Introduction

More than ever, several organizations are interested in global hiring. While there are numerous benefits to hiring global employees and contractors, managing global payroll is usually challenging and tedious.

Organizations must figure out effective methods to manage their payroll, accurately determine their net payment, and pay employees in their preferred currency while ensuring compliance with country-specific employment laws and regulations. This might be overwhelming for your in-house HR team, especially if you have limited time, money and human resources.

Luckily, global payroll systems can simplify the process for your company. Not only can these systems help you design an efficient global payroll management structure, but they can also help you avoid non-compliance penalties. Read on to discover what global payroll is, what benefits it can offer, and how to choose the best fit for your organizational needs.

What is global payroll?

Global payroll manages your organization's payroll functions for all international locations through one centralized system. Its main goal is to ensure that everyone in your global workforce receives their salaries seamlessly.

Global payroll allows you to determine each worker's net payment, manage commissions and bonuses, withhold tax and social security contributions, and distribute all your international workers' payments from one network.

Though this process may sound straightforward to handle in-house, working with global payroll experts — like Skuad — will save you significant time and resources and ensure that you remain on the right side of the law.

Benefits of a global payroll platform

Partnering with a global payroll platform will provide several important benefits for your organization. Here are just a few examples:

Easy global expansion

The top companies offering global payroll solutions operate in many countries. Besides providing expert payroll services for your international workforce, some provide employer of record (EOR) services to facilitate your business expansion.

Ordinarily, if you wanted to hire workers outside your organization's country (or countries), you'd have to establish a legal entity in the desired country of hire. Working with an EOR means you won't have to go through that hassle because the EOR will leverage its legal entities in the hiring process.

Centralized payroll management

A significant benefit of working with a global payroll platform is minimizing your organization's risk. Non-compliance risks increase as your workforce expands. Therefore, managing payroll in one central location eliminates risks associated with non-compliance.

Centralized payroll enables you to evaluate your workforce and payroll functions over time comprehensively. Having this information in one place makes it easier to make adjustments and avoid penalties.

Fewer errors

Manual payroll processing can only get you so far. When your workforce grows into the hundreds, the process becomes challenging. A global payroll system processes payroll and pays your workers automatically, regardless of how many there are.

Payroll processing involves a plethora of routine activities and repetitive actions that can result in human error. Sometimes, a seemingly insignificant error can bring about significant penalties. Automated payroll limits the amount of human input required to the bare minimum, and the machine sorts out the rest.

Things to consider before choosing a global payroll platform

A global payroll platform can help you process payroll while bringing out the best in your in-house team. Fortunately, there's a litany of global payroll platforms available. Ironically, this overabundance of options can also make your decision rather complicated.

To make this crucial decision easier, here's a list of factors to consider before selecting the perfect payroll platform for your needs:

Scalability

Most employers dream of taking their business global and increasing the strength of their staff. If you have business expansion in mind, consider a payroll platform's ability to scale.

Ask the right questions. Do some digging to determine if the platform can support a rapidly growing company. You should also consider whether the platform will likely be effective in a few years. Only sign up with a global payroll platform if they can support their growth.

Ease of use

Regardless of the features, a payroll platform may add to your problems if it's not easy to use. Check out the merchandise before paying for it. Ask for a demonstration to see firsthand how much skill it takes to operate.

Check its features to determine whether they match your needs. A payroll platform should be easy for nearly anyone to navigate with little training. You should be able to select features, make changes, and perform essential upgrades yourself. If you have to call experts every time you need to make changes, it might be a good idea to look elsewhere.

Furthermore, your chosen platform should streamline your operations, allowing you to perform and manage all payroll duties in one place. During your demonstration, make sure the platform has a centralized dashboard.

Inclusion of contractors

Even if your company doesn't currently work with independent contractors, you may consider doing so as you expand internationally. Therefore, it's a good idea to ensure that the global payroll platform you choose excels in managing payroll for employees and has experience processing and managing payroll for contractors.

Compliance

Compliance is one of the primary reasons employers outsource their international payroll duties. Every country has its labor laws and tax regulations that your company will have to follow when hiring workers who live there. Failing to comply with these rules can result in substantial fines and other penalties. Choosing a payroll platform with the tools to help you maintain compliance is crucial.

Self-service features

Allowing your workers to access certain features on the payroll platform will help lessen the burden on your HR team as your workforce won't have to contact HR with every payroll-related question. Some platforms also enable workers to create or customize their portals and update their information when necessary.

If you want to free up your HR team to work on other, more important tasks, ask the payroll platforms you're considering working with what self-service features they offer and make sure they align with your team's most common payroll questions.

Data security

Keeping records of your payroll activities is essential to maintaining compliance and being ready for audits. Your payroll data is precious, and keeping it safe is critical. When choosing a payroll expert, be sure that their systems for backing up your data are protected with top-notch security measures.

Multiple currency support

Paying international employees and contractors can be challenging, especially when multiple currencies are involved. Some of the top payroll platforms offer payments in more than 200 currencies. Make sure the global payroll platform you choose to work with can pay your international workers wherever they're located.

Integration potential

Consider each platform's potential to integrate seamlessly with your existing tools in your company's search for the ideal global payroll platform. You likely have a combination of primary and high-end HR tools. Your new global payroll platform should easily combine with your current tools to bolster your HR unit.

Verifying the platform's ability to integrate with your systems will save you from having to replace or rework your operating systems and IT infrastructure to fit the platform, which could cost you considerable time and money.

Integration time

Consider the time it will take to integrate the new software with your existing tools. It usually takes about six months to incorporate a payroll platform. You probably want to hit the ground running and start enjoying the benefits of outsourcing your payroll as fast as possible. Do your best to plot an integration timeline for a global payroll platform before committing to ensure the time needed to complete the integration fits in with your business plans.

Exposure

Global payroll platforms are experts at managing payroll overseas. Although some only operate in North America or Europe, the top platforms operate in numerous countries worldwide. A payroll platform operating only in North America limits your hiring to North America, so choosing a payroll platform with a broad global reach can come in handy as your company grows internationally.

EOR conversion potential

Some top global payroll platforms can also serve as a professional employer organization and EOR. These services offer more HR support for your international staff. EOR duties go beyond payroll processing and management — they also help you hire and manage your internationally distributed employees and independent contractors while ensuring you remain compliant with all applicable laws and regulations.

As your company spreads internationally, you may require an EOR's services. Working with a global payroll service that performs EOR duties makes this arrangement easier and less expensive. Prioritize payroll platforms with this capability.

Partner with Skuad as your global payroll platform

A global payroll platform like Skuad can help your company reach new heights by providing efficient and comprehensive global payroll management. Skuad offers you the best of both worlds by paying workers conveniently and complying with employment laws. We streamline your global payroll management, keeping you in the driver's seat with our automated payroll solutions.

Partner with Skuad to enjoy expert payroll management support with localized expertise. We operate in over 160 countries and use our in-depth knowledge and experience to help you avoid non-compliance risks. Book a demo today to see how our global payroll platform can fast-track your global hiring ambitions.