Enterprise Guide: How to Manage Multi-Country Payroll

The need for international payroll has never been more important. As the latest Deel report states, global hiring rates are still steadily rising.

However, managing multi-country payroll poses significant challenges, such as balancing complex local tax laws and regulations while meeting diverse employee expectations.

As an enterprise company, you need to manage multinational payroll effectively to support growing distributed teams and stay competitive. Read on to discover how a consolidated solution can help you streamline operations while ensuring compliance across borders.

The challenges of multi-country payroll

Global payroll teams have to implement benefits, tax, and compliance for a diverse workforce. However, meeting complicated and ever-changing requirements across countries can be challenging. 26% of organizations say they struggle to manage the differences.

If you’re focusing on global expansion, you may have experienced payroll challenges such as ensuring accuracy and compliance while remaining efficient. Keeping up-to-date with the latest regulations can be a time-consuming and resource-intensive task, but Deel’s new Continuous Compliance Hub can help you stay proactive. We actively monitor international regulations to give you automatic updates and warn you of possible risks. 

Further complicating matters, 31% of payroll teams find integrating several different software challenging. Each country may require its own accounting system, and if you aren't able to integrate your tools, you may start to rely more on manual data entry to transfer records between the platforms—which is inefficient and error-prone.

These issues can lead to delays and mistakes in payments, which can impact employee morale. When over half of workers are worried about finances, payroll issues could heighten their stress and lead them to look for roles elsewhere.

A unified solution for global payroll management

Having a single, centralized system like Deel can help you overcome many of the issues posed by multi-country payroll. The technology has become so essential that 70% of companies say consolidation is one of their top priorities. 

Centralized payroll is an all-in-one solution that allows you to handle tax, benefits, and compliance on one shared platform. Your team can use the same software, no matter where they’re based. That means, instead of juggling multiple platforms, they only have to learn and implement one set of processes.

Use the following checklist of common global payroll services to determine whether a provider can meet your needs:

• Payroll automation: Consolidated payroll systems usually have a wide range of automation to handle tasks like tax calculations and direct deposits (where applicable)
• Benefits administration: As employee benefits are a key factor in compensation, a global payroll provider should help you find local providers that comply with regional and national regulations
• Multiple currency payments: Global payroll software should support different currencies and help you calculate exchange rates
• Data security: Small-scale, domestic payroll providers may not meet international guidelines like the General Data Protection Act (GDPR). Global payroll systems like Deel ensure they meet the most stringent criteria by using measures like encryption and multi-factor authentication
• Payroll reporting tools: Centralized solutions help you collate payroll data from across different countries and turn it into comprehensive reports. Using this information, you can get insights into how your company is performing and make more informed decisions
• Expert guidance: As well as providing software tools, global payroll providers often have a robust team of legal experts who can guide you on issues like labor laws, tax regulations, and exchange rates. Deel has qualified lawyers and accountants who specialize in specific countries and regions
• Self-service employee portal: Employees should be able to log into the system to perform tasks like checking payslips and managing or updating profile information. Strict user permissions should prevent unauthorized team members from accessing sensitive data

Connecting payroll operations across borders

In order to be effective, centralized payroll has to integrate operations across every region. Otherwise, you’ll still end up with siloed departments and inconsistent processes.

Plus, enterprises could need to hire from any number of countries to tap into international talent pools, capture new markets, or relocate essential workers. The more locations your platform supports, the more effectively you can capitalize on opportunities. 

For example, Deel supports payroll around the world—from the US to Nigeria, Germany, and beyond—and is constantly expanding its coverage. 

See also: Where You Can Run Payroll for International Employees with Deel

Many payroll providers support international payments but only for a select number of countries. While they may help you reduce your tech stack, you’ll still face challenges with silos and miscommunication. You may also find they can’t connect you with local experts who can help you stay compliant with payroll regulations and employment laws.

Before committing to a payroll provider, it’s best to check whether they can meet your present and future needs. If you plan to relocate staff to Southeast Asia, for instance, you may need a solution that supports local currencies like the Vietnamese Dong and Thai Baht.

Navigating acquisitions and entity changes

Outsourcing payroll to a single global vendor can help you overcome many of the challenges of cross-border mergers and acquisitions. When you know you can support global teams, you can explore a wide range of options in foreign markets without being held back by payroll restrictions. 

Faster, smoother transitions

A global payroll service provider can significantly expedite the merger and acquisition process. Providers like Deel can assist with data migration and integration to ensure a smooth transition. You can also integrate the different systems you and the new entity use with our robust API.

If you need to move fast, top providers like Deel can even offer an Employer of Record (EOR) service. The EOR engages and pays one or more employees to provide services to another company. An EOR enables companies to legally work with employees in another country without setting up an office in that country or region. When it comes to payroll, the EOR handles all the deductions, fees, and benefits—all you have to do is make one bulk payment to the provider.

A competitive edge

Having this flexibility could set you apart from competitors. According to a recent Deloitte report, interest in cross-border mergers and acquisitions has increased by 22% since 2022. When other companies are interested in the same foreign entity, consolidated payroll could give you the edge you need to secure the deal.

Protecting the employee experience

When you can easily add or remove entities to your payroll system, there’s less risk of disrupting the overall payroll process. That means you won’t damage the trust of new employees, which is critical during this period of change and uncertainty. Studies show newly acquired workers are much more likely to quit than existing staff and regular hires.

To further protect employee wellbeing, provide your workforce with access to all relevant training offered by the payroll provider. You can help them become familiar with the new platform and process, enabling them to use it with ease. 

For instance, Deel can provide you with change management support and help you set up onboarding programs. Helping workers navigate the platform could make the transitional period less stressful and create a good first impression for the company.

With a scalable solution, you don’t have to allocate time to finding and setting up a local payroll provider in each new location. You’re free to focus on the merger and dedicate more energy to strategic decisions.

The long-term benefits of an all-in-one payroll platform

Consolidating your systems doesn’t just help you overcome the immediate challenges of multi-country payroll. As Deel customers have found, there are many far-reaching and long-term advantages to centralizing payroll systems.

Streamlined growth

For Boston Consulting Group (BCG), global payroll has supported smooth international growth. They used to struggle with managing four vendors across six countries, but once they switched to Deel in 2019, they could standardize their processes across regions.

Thanks to their new payroll setup, BCG has the operational support they need to keep growing. They predict they’ll increase their total workforce by up to 15% and plan to expand into new foreign markets. 

Scaleable payroll processes

After centralizing their payroll, Change.Org saved over 300 hours on administrative processes.

Previously, they’d relied on various legacy providers to manage payments for over 2,000 workers in more than 25 countries. Juggling these different tools meant payroll was stressful and time-consuming. Consolidating their systems through Deel allowed them to automate and tailor all of their processes more effectively and become more efficient.

Higher employee satisfaction

As Yodo1 found out, consolidated payroll doesn’t just sustain team morale but also improves it.

Adding workers to payroll used to require a lot of steps. Teams had to wait until the HR and finance teams had completed the contract, verified any legal details through a third-party, and manually entered the data in the system. Now that Yodo1 can handle everything in one place, they can impress employees with quick bank transfers.

Simplify global payroll with Deel

Now that distributed teams have become the norm, enterprises can no longer rely on decentralized payroll models. Only consolidated solutions allow them to build efficient and scalable processes that won’t compromise accuracy and compliance.

As your global workforce increases, consider whether your current providers can support you. With a global payroll solution that centralizes your processes and gives your team a single point of contact, a move to Deel will allow you to simplify your operations and scale them more effectively. 

Book a demo and see first-hand how Deel can transform your payroll management.