Payroll professionals who have a solid foundation in global payroll and are ready to take the next step now have a robust new resource: the Advanced Global Payroll Management Certificate Program.
Presented by the Global Payroll Management Institute (GPMI), the program features expert instruction in:
- Strategy and Governance
- Compliance and Control
- Leadership Management Across the Global Landscape
- Being an Effective Global Business Partner
The course also equips attendees with the tools to build a compliance framework to support the different employment and taxation regulations around the world. It examines the role culture plays and the importance of developing global teams and providing career development opportunities.
The advanced certificate program will be taught in an upcoming two-day course in two U.S. cities—San Francisco, California; and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It debuted during the American Payroll Association’s (APA) Fall Forum last September in Indianapolis, Indiana.
“Network with your peers,” Mark Graham, Executive Director of immedis, told attendees then. “These types of events are so important to be able to network with everyone so that we’re not making the same mistakes over and over. People want to tell you what they have learned.”
Graham traveled from Ireland to Indianapolis for the event, adding an international flavor to the global payroll program.
Darryl Carr, CPP, Vice President of Payroll Operations, USA, at Wells Fargo, attended the course because he is confident in his American payroll skills and wants to know more about global operations.
“I learned that one of the most important factors of a successful global payroll is to know the country culture,” he said. “I also learned that leading global payrolls requires open-mind behaviors and not to compare or try to conform other countries to fit into our U.S. way of doing business. In addition, I now understand how serious data privacy is in other countries and how global payroll differs from the domestic payroll in many ways.”
One of the sessions Graham taught was Creating a Business Case for Global Payroll, which featured a step-by-step approach to persuading executives about the need for a global payroll operation.
“Why are we having a discussion about building a business case for global payroll?” he asked. “In the last number of years, there have been huge amounts of changes that have brought us to this stage in the evolution of the global payroll industry. A number of our customers and people we talk to in the market are only starting to consolidate their global payroll.”
Max van der Klis-Busink, RPP, Payroll Professional, came from the Netherlands to teach several courses, including one on global payroll compliance.
“If you cannot link a risk to an objective, it’s not a risk,” he told his class. “Risks are all about risk identification, risk assessment, and classification. Risk is an event that may occur—it doesn’t have to occur—that adversely affects reaching your compliance goals.”
Van der Klis-Busink developed the program along with Marcia Aamodt, Executive Consultant of Global Payroll Services; Robert Gerbin, CPP, Vice President, Global Payroll Leader at Wells Fargo and Mary Holland, CPP, GPMI’s Global Director of Strategy, Development, and Training.
Jon Schausten, Payroll and HRIS Manager with Vertellus, attended the course during Fall Forum and said the expertise of the teachers and his desire to learn best practices drew him.
“The materials provided lay out a clear path on how to evaluate, manage, and lead global payroll from both here in the U.S. and abroad,” he said. “Also, the networking contacts I made from our discussions and interaction afforded me the opportunity to create a group of people experienced in complex global payroll issues to assist me with current and future challenges.”
Kerry Cole is Senior Editor of Membership Publications for the American Payroll Association and the Global Payroll Management Institute.