Going Global? Here are 5 advantages of outsourcing your payroll

The term ‘global payroll’ is not a one-size-fits all solution as often assumed, but a centralised business department – a misconception that payroll professionals and HR teams need to tackle by making clear that the term ‘global payroll’ incorporates both global and local market capabilities.

Without local market knowledge, legislative understanding, and a tool that can cater the local payroll needs, the perfect global model simply cannot exist.

Expanding beyond the borders can be expensive;  and when talking about control of cost in global level, there is a need to financially model:

• True costs of operating a variety of solutions and services per country
• The potential costs of managing the risks associated with poor controls and lack end-to-end visibility

To lessen the complication, another model to control cost is by outsourcing, which can allow an organization to appropriate level to be paid in a lower cost location.  Once you combine that with the savings which come from consolidation and automation, an organisation will be much better placed to secure the cost control.

Payroll mistakes can be hugely detrimental to a business. When it comes to globalisation, it's likely that you will be dealing with different tax regulations and payroll systems. Unless you have fully trained, an automated system and capable payroll staff, who are more than adept and continuously follow the incredibly complex regulations in place in different markets, your payroll department may probably end up making the occasional mistake.

With a reputable payroll service provider, you are far less likely to become the victim of an error than handling payroll processes in-house.

Operating on a global scale means increasing your workforce across several countries and even continents. Whilst your staff may be highly skilled, there is always the chance that one of them will fall sick or be on holiday. Even the slightest change to routine can cause payroll departments difficulties. With offices all over the world, it's crucial to ensure that organisational output remains unaffected. Outsourcing payroll is a sure-fire way to ensure nothing changes irrespective of illness or holidays. It also saves vast amounts of time and provide piece of mind, simply because you won't have to help new members of staff get to grips with your payroll system. 

Operating on a global scale usually means having the details of personnel on file all over the world too, thus potentially exposing yourself to all sorts of sophisticated cyber-attacks or GDPR breaches. With financial details being a core part of payroll department records, it's essential that every element of your business is prepared and able to robustly defend itself against attacks. To do so, your business needs to implement the right infrastructure: some companies simply don't have the resources to ensure details are kept safe. Outsourcing to a payroll service means you'll be benefitting from industry specific technologies which are able to prevent such attacks from occurring.

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Businesses need to consider HR & payroll services as a key part of their globalisation journey: international expansion can be daunting and involves several complexities, so outsourcing can be a beneficial option to any organisation that is looking to reduce costs and improve overall processes. By relying on the combined local and global expertise of a reputable payroll services provider, businesses can relax in the knowledge that they are in safe hands when it comes to achieving efficient global payroll.