The value of operational efficiency in your global payroll model

What is your vision for the future of your organization? Many organizations have a long-term vision for where their products or services are headed, but may not spend the same time on the future of their HR and finance operations. When your goal is efficiency, the right global payroll strategy can set your workforce up for success, as you expand into new regions or hire across borders. That’s why operational efficiency has become a major focal point in virtually every aspect of business, regularly cited as a top goal among business leaders everywhere.

As you look forward with a focus on improving efficiency, your operating structure needs to easily scale alongside your growing business while making everyday tasks easier. When your core operations, such as payroll, are built on a strong foundation, you can discover operational benefits that provide additional value beyond financial savings.

And yet, payroll is one area where many global businesses aren’t as efficient as they should be. Deloitte’s Global Payroll Benchmarking Survey found that organizations leveraging a payroll provider for managed services are using an average of six payroll providers, with the highest concentration in regions outside of North America. This means an average of six different contracts, support teams, and reporting formats, with payroll teams manually reconciling in between.

Given the many challenges that can arise when working with different vendors across numerous countries, you may not want to spend much time coordinating with multiple contacts and consolidating reporting, especially when your goal is efficiency.

And that’s a missed opportunity, because when companies use the right technology to optimize their global payroll, they’re often able to reap an array of financial and operational benefits. Plus, doing so helps ensure that the flow of information back and forth between payroll, finance, and HR has less friction, while also making the pay experience a more positive one for workers.

How to improve your efficiency across your multinational operations

The business case for adopting a global payroll solution to help drive operational efficiency is straightforward. Here are four ways having a single multi-country payroll strategy can increase your operational efficiency and drive more value for your organization.

1. Make payroll a faster and easier process

As your global organization grows, you need a solution that can grow with you while maintaining clear reporting and streamlining payroll processes. Otherwise, payroll administration on a global scale can be time-consuming and error-prone.

That’s particularly true when a company uses different vendors in different countries, each with their own systems and processes. A global payroll solution eliminates that complexity while automating previously manual tasks. That frees up payroll professionals’ time so that they can focus on doing higher-value work. 

2. Make better decisions based on data-driven insights

Payroll is a huge cost for any business. It can be extremely difficult to manage that cost if you can’t see it in real time on a global, enterprise-wide basis. When you’re using multiple systems, your reporting can also come in different formats which requires more time consolidating spreadsheets.

Organizations that adopt a global payroll solution have holistic oversight of their payroll on demand. Instead of storing data in different places and formats, housing all of your data together improves data accuracy and integrity. That not only saves you time trying to cobble that view together manually, but also gives you access to consolidating reporting about your labor costs for better decision-making.

With real-time insight into everything from how much employees are paid across operating sites to where the most overtime shifts occur, it’s easier to make the right HR decisions about your workforce. You can optimize employee and manager productivity, reduce turnover, and increase visibility into forecasting labor spend.

3. Minimize system upkeep

Rather than overseeing multiple vendor contacts and service agreements, it’s much easier to manage a single solution with one centralized point of contact for support. Doing so also enables payroll teams to identify and solve potential issues system-wide rather than having to solve them as they occur on a case-by-case basis in different markets.

In addition, consolidating systems dramatically reduces the burden payroll is putting on IT teams who would otherwise have to maintain multiple platforms and technologies.

Ultimately, removing the administrative overhead associated with system upkeep allows payroll teams to scale more effectively, be nimbler, and focus on strategy.

4. Efficiently mitigate enterprise risk

One of the main challenges of managing global payroll is navigating change. Not only does working time legislation, payroll tax, and workforce regulation vary by region, it can be time-consuming to stay on top of laws that can change without warning.

By contrast, having a single global governance model empowers organizations to quickly expand into new regions. They can create a streamlined approach to pay accuracy and compliance across all new operating regions for their international workforce.

Unlocking a more efficient approach to global payroll

When companies adopt the right technology for global payroll, they can improve efficiency for multiple teams, from payroll to IT. They can achieve greater speed in processing payroll, less resources spent maintaining legacy systems, and reduced risk while spending less time keeping up with regional legislation.

When your global payroll function is aligned with HR and finance, you promote the flow of information to make smarter decisions about the future of your people and your business. This mindset will take organizations beyond the financial and time savings of operational efficiency.

Learn how a single global payroll solution can help your organization better manage global payroll in an ever-changing world.