2022 is well underway and it may seem surprising to some but there are a number of global companies experiencing payroll processing problems that have not yet been resolved.
There are understandable reasons for this, delivering and managing global payroll across different countries inside growing organizations has never been easy. Challenges like a lack of integration, and over reliance on manual data entry and spreadsheets together with multiple data flows and systems within the payroll ecosystem results in operational difficulties.
But these challenges have been in existence for a long time now. A global pandemic came along and exacerbated the situation by introducing even more challenging variables into the mix- remote and hybrid working, unique compensation packages and scarce labor pools.
The frustrating thing for many global payroll managers and global payroll professionals working diligently in these companies, is that there is a technology driven payroll solution out there that can make everything a lot better in a reasonably short amount of time.
In this article, we're going to look at three common payroll problems that should be getting solved in 2022. The process and technology are present to make these payroll management challenges go away, it is up to leadership teams to take the initiative and invest in their business-critical global payroll services.
Manual data entry
At Payslip, when talking to global payroll professionals and industry insiders, we never cease to be amazed by the amount of mature and professional organizations that still rely on manual data entry, excel spreadsheets and email transfer of sensitive global payroll data.
Everyone involved seems to know that this is simply unsustainable and comes with major data security risks around employee data- yet it is still hugely prevalent at multinational organizations around the world.
So, what is the solution or answer-well, it is very simple-replace manual data entry and excel spreadsheets with automated data flows. Invest in technology that is designed specifically to solve the challenges associated with global payroll delivery and management via automation.
This technology leverages robotic process automation and ensures that machine learning takes over from humans for any repeat or recurring global payroll data entry flows. It is not hard to see what a huge impact this could have at an organization who is paying say, 15,000 employees every month.
Automation gives back time to busy global payroll professionals and creates some much-needed breathing space inside hectic monthly pay run cycles. It is far more secure in terms of data protection, requiring much less human interaction and access to sensitive information. It also significantly removes or eliminates entirely the risk of human error such as a data entry mistype inside an excel spreadsheet.
“On the Payslip platform, automated feeds mean I no longer have to spend hours validating hundreds of bonus and one-time payment inputs. This can now be done in seconds, so I have much more time for review and analysis”
Taynan De Jesus Nunes, Payroll Analyst, Cloudera
The global payroll management technology is available, global payroll professionals are ready to leverage it and focus their energies on different kinds of global payroll work. There is simply no valid reason to continue with manual entry and excel spreadsheets for payroll operations in 2022.
Managing local country payroll providers
Payroll is unique to each country, always will be and therefore there will always be a requirement for local country expertise to be leveraged in the form of local vendors. These are the people on the ground in the country ensuring that all tax laws and regulatory or compliance protocols are followed as the new employees of the company get paid.
Things get complex when a global company moves into several different countries over a short period of time- they could then be managing anywhere between 8 and 12 local country payroll providers- this is a lot of data to manage, and this data will likely be coming into the global employer in non-standard formats via multiple disparate systems.
This is a common global payroll challenge faced by global employers today-and they are looking for a solution to help them manage their global payroll provider network.
The solution is a global payroll control platform, which enables global employers to access, view and manage multiple different providers via a single interface. They get a clear view of what is happening across all of their international payroll countries, view the data in a single standard format and develop a single way of working across all of their payroll countries. This results in the level of management, visibility and control that they are keenly seeking over their multi-country global payroll.
The alternative is to simply do nothing, continue to grow into new countries and territories, and continue to work with more local country providers, attempt to manage more data and processes, and rely on the heroic efforts of your global payroll team to just about keep your head above water when it comes to managing all of this complexity. Is this really where you want to be in 2022 with your payroll processing?
Lack of connections in your ecosystem
Delivering and managing payroll for global employees across multiple different countries at the same time is never a process that can be done in isolation. It never was in the past and likely never will be in the future.
Payroll will always need strong connections between related departments-the obvious standouts being human resources and financial operations. these crucial departments need to share data and reporting.
The problem today is that there is a lack of software integrations which are needed to connect and have data flow seamlessly in a bidirectional way between the systems and technology stacks in operation in these departments. Again, this creates a visibility and control challenge- how much data exists inside the human capital management (HCM)or HR software that is needed to flow across to the payroll software for prompt and accurate payroll? How can the finance team get access to crucial global payroll spending and country cost comparison figures in order to deliver essential in-house financial reporting?
Efficient, seamless bidirectional data flows can solve this challenge and prove to be of major benefit to all three departments. Global payroll then becomes processed with all the data it needs to pay employees accurately, the HCM system records incorporate the necessary global payroll data to ensure they are comprehensive, and the finance team have access to crucial payroll data and reporting, which helps them deliver bigger picture insights for leadership teams at global organizations.
Again, huge strides have been made in recent years with integration technology and software solutions. So, what is required to make all of this happen is available in the market right now and is ready to be used. When global payroll operations are delivered inside a fully integrated ecosystem with smooth bidirectional data flows between payroll, HR and finance- everybody wins. It enables global payroll management teams to drive operational efficiency while vastly improving the quality and detail of payroll data reporting.
The above are just three examples of global payroll challenges that should be solved in 2022 but the list goes on and there are many others. The good news is that Payslip’s global payroll control platform is specifically designed to easily solve all three of those problems quickly and efficiently.
Our secure, cloud deployed digital platform standardizes the data across countries and introduces automation to any repeat and recurring process. Global employers can choose and manage local country vendors of their choice on a single platform and our integration functionality seamlessly connects global payroll with HR and finance software packages.
Our team is ready and waiting to show you a demo or talk you through the range of different improvements you can bring to your global payroll processing in 2022. Talk to us today…
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