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In this blog, we’ll take a look at the top 3 trends we’ve seen at CloudPay, and explore what you can do to ensure your global payroll operations are optimised and “future-proofed”.
The future of business, and of the payroll industry, is perhaps more uncertain now than at any time in living memory. The pandemic, and the knock-on effects it has had on the ways businesses operate and the ways people work, means expectations and demands on payroll teams are evolving rapidly.
Predicting the future, therefore, is particularly difficult right now, even when trying to look only a few years ahead. However, three major trends are already emerging which are likely to be game-changers within global payroll in 2022. In this blog, we’ll take a look at the detail within these trends, and the likely impact that will have on businesses attempting to establish a strong and efficient global payroll operation:
Multi-country service adoption growth
The rise of people working flexibly and working from home has broken down many of the geographical barriers in the job and business markets. It’s made it much easier for employees in one country to work for businesses based in another, and for companies of all shapes and sizes to explore opportunities in new territories.
Because of this, the existing trend of ‘glocalization’ is likely to be accelerated. This is where global businesses provide highly localized services or products to cater for each country or area they operate in; being able to do so with local expertise makes it even more of an opportunity for future growth.
From a payroll perspective, this means businesses must be ready for the challenges of making payments across borders, and dealing with payments involving currency exchanges on a far more regular basis. At the same time, the continual scaling of a business in different places (either upwards or downwards) mean that the payroll demands of the company as a whole will be a constantly moving target. Agile technology will be vital to keep track of everything that’s going on, and deal with global payroll demands accurately and efficiently.
The rise of digital wallets
As well as finding ways to manage global payroll more effectively, employers are actively seeking ways that payroll can positively impact on employee experiences. Increasingly, talented employees hold all the cards in the job market, and they will favor businesses who can deliver on their expectations, whether they’re looking at staying with their current employer or looking for a new one.
To meet these employee demands, alternative payment methods are being actively sought, and will move from trend-setting differentiator towards becoming mainstream in 2022. Among these methods are digital wallets, where users can manage their money and make payments electronically, in much the same way as Apple Pay and Google Pay are used for purchasing.
But this technology isn’t only being used to make payments, it’s being used to receive them too. Global payroll businesses are increasingly using the method to deliver salary payments. Especially in regions like Africa, where mobile payments are much more convenient for employees because of the poor quality of traditional banking infrastructures.
Alongside this, Earned Wage Access, where employees accrue pay in a self-service application, and can then withdraw their earnings whenever they need them, should gain much more traction in companies seeking to maximize payroll flexibility.
Payroll becoming more than payroll
As global payroll becomes more integrated, and powered by advanced technology and analytics, it will increasingly become a force for good that reaches much further into a business than it did previously.
Think of all the innovations now becoming available to payroll teams, across digitalization, automation and predictive analytics. All of these will play a major role in streamlining processes, cutting human errors out of payroll processes, and saving vital time and resources for payroll teams to use on areas that need more critical thinking. But just as importantly, these innovations can play a part in delivering deeper insights that can not only improve payroll, but can also uncover areas for improvement in HR, finance and even other operational areas within a business.
This works on a human level, as well. Payroll practitioners, rather than just advising what’s best from a payroll perspective, can become strategic advisors; they can use the data and insights at their disposal to influence the decision-making processes at the very highest levels of an organization.
CloudPay’s global payroll solution is equipped with all the technologies, analytics and multi-country functionality you need to make the most of the opportunities available to you in 2022. Learn more about how our solution works here.
