The modern world is evolving quickly. Ever since the Covid-19 pandemic caused the world to go into lockdown, remote working has become the norm. Even though society has mostly returned to normal, the concept of hybrid and remote working has remained prevalent all around the world.
Businesses are hiring employees from different cities, and even from different countries. There are several benefits to hiring foreign employees, making it an attractive prospect to thousands of businesses. But it’s far more difficult to manage than hiring employees domestically.
All you need is a global payroll provider that will do all the heavy lifting for you. There are many different options to choose from, so it’s crucial for you to understand what to look out for when choosing the perfect global payroll provider that will help your business’ international expansion rather than hinder it.
Keep reading for a 7 point checklist on the main factors you need to tick off when considering a payroll service.
Are They an Employer of Record?
The first thing you need to determine is whether the payroll provider is an Employer of Record, also known as an EoR. This is the most important box that they need to tick off because it’s crucial to expanding your workforce across borders.
For larger businesses it’s easy to set up a subsidiary in another country, but that’s not always possible for smaller businesses who are growing internationally — it’s time-consuming, risky, and expensive.
An Employer of Record provides a route around these obstacles by employing people on your behalf. A good EOR provider handles all the necessary compliance for you, usually through local entities they own themselves. If outsourcing payroll is one of the options you are considering, it makes sense to focus on organisations that can also offer you ready-made solutions in the countries of your choice. This step will already narrow your list of potential global payroll providers significantly.
Are Contractors Included?
Global expansion isn’t just about hiring international candidates. There’s also a growing market for contractors and freelancers, and they have been a great option for modern businesses.
Investing in freelancers could be the answer to moving forward quicker and at a much less expensive cost, especially for highly specialised or temporary projects. You’ll need a global payroll solution that gives you equality between hiring permanent employees and working with contractors or freelancers. It’s always a good idea to double check whether they offer payroll for freelancers and contractors before you make a final decision on a global payroll provider.
Is it Easy to Implement?
Modern technologies can quickly become confusing and difficult to understand. You don’t want to invest huge amounts of resources just to get a global payroll provider’s systems up and running and integrated with your business. You want a solution you can implement quickly and with little hassle.
Another important factor to keep in mind is whether their solution integrates with the HR tools you are currently using. It’s not worth disrupting the system that your business already has in use just to integrate a new payroll provider.
Can They Help you With Compliance?
One of the basic requirements you need to keep an eye out for when it comes to choosing a global payroll provider is their compliance procedures. There’s simply no point in considering a payroll provider that does not offer robust compliance procedures as these are incredibly important to your business when expanding overseas.
You will need to thoroughly investigate each option on your list to make sure they understand how to compliantly facilitate hires in other countries – especially your target country. Making small mistakes can lead to incurring massive penalties.
Is Your Data Protected?
Data is incredibly important to your business, and you need to ensure that the data of your employees, whether they’re permanent hires or contractors, is protected at all times. Modern businesses face a ton of threats, both internally and externally. From sharing sensitive data outside of the business or suffering from a cyberattack such as ransomware or viruses.
It’s important that you make sure the global payroll provider you choose has extensive cybersecurity measures in place to keep your data protected at all times. While an organisation will have a biased view to make you feel more comfortable, some places to get reliable information on the security of a payroll service is through customer reviews and case studies.
Customer Service
Throughout your partnership with a global payroll provider you need to be in close communication to ensure that everything is running smoothly. Since your business will be expanding, the needs and requirements that you have might also need to be tweaked and adapted, so it’s crucial that you have excellent communication and customer service channels to go through with your payroll provider.
It’s also important to be able to communicate any potential issues and have them resolved as quickly as possible. One of the best ways to get a view on the customer service of a global payroll provider is through lenient reviews.
Another feature to look out for is employee self-service options. This feature will help to take some stress off your HR team and reduce the amount of queries and requests that they need to handle. This is a feature that can keep your remote employees happy, which is the key to keeping them onboard. Remote employees know their worth and have hundreds of opportunities, so if they’re unhappy, you could easily lose them.
Payment Methods
The world is evolving quickly with new payment vendors being introduced. SWIFT payments have always been an excellent solution, but they have become outdated. There are several other solutions that offer quick international payments in the currency of your choice. If your global payroll provider can’t offer you any of these payment services, it could be worth looking for another organisation.
Final Thoughts
Choosing the right global payroll provider to partner with you during your international expansion is no easy task. There are seven incredibly important boxes that they need to tick before you decide to join up with them. Luckily though, there are a few organisations that meet these requirements, with one of the most prominent examples being Playroll — a good place to start your search for a top global payroll provider.
