U.S. companies that send employees on overseas assignment increasingly are providing those staff with wellness programs, and the trend is set to grow.

As companies globalize and increasingly rely on staff posted overseas to achieve business-critical results, so must they take steps to safeguard those employees’ health and well-being, experts say.

“We are seeing more employers manage the health of their mobile employee population more strategically,” said Amy Laverock, a partner in Mercer L.L.C.’s health and benefits business in New York.

“The mobile population is often critical to achieving success overseas, and health issues of the employee or family members can derail an assignment,” she said. “We are seeing more multinationals wanting to ensure support for well-being —encompassing physical health, financial health and emotional health — is available to all employees globally.

“Progressive companies understand the impact that this can have on individual and corporate performance, risk management and brand,” she added.

In a study of 88 multinational companies undertaken in 2012, the most recent data available, Towers Watson & Co. found that 58% provided wellness programs for so-called “internationally mobile employees.”

Of those, the study showed, 74% provided health screenings, 69% behavioral health services and 67% health promotion.

MetLife Inc. offers wellness programs and initiatives for employees on assignment.

According to the life insurer, those programs and initiatives drive cost containment and help keep employees well while overseas.

Services the company offers to employees placed abroad include the provision of online wellness tools, maternity care and disease management.

MetLife also provides regional programs to address local issues, it said.

For example, because of an increase in diabetes in the Persian Gulf region, MetLife and LifeScan Inc., a diabetes solution unit of Johnson & Johnson, jointly developed a diabetes management program for workers in that area.

Some health risks — such as obesity, tobacco use and cardiovascular disease — are global in nature, so a company operating in many countries would include such risks in any employee wellness program for overseas staff, said Stephanie Pronk, a senior vice president at Aon Hewitt.

But companies typically tailor their approach to the cultural issues, country-specific health issues and the local environment in the countries they operate, among other things, she said.

Some employers engage in preassignment wellness activities to ensure that workers are well-prepared before heading abroad, experts say.

This likely would include ensuring that employees have had the appropriate vaccines for their destinations, as well as education about local health issues, experts say.

“Some employers even require health affidavits for taking certain precautions,” such as anti-malarial drugs in high-risk areas, said Mercer’s Ms. Laverock.

While programs are tailored to local factors, the best-practice approach to designing wellness programs is the same abroad as it is for the United States, Ms. Pronk said.

Many employers have recognized that emotional support for employees stationed abroad is extremely important, said Ms. Laverock, and “so many employers are offering employee assistance support prior to and during the overseas assignment.”

“Employers are providing these on a stand-alone basis or may leverage such programs available from expatriate medical insurance, in addition to other health education, engagement, screening and preventive care vehicles,” she said.

“Specific or bespoke financial incentives are generally not targeted at this population,” Ms. Laverock added.

Employers in the technology and professional services fields are leading the way in providing wellness programs for overseas staff, Ms. Pronk said.

“With respect to employee health in general, the pharmaceutical, financial services and high-tech sectors have typically led in terms of the provision of comprehensive health and wellness programs around the world,” Ms. Laverock said.

Wellness programs for employees abroad typically are structured to fit local market dynamics, Ms. Pronk said.

Those programs may be less sophisticated than those for staff based in the United States, Ms. Laverock noted.

“While employers in the United States may be used to offering sophisticated wellness programs that include a comprehensive suite of tools and resources to focus on behavior change, in general wellness programs are much simpler for local nationals overseas,” she said.

Financial incentives are less common than in the United States because of cultural considerations and an often more limited local vendor marketplace, she said.

This means that many employers use on-site clinical resources, government, nongovernmental organizations and insurers to provide services.