How to Implement a Multi-Country Payroll System

What is a Multi-Country Payroll System?

Do you wish you could consolidate all your employees in multiple countries into one payroll system despite the differences in currencies, employment laws, and regulations? Implementing a new payroll system is already an exhausting task, let alone having to do it for multiple employees in different countries. That’s where a multi-country payroll system comes in and why many global companies choose to work with an outsourcing service provider for their international or multi-country payroll.

Still confused on how it works? Not to worry. Here’s a guide to implementing a multi-country payroll system with TopSource Worldwide.

Key Considerations for Multi-Country Payroll

Some things to consider when implementing your multi-country payroll and picking a global payroll service provider:

• Will they provide comprehensive payroll support?
• Can they guarantee regulatory compliance?
• Will the payroll reporting be consistent and accurate?

Benefits

There are many benefits to switching to a multi-country payroll system. It consolidates everything onto one platform to help you grow your global team. You can save your organisation time, money, and enhance compliance. One of the advantages of working with an expert outsourced payroll provider is that you gain access to local payroll expertise instantly. 

Challenges

On the other hand, there are also many challenges. For example, did you know that there are several types of payroll solutions for different types of payroll systems? There can be lots of unexpected differences in regulations between countries such as mandatory 13^th and 14^th month salaries.

Pre-Implementation Phase

Assess Organisational Needs 

To begin the pre-implementation phase, your organization will need to start by assessing its needs based on the current payroll processes. Make sure to assess both what is working and what isn’t. Also, consider where your company might want to grow in the future and what strategies and goals will be set to achieve this.

Conduct a Feasibility Study 

Next, you’ll want to conduct a feasibility study. This will help you test and see if the needs you initially listed are worth pursuing and investing in and if you might need to go back and reassess what’s really needed. Your payroll provider should be able to help you conduct the feasibility study. 

Familiarise Yourself with Each Country’s Laws & Regulations 

It will help to familiarise yourself with the laws and regulations of each country that you will be implementing payroll in. You don’t have to become an expert overnight, but having a basic understanding of relevant information, like payroll and tax considerations, will give you a good head start. Your payroll provider should also provide additional information about each country’s laws and regulations.

Set up an Entity and Register as an Employer in Each Country 

If you don’t already have an established entity, it’s important to begin the entity setup process. You’ll have to register as an employer in each country you will be running payroll in, but the timeline for entity setup from country to country can vary greatly. It’s important to start early, be patient, and work with a payroll service provider, like TopSource Worldwide, that has your back with entity setup, offering end-to-end setup support. 

Create an Implementation Plan

Before you implement your new multi-country payroll system, you’ll want to create an implementation plan. This will list all of the steps of implementing your new multi-country payroll system and will help you stay organized and on track. Your payroll service provider can help design and implement this. 

Implementation Phase 

Gather and Consolidate Payroll Data 

Now that you’ve laid the foundation, it’s time to begin the implementation phase. First, you will want to gather and consolidate your payroll data. This will be used to prepare and calibrate the new system. 

Configure the Payroll System 

Next, your payroll service provider will use the provided payroll data to configure the new payroll system using a single provider. The global payroll data will be standardized and processed based on global compliance and local regulations. 

Integrate with HR and Finance Systems 

Once the payroll data has been configured into the system, you can integrate it with your HR and finance systems. Since each country has different employment laws and tax regulations, it will affect how the payroll is run in each country. 

Test and Validate

It’s important to run tests and validate that the new system is running smoothly. You’ll want to work out any bugs early on so that no major problems arise once the system is up and running. 

Employee Communication and Training

In the last step of the implementation phase, you’ll want to communicate changes to the rest of your employees. Once everyone is aware of the changes, you can begin employee training for anyone who will be working with the new multi-country payroll system.

Post-Implementation Phase 

Run Parallel Payroll Processes 

Congratulations, your multi-country payroll system has been implemented! Now what? In the post-implementation phase, you will want to make sure to run parallel payroll processes that continue to check and validate that everything is still working the way it’s supposed to.

Continuous Monitoring and Improvement 

Though technology is a great tool, it’s never going to be perfect. That’s why it’s important to continuously monitor your payroll system so that something doesn’t go wrong. As things change, you’ll also want to make improvements as needed. 

Stay Up to Date with Regulatory Changes 

Staying up to date with regulatory changes post-implementation is another crucial thing to do. That’s why partnering with a compliant payroll service provider is essential. Being able to rely on your payroll service provider’s professional expertise will save your team time, money, and frustration. 

On-Going Maintenance and Updates

Along with continuous monitoring and making improvements, you’ll want to keep up to date with on-going maintenance and updates. As software continues to change and cyber threats are on the rise, you don’t want to ignore making maintenance updates.

How to Choose the Right Multi-Country Payroll Provider 

Evaluate Global Reach and Coverage 

As you’ve now learned, implementing a multi-country payroll system can be a long and confusing process. When picking your multi-country payroll provider, there are a few things to analyse. It’s important to consider if they have the global reach and coverage in countries not only those you’re interested in now, but also other countries you may consider expanding into further down the line. 

Consider Technology and Integration Capabilities 

Another consideration when choosing your multi-country payroll provider is their technology and integration capabilities. Is the technology easy to use and are the features relevant to helping achieve the goals of your business? Making sure that the technology is functional and secure is key as well as being able to have the integration capabilities to work with any of your other existing technological systems.

Ensure Compliance and Security Measures 

Ensuring that your multi-country payroll provider will keep you compliant and take the necessary security measures is also key. You can run into major problems if you aren’t compliant. Make sure you pick an expert that takes global compliance seriously so that you save time and money in the long run.

Why Choose TopSource Wordwide as Your Multi-Country Payroll Partner?

Our Payroll Solutions

TopSource Wordwide offers multi-country payroll solutions with a consolidated process, payments that are accurate and secure, minimised administration complexities, and complete global compliance. We also offer global accounting, global & local payroll, global entity, HR advisory, and global EOR solutions as you grow. 

We Manage Everything, So You Don’t Have To

At Topsource Worldwide, we manage everything, so you don’t have to! Ready to implement your multi-country payroll? Contact our team of global payroll experts today to discuss how we can support your multi-country payroll needs.