Compliance in general is widely known to be nuanced and complex in nature -many multinational organizations operate on a global level and have a presence and multiple different countries & regions around the world.
Understandably, each individual country will have its own legislation and regulation that these companies will need to follow and adhere to in order to remain compliant and lawful. The result of all of this is considerable and time-consuming compliance administration management.
Global payroll compliance needs to be maintained on a consistent level- while there is no silver bullet solution or multi country legislation that will blanket cover payroll services compliance in a range of different countries at once, there are things that organizations can and need to do in order to maintain high standards when it comes to multi-country global payroll compliance.
Focus on security
There is rarely a week that passes by without a headline around data security or data breaches. From small to medium size enterprises all the way up to some of the biggest brands in the world, many organizations have received unwelcome press attention due to lax or inadequate data security and information protection.
Step one for any organization should be a thorough review of their information security protocols with a particular focus on the security elements of any technology stack they have in place to deliver or manage global payroll.
Look at the level of authorizations in place- is sensitive global payroll data restricted to authorized individuals only and do you have in place digital audit trails to prove who interacted with the data, who changed it and why? Strong data access protocols and authorization is an important starting point when it comes to protecting global payroll data for compliance purposes.
There is no room for complacency here as global payroll data contains a huge amount of personally identifiable information and there are major privacy implications too. There should be no hesitation on the part of any multinational organization to implement the highest data security protocols as part of a global payroll management platform or process.
Get digital visibility
How do you really know that you are compliant in a specific country? This is an important question that every global payroll manager or compliance officer should be asking on a consistent basis.
Companies can have multiple or even dozens of payroll countries on their books -each country is different and nuanced, and the obligations around compliance disclosure can be varied and different across each of them.
Digital visibility is very important here - those organizations that use a cloud technology platform to manage the delivery of their global payroll are likely to be at an advantage. For those who do not, they should consider moving to a cloud platform that features digital audit trails as part of their technology stack offering.
Digital auto trails can provide easily accessible and identifiable proof around individuals who access and process global payroll data, the time they did it and in what context. This can be vital for any global payroll team who are subject to an internal or external audit around their compliance processes.
Compliance failures can be an expensive business - many governments show little tolerance to companies who do not have the appropriate protections in place and do not hesitate to issue them with strong financial fines and penalties if they see non-compliance with strict labor laws around international payroll
It makes sense that organizations do everything they can to avoid this scenario - strong visibility and open transparency is the best way to get a good handle on compliance related activity -digital audit trails can prove a valuable asset in this regard.
A digital calendar tool can give provide essential visibility over key dates in the compliance annual calendar. It is helpful to digitize your calendar so that it triggers alerts in advance of key compliance deadlines- this can ensure that previously assigned individuals in the payroll function are prompted to take action to avoid missing important compliance deadlines.
Engage a network of specialists
Sometimes it is simply hard to beat local knowledge - so it can really pay dividends to add specialized local teams or individuals to your network. This can be a particular value to organizations that are mandated to grow across different countries at a rapid pace.
These companies are keen to hit the ground running in new countries and territories - this creates a need to hire and pay new employees quickly. These employees need to be hired and paid in line with local employment law and payroll regulation. You don't want to find out two years later that you have missed a series of payroll tax payments or forgotten to submit income related documents that you had a legal obligation to submit.
In a rush to focus on expansion and carve out new opportunities in a new country, it can be easy to overlook regulation and paperwork associated with the compliance requirements in a new country. This can prove to be a costly mistake both in terms of financial penalties and reputational damage. It is best to engage with local specialists on the ground in the new country as soon as possible, ideally before you expand into that country. They will know local laws and can advise on payroll tax while connecting you with global payroll providers or related service providers.
Local lawyers, accountants or tax advisory specialists can be useful allies in navigating the complex and nuanced local landscape -they may also end up saving you a lot of money in the long run. Do your research, approach these people and learn everything possible about the new environment you are entering into.
Become ISO certified
The ISO certification helps companies to put in place a recognized framework for managing people, processes and IT systems in a way that safeguards the confidentiality, integrity and availability of their data. It is not specifically designed for global payroll compliance or any type of compliance - but it is very helpful when learning about the importance of data and how to apply structure and security around systems which contain data and information that is vital to businesses.
Many organizations report that they learn a great deal during the ISO certification process, and they then proceed to apply the logic and learnings across the wider organization. Any officially recognized procedure that is designed to ensure overall company systems and processes adhere to the highest data privacy and information security standards, can only have benefits when it comes to international global payroll compliance.
Consider standardization
One of the key reasons why global payroll compliance is difficult to maintain is due to the lack of standardized data and processes across multi country teams. If global payroll information and data is arriving in different formats from a range of disparate technology systems, it is going to be much more difficult to manage.
If you choose to use a global payroll management technology system and standardize payroll data across all of your countries, you immediately increase your visibility and control, which by default, makes meeting your compliance obligations easier.
Global payroll professionals can see things a lot more clearly with standardized data and they also have a lot more time to give their attention to compliance matters. Without standardization, a lot of their time is spent making sense of the data and trying to compare it across all of their countries. With standardization, the global payroll process and data is the same for all countries making it much easier to spot errors or anomalies that could have compliance implications.
Payslip and compliance
The Payslip platform is designed specifically for global payroll management and it can help global employers maintain consistent multi country payroll compliance via:
- standardized data and processes across all countries
- automation which improves payroll accuracy
- cloud platform security features
- a suite of smart reporting and analytics tools
- fully digitized payroll and compliance calendars
- digitized data access and authorization rights
- transparent digital audit trails
Payslip is ISO 27001:2013 certified and recently became ISO27701:2019 Privacy Information Management Systems certified.
If you are struggling with compliance and are interested in moving across to a global payroll platform that can ensure you always meet your compliance requirements, talk to our team today and learn more about how our payroll management technology platform can meet a range of your business needs.