How complex is your multi-country payroll environment?

Global Payroll Control Framework
In these LinkedIn posts I highlight parts of the Global Payroll Control Framework (GPCF) on a bi-weekly basis. The creation of a GPCF is a best practice method to help ensure compliance with internal policies and international payroll regulations. The GPCF is independent of industry and geographical spread and adapts to ever-changing control environments. Get started with your own and sign-up for this two-part webinar in cooperation with the Global Payroll Management Institute (GPMI).

Payroll Complexity
Each professional involved in multi-country payroll knows: it can be complex. It can even be horrifying to bear the responsibility for being accountable for the accuracy, completeness and timeliness of payroll. You and your team need the skills to deliver time after time. But why is it important to really understand how complex your multi-country payroll is, to be able to deliver? Well, reasons can be made up by the dozen, I would however like to highlight this one: manage the workload of your team.

If you are the manager of a multi-country payroll function, either regional or global, you need assign roles and responsibilities within your team. One of the main responsibilities I've seen being assigned, is that of running a bunch of countries or even a full region. How do you however assign this while managing each ones workload and using the unique skill set your team has or want to learn? Here is a sound understanding of the complexity of your payroll vital.

There are multiple factors influencing complexity, such as the level of automation, jurisdiction, operating models and others. Beyond that, I emphasize on focusing at least on these topics for each country payroll is run:

• the required level of experience needed to be able to identify, collect and process payroll changes;
• the required level of experience needed to check and preliminary approve payslips and other payroll output;
• the number of employees payrolled as ratio of the total number of employees of the payroll environment;
• the specifics of the workload payrolled (salaried, hourly, industry, high exposure staff, etc.);
• quality of the in-country payroll provider and duration of that working relationship;
• benchmarks of payroll providers who also set the payroll complexity index.

Based on shear experience and common sense, the above leads to setting the complexity for countries to low, medium and high. When assigning responsibilities within your team, make sure the workload is divided equally over junior and more senior team members. I cannot emphasize enough on rotating those assigned responsibilities to mitigate any silos leading to exceptions on those fought for standardization and harmonization of processes. 

The payroll environment and its complexity is part the Control Environment, Section 2: Global Payroll Control Components of the GPCF.