tenure, or eligibility conditions:
- Annual/vacation leave (days per year, accrual rules, carryover)
- Public holidays (count; whether paid; regional variation)
- Sick leave (duration, pay level, employer vs. state-funded split)
- Maternity leave (weeks, pay %, funding source)
- Paternity / parental leave (weeks, pay, eligibility)
- Other statutory leave (bereavement, marriage, jury, care, military — as applicable)
Use a table for leave types with columns: Leave Type / Minimum Entitlement / Pay Level / Funding Source / Notes.
Step 4: Working Time & Compensation Rules
Summarize the rules that shape total cost and compliance:
- Standard weekly hours and daily/weekly maximums
- Overtime rules and premium rates
- Minimum wage (national or regional; hourly/monthly)
- Rest periods and maximum consecutive working provisions
- Probationary period norms
Step 5: Termination & Severance
Detail the exit-cost profile:
- Notice periods (by tenure band, employer- vs. employee-initiated)
- Statutory severance formula (how it accrues per year of service)
- At-will status (almost always not at-will outside the US — state this plainly)
- Grounds required for dismissal and any process steps (warnings, consultation, works council)
- Redundancy-specific rules if collective dismissals apply
Step 6: Supplementary Market-Competitive Benefits
List benefits that are not legally required but are expected to be competitive in this market, tagged by prevalence: Standard (nearly universal), Common (frequent for professional roles), Differentiator (used to stand out). Cover private health/supplemental medical, retirement top-ups, meal/transport/allowances, life & disability, and any locally distinctive benefits.
Step 7: Compliance Risk Flags
Produce a ranked list of the 5–8 most important watch-outs for this country — the things most likely to cause misclassification, penalty, or unexpected cost. Prioritize by likelihood-and-severity. Examples of the kind of flag to surface: contractor misclassification exposure, mandatory registrations before first hire, CBA applicability, 13th-month timing, entity-vs-EOR trigger thresholds, and end-of-year statutory payments.
Step 8: Entry Recommendation
Close with a 3–4 sentence opinionated recommendation: whether EOR or entity setup fits the stated employee count and posture, the single biggest cost or compliance factor to plan for, and one item to verify with local counsel before hiring. Be direct.
Output Format
- Structure: Titled country profile with the country name and effective date at the top; tables for contributions and leave; ranked list for risk flags
- Length: 900–1,300 words
- Format: Structured document mixing short prose framing with tables and tagged lists
- Sections: Statutory Framing → Mandatory Employer Contributions → Statutory Leave → Working Time & Compensation → Termination & Severance → Supplementary Benefits → Compliance Risk Flags → Entry Recommendation
- Tone: Global benefits specialist — precise, plainly stated, obligation-first; flags uncertainty rather than guessing
Quality Checklist
Before delivering output, verify:
- [ ] All 8 sections are present and in order
- [ ] Mandatory contributions are in a table with employer rate, base/cap, and an all-in employer burden range stated
- [ ] Every statutory leave type has an entitlement figure, pay level, and funding source (employer vs. state)
- [ ] Termination section states notice periods by tenure and whether the country is at-will
- [ ] Compliance risk flags are ranked (5–8 items), not an unordered list
- [ ] Supplementary benefits are tagged by prevalence (Standard / Common / Differentiator)
- [ ] Any figure that is time-sensitive or region-variable is flagged as requiring verification with local counsel or an EOR
Notes
- Statutory rates, wage floors, and contribution caps change annually — always present figures as "verify against current-year values" rather than as final numbers, and note the effective date used.
- For EOR-employed staff, several obligations (registration, contribution remittance) sit with the EOR; make clear which line items shift so the buyer doesn't double-count cost or risk.
- The single most common expansion mistake is treating a country as at-will or assuming US-style benefits norms — always state the termination and severance reality plainly, since it drives true cost of hire.
- When a country has strong CBA coverage, the statutory floor may be largely irrelevant to real offers — surface this early so the profile isn't read as the operative standard.
How to use this skill
This file is a Claude Code skill in Anthropic's standard format — markdown with YAML frontmatter at the top.
Installing in Claude Code:
~/.claude/skills/<folder-name>/SKILL.md— auto-loads in every session anywhere on your machine (recommended for skills you'll use across multiple projects)<your-project>/.claude/skills/<folder-name>/SKILL.md— auto-loads only when working in that project (recommended for project-specific skills)
Restart Claude Code or open a new session to register.
Using in Claude.ai, ChatGPT, Gemini, or other AI tools:
- Drag this file into a new chat, or copy and paste its contents
- Send your task or request as your next message — the AI will apply the skill where it fits
For Claude Code skill details: https://docs.anthropic.com/en/docs/claude-code/skills