As more organizations and businesses expand into the Asia Pacific and Japan (APJ) region—a current hub for global economic powerhouses—payroll pros need to keep on their toes by expanding their knowledge, ensuring compliance, and embracing change. GPMI’s free webinar, “Embarking on an APJ Payroll Transformation Journey,” helps global payroll professionals take a deep dive into the region’s payroll challenges, privacy restrictions, infrastructure requirements, and more.
Sponsored by Ceridian, a provider of human capital management (HCM) and human resources software, four Ceridian experts on the region take attendees on a detailed tour of the APJ region, and examine the economic landscape with its own unique payroll challenges and compliance knowledge that vary by country or state.
The topics covered in the webinar include:
- The payroll complexity challenges in the APJ region
- Understanding multi-country payroll outsourcing models
- How to successfully implement payroll services
APJ Payroll Challenges
Expert Todd McDonough, Head of Products and Professional Services, Asia Services at Ceridian, started the webinar by tackling new payroll challenges in different countries. He did this by recounting his own experience expanding payroll services from Australia and New Zealand into the APJ region.
“After spending a lot of time in a dual-country environment, and prior to moving into Asia where my department dealt with 30 [new] countries, as many currencies, and over 10 different languages, I discovered something I had thought was straightforward,” McDonough said. “How you manage and pay your employees varies so widely from country to country.”
McDonough described the experience as a “learning exercise” in how different each country’s laws and infrastructure can be—from the languages on the pay slip to unique cultural differences such as employees without surnames.
“It’s fascinating—something that’s mandatory in one country, for example, asking and recording the race or religion of an employee, whereas asking an employee in the country next door those same questions is actually illegal,” McDolough said. “It was a real eye-opener.”
Top Tips for Success
Expert Inna Wahlberg, General Manager, Asia Services at Ceridian, gave webinar attendees key strategies to take with them on their APJ payroll journey. One of those tips was to do extensive research on vendors and HCM platforms for a particular project.
“It pays to be inquisitive,” Wahlberg said. “Don’t just trust what you’re being told. Do your homework on the vendor’s actual track record, not just what they tell you they can do but how they solve problems for you.”
Wahlberg stresses the importance of setting priorities and defining requirements for what each country needs for payroll to be a successful, well-oiled machine.
“It’s extremely important for you to find your baseline and to get people paid compliantly,” Wahlberg said. “You need to make sure that you and your vendor find the best possible way to ensure this.”
Registration
Attendees can earn 1.0 RCH or 0.10 CEU when attending this webinar. Register now for this free webinar that is available on demand until July 31, 2022.
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Felicia DeInnocentiis is Editorial Assistant of Membership Publications for the APA and GPMI.