Why Global Payroll Implementations Fail

Implementing a comprehensive payroll system across multiple countries can be a complicated and expensive process. The more countries your business has a footprint in, the more details will need to be considered and the larger the scope of the project will be.

Common obstacles new global payroll implementations face include:

• Regulatory and Compliance Challenges
• Lack of Alignment Across Stakeholders
• Poor Planning and Strategy

Navigating Regulatory and Compliance Challenges

Paying employees is a highly regulated activity all around the world. It is common for countries to have laws detailing hiring, firing, fair wages, tax withholding and more.

These laws can vary widely from place to place, with neighboring countries having completely different labor and tax codes. Global businesses face numerous regulatory challenges that can easily trip up their efforts at implementing global payroll.

Failure to properly comply with legal requirements can lead to steep fines and penalties. 

Keeping up with regulations is no small task. Any business looking to implement global payroll should keep these strategies in mind:

• Work with a provider with local expertise and experience in the jurisdictions in which your employees work. Understanding the tax and labor laws of an entire country is often a full-time job in and of itself. 
• Use automated compliance tools. Having an expert-designed system that can quickly check for errors goes a long way in ensuring compliance.
• Regularly update your knowledge of regulations. Laws are changing all the time, and it is usually the responsibility of the employer to keep on top of them.

Aligning with Stakeholders

Payroll is central to the entire company. Every employee has some stake in its functioning, directly or indirectly. Of course, some employees will have a greater interest in the outcomes of a global payroll implementation. 

Payroll managers obviously have the most direct stake here, but also professionals in finance, human resources and other related departments will have a vested interest in what the most successful payroll implementation looks like.

During the planning stage, it is important to align with stakeholders to understand what their needs and goals are. Failure to do so could lead to a system that works poorly for some people, or even makes it more difficult for them to perform their role.

All paid employees will have an interest in getting paid accurately, on time and without hassle. They will also benefit from tools like self-service portals, which make it easier to update their information in the system.

Decision makers in payroll and related offices will be interested in making sure data is always correct, up to date and easily accessible. They will benefit from being able to generate reports and analytics from such data to make better decisions. Thus their interests as stakeholders in the project will impinge directly on the choice of technology used.

Strategies for Effective Planning and Execution

Implementing a global payroll system requires ample planning and consideration, no matter what system you currently have. Before you can begin taking concrete actions, you should seek to establish key needs and define project parameters.

Just as every business is slightly different, every new payroll software implementation will be slightly different. By identifying what your key needs are, you can identify the concrete outcomes you wish to achieve. Ask yourself questions such as:

• What kind of reporting do we need?
• What is our current payroll process lacking?
• What would a successful implementation look like?

With the answers to these questions in mind, you can begin to define the project parameters more precisely. These include factors like:

• Budget
• Schedule
• Concrete goals and outcomes
• Choice of technologies

The Role of Technology in Payroll Success

In today's saturated software market, it is important to look for the right kind of technology to carry out payroll. Factors to consider include:

• Scalability. Make sure that any tool you use will work for your company now, as well as for your company when it has grown larger by employees or geography.
• Real-time Reporting. Payroll information can change rapidly, and you want to be able to adapt to new situations as soon as possible. Ready and real-time access to data is crucial for managing a global workforce.

• A Unified View of Information. It's not uncommon for global businesses to have different payroll systems in different countries, leading to scattered sets of data. A provider like UKG One View can take these scattered data sources and present them within a single dashboard.
• Modern Analytics Tools. Most businesses have an abundance of data, but struggle to effectively utilize it. Having the ability to quickly and accurately analyze data for errors or patterns maximizes the value of the data that you do have.

Implementing Global Payroll with UKG One View

Organizations usually want to overhaul their current global payroll system when they are experiencing difficulties with it. They often have a fragmented collection of different systems for processing payroll in each country, cobbled together over time as the company grew.

Depending on the company's exact situation, there may be different approaches to managing payroll, moving forward. UKG One View is often a great choice, as it lets you keep your existing payroll systems while introducing a single unified view for all payroll information.

In practice, this can be a safe and effective choice. It reduces the risk of breaking your current systems, while introducing the power and benefits of modern global payroll.

UKG One View also offers integration to HCM, WFM and FMS solutions, allowing you to meet the demands of stakeholders in other departments.

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