According to the 2019 Global Payroll Complexity Index, information, particularly, the safe-guarding and security of information – is currently the top issue for the market. As the report notes, “Payroll is the key to market success. It is the value in payroll information that makes it incredibly high risk.” That payroll managers are, therefore, concerned about securing this valuable resource is hardly shocking. A survey of payroll executives discovered that:

On average, Human Resource and payroll departments employ nearly 36 hours per payroll cycle on compliance-related activities ranging from tracking regulatory proposals to originating and discussing new policies – enough employment for a dedicated full-time worker.

Companies with fewer than 500 employees average twenty-three hours per payroll cycle on compliance issues, and those with 500-nine hundred ninetynine workers average 31 hours per week. It goes up to 36 hours per week for organizations with 1,000-2,499 employees.

Which are the three primary issues of worry?

“The findings of the Global Payroll Complexity Index confirm that in 2019, multinational companies are challenged by managing increasing volumes of employee data, keeping to data privacy regulations, and staying compliant in a world of robust employment and taxation compliance laws around the planet,” explained Mary Holland Global Director of Strategy, Development and Training at the Global Payroll Management Institute (GPMI) and the American Payroll Association (APA).

To anyone employed in global payroll, the findings of the date may appear as no surprise. GDPR is a game-changer; the increasing volume of information presents with it greater security risks, and the non-stop onslaught of new labor regulations aggregate to present payroll managers with a enormous job.

Today we will examine each of these issues in a bit more detail and then see how payroll professionals are trying intensely to conquer every issue.

General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

GDPR and how it is evolving Europe’s data protection laws is possibly one of the top important impacts in the payroll market in the recent past. The law determines not just what information can be held; but also, where, by whom, and duration. What is additionally hugely important for global operators is that GDPR applies not only to companies and organizations within Europe, but also to companies and organizations outside of the EU if they offer goods or services to consumers in the EU or if they monitor the behavior of EU data subjects. Every company- regardless of where they are located- who process or hold individual data of individuals residing in the EU are accountable and should be GDPR compliant.

international payroll that fail to comply with GDPR face reputational injury and fines. According to the recent report, data protection regulators have imposed EUR114 million in fines since 2018.

Information breaches

The unique and sensitive nature of employee information means that companies are in extreme pressure to ensure they do not become victim to criminals. Such a issues creates potential problems for workers, and it also places the organization at risk of reputational injury and legal action.

A recent example of such an issue occurred during April when American education technology business Chegg had a data breach where criminals stole 700 records containing both previous and present employee data such as names and Social Security Numbers.

Legal compliance

Staying current with changing legislation is one of the greatest challenges faced by payroll managers. Again, this is not at all surprising given the high occurrence of changes in the laws both local and international. From the 2019 Global Payroll Complexity Report, we realize that while EU countries still top the list for most in-depth reporting, the growth economies in South America, Asia, and Africa mean countries in these regions are beginning to make additional changes to their laws which will further impact the task of payroll.

How may payroll best handle those challenges?

One response is to move to a unified global payroll service provider. While the several abilities of a single payroll system extend past ensuring compliance, the fact is they can significantly minimize compliance concerns.

GDPR

The cornerstone of GDPR compliance is obtaining the protection of your information. Payroll should be able to address the following queries:

What data do you hold?

How do you keep this data?

Why are you holding onto this information?

How protected is it?

When analyzing different payroll service providers, take the time to discuss all of these questions with them to ensure each has the capabilities to meet your data responsibilities. The Immedis Platform safe-guards your data by multiple tasks which includes encryption and the capability to isolate data from its subject so that the data is kept separately adding an additional layer of security and privacy.

Data breaches

Protecting your data is important. But, a global payroll platform that comes with an ISO quality certification offers security. Specifically, a ISO 27001 certificate as it is known as the international standard for information security management. Immedis are ISO certified, which means they run regular internal audits and perform biannual external audits to ensure conformance. The company also implement a strong control scheme – each input on the Immedis Platform is user stamped.

Legislation updates

Staying updated with payroll regulations can be a enormous task. The risks and monetary results of failure to do so are just as enormous. Deloitte highlights the success of a global service vendor: “A global service vendor creates a unique solution for the tax and social security compliance-related tasks by providing payroll services for many countries around the planet.” An additional plus is getting updated information on changes – especially about local laws – as well as synchronizing with several vendors is managed by a single service provider. Immedis has comprehensive international payroll knowledge and offers continuing updates on local legislative changes and their impacts for the workforce.