The link between human resources and global payroll is a lot broader than many people might realize. These two departments may be separate, but they are very much interconnected and require strong data sharing processes to allow them both to learn from each other.
It is difficult to effectively process global payroll calculations and payments without significant input from the human resources department. HR simply have a lot of data that is relevant to payroll and vice versa- it is important for HR teams to be able to reconcile their HR systems or HCM system data with global payroll data at regular intervals.
At large multinational organizations around the world, it is often difficult to achieve what is known as the single source of truth. By this we mean, accurate and fully consolidated data that reconciles the number of employees in a company with the amounts being paid out to these employees as part of a multi-country global payroll process.
Consolidated, multi-country real time reporting can prove to be an essential part of this reconciliation process. In this article, we are going to take a look at the kind of reports that HR managers and professionals need to receive from their counterparts in global payroll.
Visibility and control
HR Professionals, like anyone else, will be interested in any technology or reporting functionality that helps improve their operational line of sight, giving them a stronger comprehensive overview, resulting in more visibility and control.
Global payroll technology, designed to deliver consolidated multi country reporting, can add major value to an organization here. Innovative digital reporting tools can provide concrete payroll data on who was paid when, how much and where. This can help HR professionals reconcile the data within their system with the data available in the global payroll system. If such reporting does not exist, then there is no mechanism in place for HR professionals to achieve clarity and certainty with their data.
HR managers are often frustrated by the lack of investment in innovative tools and digital platforms for the global payroll team which they often regard as a partner department. Indeed, it is sometimes the case that the HR department is supported with investment in a digital transformation project, and they find themselves in the very unsatisfactory situation where their advanced digital tools do not connect and interact with the legacy payroll technology still being used by their counterparts in global payroll teams. This is a rather common case of digital transformation grinding to a halt as soon as the HR project comes to an end - this represents a major missed opportunity as global payroll is really the next logical department that should be in line for implementing a major digital upgrade, especially due to the strong need for interconnected systems to support crucial employee data flows between HR and the global payroll processes.
What reports do HR need
Human resources management is not easy- Multinational companies have been scaling at a rapid rate and this has resulted in new burdens and responsibilities being placed on HR professionals who have had to be proactive in the war for talent in the form of new and varied compensation packages to attract new employees. They also have to meet a heavy administration burden that comes with managing international payroll service delivery and multi-regional global workforce management.
Structured, consolidated and comprehensive payroll reporting can be of major assistance in terms of helping human resources professionals get a handle on payroll costs, facts and figures for their geo-dispersed workforce.
First and foremost, they could benefit from answers to basic global payroll questions such as how many people do we have on our payroll books and how much are we paying them? After that, there may be a requirement for more detailed and nuanced reporting that helps them get a strong understanding of pay related activity such as salary increases, pension deductions and bonuses.
Understanding how specific pay elements vary across country and regions could be advantageous and only a global payroll department facilitated by smart reporting and analytics tools would be in a position to help their HR colleagues with this information.
HR professionals looking to reconcile data on their HCM system with global payroll payments will likely be interested in the answers to the following questions:
- How many employees do we have under management in each of our company locations?
- How much does it cost to pay them?
- Is there a report to split these costs by individual country/region or entity?
- How many joiners and leavers did we have in the last month/quarter or year?
- How do the country payroll cost figures compare to this time last year?
- What contracts are due to expire at the end of this quarter/year?
- What relevant payroll data is missing from my HCM system?
Useful data and important analytics
As interconnected departments, human resources and global payroll have a lot of valuable data, insight and experience to share. It makes business sense that both of these departments be facilitated with the level of digital innovation that speeds up this level of sharing while also making the data more secure.
Facts, figures, insights and trends gleaned from detailed and comprehensive global payroll data reporting can add genuine value to the HR departments understanding of what is happening in the business as a whole. If you know where money is being spent and how it differs from country to country, you are then in a position to draw conclusions that are supported by facts.
HR managers will always be interested in payroll reporting data that can result in bigger picture clarity and meaningful analysis. They will likely be very grateful to their global payroll manager counterpart if that person can supply them with regular real time reporting and metrics on global payroll data sets that are of specific interest to the HR department.
Payslip can deliver reports for HR
Below is a selection of some important reports that HR professionals and HR managers would have a definite interest in scheduling and reviewing regularly. These reports are all available via self-service on the Payslip platform which utilizes and leverages our innovative Global Reporter tool to create them in real time.
The software enables authorized users from the HR department to filter and run reporting by country, region, employee or pay element. Pay and deduction elements are categorized at global and local level for more detailed and granular analysis if required.
Employee Headcount Report
Displays all the employees (active or inactive) on the system and their locations. Filter to show Joiners and Leavers within specified periods.
Variance report
This allows you to compare two or more pay periods within one company/payroll and display results in categories such as employee taxes/deductions or employer contributions- helping you monitor costs and detect differences.
Total Employer Cost Report
Shows the total labor costs for the employer and can be split out by country, company, cost center, department or business unit.
Employee Reports
Churn, Data Changes, Trends.
Company resources will vary by company size and it is common for many HR departments to not have fully digitized and connected HCM systems across all of their payroll countries- this may not be practical nor feasible from a financial standpoint. As a result of this, it can often be challenging for global payroll professionals to say with certainty how many people are on the payroll at a given point in time.
The Global Reporter tool can supply them with payroll data around joiners and leavers that can help them reconcile their HR system information with confirmed payroll data. The Joiners Report, for example, can help them reconcile the data entered into Payslip against other sourced information in the company while the Leavers report can help identify trends across business units and countries. This innovative tool has the capacity to serve multiple internal stakeholders with a range of varied reports. If your human resources department is struggling to reconcile its employee and pay related data, then talk to our team today and find out just how quickly you could be up and running with our Global Reporter tool.