In celebration of Global Payroll Week 2024, Stacey Radford sat down with Pavlina Koba to discuss some of the burning questions in Payroll today.
What strategies do you utilise to ensure accuracy and timeliness in processing international payrolls?
In terms of data accuracy, it’s critical to have a well-established process for data submission. Our stakeholders need to understand the format in which we need to receive the data to avoid misinterpretation and delays caused by going back and forth on an input. Our cooperation is most efficient if we have previously set up the right communication channels, and everyone understands the deadlines and the impact of not meeting these deadlines. With multiple international payrolls processed in an outsourced environment, having robust and easy-to-follow internal calendars helps me and the payroll team stay on top of the monthly milestones. A huge advantage is also knowing who you can escalate potential delays to. Those working within the outsourced payrolls will no doubt relate 🙂
How do you keep abreast of evolving global payroll laws and regulations?
There are a few ways that help – notifications from the payroll provider, the forever great Global Payroll Association, and local government websites. Thanks to technology, we can now easily translate documents or websites from local languages in seconds. Although some Google Translate interpretations of a text are very questionable and even make you laugh. Aside from country-wide legislation and regulations, we also need to stay up to date with the collective bargaining agreements that local management and HR support us with.
With the ongoing technological advancements, how do you foresee automation and AI impacting the future of payroll processes?
I am generally a tech geek who gets excited over new systems, apps, and automations, but I am still unsure about AI within payroll. This is people’s money we are potentially putting on the line, risking that they will not be able to pay their bills on time at the end of the month. I am sure AI will be part of payroll at some point but has a long way to go to prove to us “old schoolers” that it can work. Taking into account compliance with all data privacy, GDPR laws and regulations, audit and ensuring the timeliness and accuracy – us payroll people sweat every month! Or perhaps it is just the infamous ‘push of a button’ after all, and we just need AI to show us how it’s done!
What counsel would you offer to professionals aspiring to venture into the international payroll realm?
In my nearly 15 years of experience in international payroll, I would say it’s the communication with local teams. Always respect the local traditions, mindset, and way of working, which helps you build these relationships and good cooperation. That will give you the building ground you need to learn all country specifics, local laws, and quirks that help with the overall payroll end to end.
