In the on-demand Global Payroll Management Institute (GPMI) webinar “Developing and Implementing a Global Payroll Strategy: Best Practices in Processes and Technology,” participants were presented with information about how to standardize global payroll processes, best practices in technology, and how to execute a successful global payroll strategy and launch.
Leading the webinar were Workday, Inc.’s Joy Blankenship, Director of Global Payroll and Stock Administrator, and Laurent Botella, Senior Director of Product Strategy, Payroll, and Workforce Management.
Blankenship urged payroll professionals to first think about process and technology as an initial step to creating global payroll strategy. This includes reviewing your current global payroll model, mapping your current business process, and documenting your controls and inefficiencies.
“You want to know what these inefficiencies look like before you go to a new model,” Blankenship said. “Think about the pros and cons of your current model.”
In Blankenship’s experience, the objective of undertaking a project like this is multilayered and includes myriad goals. These goals may include:
- Standardizing third-party payroll processing
- Globalizing records and reports
- Automating manual processes
- Creating a single third-party processor for all countries
- Increasing visibility
From 2014 to 2019, Workday went from processing payroll for eight countries (236 workers) to 26 countries (2,000 workers). During this time, company leaders realized they had to scale, reduce manual processes, improve controls, improve information and reporting, and offer a consistent customer experience.
“We had to leverage our team, which was new to us because we had grown so quick,” Blankenship said. “We were young, but we had to include at least three suppliers, to make sure we were getting the best cost-effective solution.”
Botella added that although technology and process go hand in hand, companies should make sure they don’t jump into the technological realm without understanding how they will implement it first. Botella said companies should make sure they have a single global process to extract their HR data and payroll vendor data from across the world.
“The next step is to automate the integration,” Botella said. “When you hire somebody in France, Germany, Japan, China, or Russia, all of this needs to be done in your global HR system in a seamless way.”
Become a subscriber and register for the free on-demand webinar “Developing and Implementing a Global Payroll Strategy: Best Practices in Processes and Technology” today.
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Kiko Martinez is Associate Editor of Membership Publications for the American Payroll Association and the Global Payroll Management Institute.