I asked my network how important self-service access to their global payroll data is, and here are the results:

• 85%: very important
• 14%: somewhat important
• 1%: not very important
• 0%: not at all important

The results are clear: 99% of you find self-service access to your worldwide payroll data either somewhat or very important. Clear, understood. 

This leads me to my focus for the rest of the blog: examining why you even want self-service access to this data, and how to get access!

Why self-service access to your data matters

Based on almost 2 decades of experience (yes, I’ve been around for a while), as well as discussions within the network, we need to split this into two objectives:

1. Improve operational efficiency and effectiveness
2. Generate actionable business insights

One is an “internal” driver, and the other is an “external” driver, but both matter equally to the success of global payroll.

Improve operational efficiency and effectiveness

Global payroll is the aorta of all employment-related data in any organization and is often referred to as the single source of truth (sorry HCMs!). This is because global payroll represents as much as 60% of a company’s total P&L, between:

A) Actual payments to employees

B) Statutory compliance filings

C) Entries into the company’s financial statements

So, aside from all the process improvements and operated controls, getting access to this data matters.

In global payroll, we love following the data as it travels. Tracing pay codes from one of the many inbound source systems to the Finance ERP provides insights into where data is validated, transformed, manipulated, and enriched.

If you can follow the data and trace it, you will be able to:

• Ensure better controls as access to data is instant, and the data model is the same across all countries.
• Perform root cause analysis for payroll errors and solve them at the source (upstream action) or destination (payroll’s action).
• Develop KPIs to measure the performance of the payroll process, which often include data input, output and processing accuracy, and other meaningful metrics.

While there will be many additional internal drivers for global payroll, these are often the most imminent.

Generate actionable business insights

If I had a penny for every time internal stakeholders have asked me for a “quick report”, I would not be writing this blog and would be sipping a refreshing drink from a coconut on a beach somewhere. But clearly that isn't the case.

This need for these reports proves that stakeholders see global payroll data as the source of truth; they trust the data, and they crave access to it. So, they go to the gatekeepers and ask for access. 

But hey, why not proactively supply them with the data or, better yet, provide self-service access to it (given their role allows this).

Who needs the data? And why? 

• HR (incl. Talent, Total Rewards): they need it for external reporting requirements (Gender Pay Gap, ESG Reporting), internal reports and benchmarking (total rewards benchmarking, cost projections, location strategy), and more operational needs such as creating documents, calculations, and reports.
• Finance (incl. Accounting, FP&A, Audit): to perform financial analysis, flux analysis, reconciliations, cost and trend reporting, internal and external financial reporting, data-driven process audits, and compliance filings. To name a few.
• Treasury: understanding the total net pay for each period allows you to forecast and fund accounts globally, whilst optimizing account balances.
• Business: with labor costs adding up to 60% of a company’s P&L, they benefit hugely from detailed productivity and labor cost insights tailored to their needs.
• C-suite: ultimately, all the above-generated business insights land on the (virtual) lap of the C-suite (notably, combined with other data), which drives key strategic business decisions and interventions. It matters.

To summarise, 85% indicated the importance of self-service access to global payroll data. But do you have self-service access to the data? And do you have this in a harmonized data model?

How do you get self-service access to global payroll data?

Those who operate a hybrid global payroll strategy, inherently operate with a mix of in-house payroll engines and central & local providers. This leads to various systems and models for your data management and reporting, which is a very common challenge in the heterogeneous (I also had to Google this world) environment of global payroll.

So, how do you solve this? 

(Please don’t tell me only by using Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets!)Let’s start with what you need.

You must create an overarching data typology. Data typology refers to data classification based on its characteristics and attributes in dimensions. Commonly, these dimensions are identified in global payroll:

• Employee-related dimensions: employee ID, name, department, job title, location, employment status, start date, and end date.
• Payroll-related dimensions: pay period, statutory employer contributions, gross pay codes, statutory deductions, net deductions, net payments, and net pay.
• Geographical dimensions: country, region, city, and location (could be a cost center).
• Time-related dimensions: year, quarter, month, and week, depending on the needs of the business.

Then, multiply this by the many countries in your global payroll scope, where local payrolls spit out gross-to-net (G2N) reports in local languages with local data models. Which poses the question: Do you trust your G2N? Consider this carefully, as this is the number one report feeding into all global payroll data.

How do you consolidate all of this data with self-service access? 

You need a platform that overlaps your hybrid landscape's existing disparate systems. You need to look for the ability to systemize the data typology and customize this to specific (local and global) business contexts. And, while the G2N holds a lot of data, it will not have it all; so you need a (self-service) way to add that data to the total data set.

Once you achieve this, and it is worth it, you need to start understanding the drivers for the data: internal and external. 

One piece of advice I give you: ASK! Just ask others what they would need, when they would need it, and if they would prefer self-service data access to produce reports as needed. (Note: this saves you and your team massive amounts of time!).

So, what’s next?

Act on your belief that you need self-service access to global payroll. This will bring you to a strategic level in your organization. They crave your data, so give it to them: self-service! This is a call to action, and I hope, with some of the strategies I’ve mentioned above, you can unlock the power of your data!

Do you want to talk more? Contact us to discuss or meet!