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Overcoming the Challenges of a Distributed Workforce with a Global People and Payroll Solution

A global workforce transcending multiple time zones and geographic boundaries isn’t a new phenomenon. Multinational corporations have been hiring full-time employees and contractors in various countries for many years now.
It’s the COVID-19 pandemic that has accelerated the adoption of a distributed, global workforce. With more than 74% of organizations planning to implement permanent work-from-home policies, the global, dispersed workforce will become a mainstay.

Why Have Distributed Workforces Risen to the Forefront?

Recruiting employees from different countries offers several benefits, including:

  • Improved productivity and business continuity
  • Enhanced employer brand and work culture
  • Scope of business expansion in different locations

Additionally, it helps employers create a diverse, inclusive, and accessible workforce that’s beaming with new ideas and fresh perspectives. It’s also helped small businesses tackle the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.
While bigger, established organizations are equipped with tools and resources to manage a global workforce, startups and SMBs might have been caught unaware.
In our quest to understand and resolve the challenges of a distributed workforce, we’ve come across Papaya Global, a global payroll and workforce management platform. In the following sections, we’ll delve deeper into how such a solution helps businesses efficiently manage a global workforce. Let’s get started.

What Are the Challenges of Global Payroll Processing?

When a company recruits employees from different geographic locations, it needs to take care of the following aspects:

  • Tax regulations
  • Employee wages and benefits
  • Regulatory compliance

Payroll professionals must have a deep understanding of the laws and regulations governing employee rights in different jurisdictions. Also, they need to have a clear idea of how their workforce is distributed across different locations and what kind of expenses they’re incurring.
That, in turn, highlights the importance of close collaboration between an organization’s payroll and HR functions. But according to the 2019 EY Global Payroll Survey, 46% of HR respondents and 45% of payroll respondents believe there’s a lack of coordination between the two departments.
In the absence of a centralized platform to manage employee data and payments, your employees will have to bear the brunt of payroll errors. According to a payroll benchmark survey by Deloitte, the most crucial metrics used to measure payroll performance include:

  • Number of payroll errors
  • Time required to resolve these errors

Even the simplest payroll errors could create unexpected tax implications for workers in a specific country. Worse still, they could result in delayed payments.
It’s important considering that more than 22% of employees reported receiving a late payment at least once in 2019. Persistent delays in processing payroll take a toll on employee productivity and engagement. It could skyrocket employee turnover rates as well.

How Else Does a Distributed Workforce Affect an Organization?

Apart from complicated payroll processing, a dispersed workforce affects the following aspects:

  • Employee onboarding and training
  • Employee engagement and retention
  • Company culture

Also, small businesses might struggle to attract top talent from different locations. Even if you find a suitable employee in a foreign country, you’ll need to understand the employment laws and tax regulations specific to their region.

What’s the Role of Papaya Global in Managing a Distributed Workforce?

Traditionally, organizations with a global workforce have relied on individual payment providers for payroll processing in different countries. This decentralized approach is the root cause of compliance violations and late payments.
While 68% of businesses recognize the importance of a single payroll system, 45% of organizations don’t believe that there’s a single vendor who can address all their global payroll needs. (Source: 2019 EY Global Payroll Survey)
That’s where a cloud-based SaaS solution like Papaya Global steps into the picture.
Founded in 2016, Papaya Global provides a centralized platform to address the needs of modern HR and payroll professionals.
The platform offers solutions to help you accomplish the following tasks:

  • Global hiring
  • Remote onboarding
  • Cross-border payments
  • Regulatory compliance

Papaya Global simplifies global payroll processing by curating in-country partners across more than 140 countries. These partners serve as Employers of Record (EoR) who monitor local laws and regulations, as well as ensure compliance.
Similarly, businesses can use Papaya Global as a Professional Employer Organization (PEO). Routing global recruitment via their platform eliminates the need to keep track of labor laws, tax rules, and compliance regulations in different countries.
Also, the cloud-based platform lets you automate payroll, thus ensuring error-free and timely payments. Users can easily add, update, and view employee data to monitor and assess their expenses. This, in turn, simplifies the process of onboarding new recruits too.

Unleashing the Power of a Distributed Workforce

Irrespective of the size and type of company you’re running, a remote workforce dispersed across international borders is becoming a reality. In fact, by 2025, 70% of the workforce is expected to work remotely for at least five days a month.
While a distributed workforce offers several benefits, it comes with many operational hassles too. Utilizing a global payroll and workforce management platform is the key to overcoming these roadblocks and harnessing the true power of a global workforce.

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