In the on-demand Global Payroll Management Institute (GPMI) webinar “Your 2023 Global Payroll Health Check,” sponsored by Payslip, experts addressed the anticipated challenges and payroll trends in 2023, and the need for payroll professionals to start and keep a checklist highlighting payroll issues within their organizations, as well as a list of priorities and technology needs within the organization.
Prior to the start of the webinar, attendees were asked how often they meet with senior leadership to share their payroll operational goals.
According to the poll, 30% of attendees said they meet with leadership on a quarterly basis to set goals and track progress, while 20% of the attendees said they meet annually with company leaders.
“There’s definitely a need now for more of these senior leaders to engage and understand the power of payroll, and how payroll can be elevated,” said Pete Tiliakos, Principal Analyst and Co-Founder at GxT Advisors and a featured industry expert speaker at this year’s Payroll Congress.
Tiliakos and Mary Holland, CPP, Chief Customer Officer for Payslip, addressed the 2023 global payroll year as well as some of the ideas and goals payroll professionals should consider to improve global payroll functions within their organizations.
Some of these goals included the following:
- Defining your company’s payroll needs and selecting an approach
- Defining how many vendors your company is servicing
- Addressing the technology gaps
- Considering what worked in 2022 and what didn’t, and defining what needs to be done differently
- Defining and separating payroll’s “must haves” from the “nice to haves”
Holland advised payroll professionals to set up an internal rating scale for each category to help prioritize those needs and share them with leadership.
“We have to make sure that we reach out to the stakeholders who are in those operations to get their feedback,” she said. “As leaders, it’s important to listen to the teams who are providing that information so that we have a clear snapshot.”
Holland discussed the complexities of the global payroll landscape that include issues like the remote workforce, various privacy regulations, tax laws, pay transparency demands, and the scarce labor pool.
Despite those complexities, companies are still hiring. Tiliakos said that while many companies are doing so, leaders are not as focused on their existing talent or giving them a reason to remain engaged and productive.
“It’s expensive to go and hire another employee, or find even another client,” he said. “One of the themes you’re going to see continue to bubble up this year is flexibility. It has already been there for some time now, and employees want maximum flexibility. There are a lot of these flexibility drivers that organizations can use to bring on talent and really create that custom kind of experience for the employees so that it’s meeting all their personal desires and needs.”
At the same time, Tiliakos said there’s also the issue of compliance that is essential—from an organizational perspective—to navigate the complexities of the payroll landscape.
”To provide flexibility of pay, you have to have good integrated technology and capabilities,” he said. “You have to have good compliance and have a good handle on where your people are from a data perspective. I think all these things are going to be continuously more important.”
Register for the on-demand webinar, “Your 2023 Global Payroll Health Check,” today.