Understanding Multi-Country Payroll in the Middle East | OPS It is true that different countries manage their economic affairs differently. Social security and wage protection is almost as country specific as a language or gastronomy. And even if a group of countries speak the same language, like, let’s say, Arab, each country still has its own rules for how the legislative framework treats workers and how processes define the turning of the economic cogs. The Middle East has its own idiosyncrasies to consider when running a business in the region, which can get complex and complicated when your business has branches in different countries within the region. So, making sense of multi-country payroll in the Middle East warrants some careful considerations. Software efficiency Many businesses manage multi-country payrolls in the Middle East. To do this, companies must have a better understanding of the legislative differences between countries in the region, and how to represent these differences in Head Quarters accurately in a single set of accounts. The reason why software exists is because it’s designed to simplify. Using payroll software in your businesses across the Middle East means you can manage and administrate payroll according to each country’s specific requirements, while reporting into a central payroll administration function at your Middle Eastern headquarters (HQ). The software enables each branch to manage payroll in-country, while reporting back into a centralised system managed in HQ. This ensures compliance in each country and makes reporting easier and more efficient. Centralising payroll Centralising payroll across the region means you can easily measure and compare payroll datasets across multiple countries,...
Global and Regional Payroll Outsourcing: How It Works | OPS When a company’s operations stretch across countries and regions, payroll can become a challenge. How do you ensure compliance, first and foremost, in each country? Every country has its own regulatory framework. Managing payroll in each country can also become quite messy, cumbersome, and expensive. The solution that companies lean towards nowadays is to globalise their payroll. But is it that simple? What is a Payroll Provider? A payroll provider is an external service that does everything payroll related for your company, from calculating pay and deductions to transferring money into employees’ bank accounts and filing associated compliance submissions. Payroll providers can perform some or all the payroll functions for a business. There are a multitude of benefits to using a third-party provider, but it is important to consider that a one-size-fits-all does not exist. Payroll is as individual as the company and requires tailoring. What is a Global Payroll Provider? When your business works with a global payroll service provider, you have one third-party provider doing your company’s payroll globally. The global payroll model has different configurations. One is a global payroll provider aggregator model with a global payroll provider in one major market, like the UAE, partnering or acquiring local in-country payroll providers in worldwide locations to process all the payroll globally under one payroll contract. This model is a technology-aided tool that is beneficial in many instances: For reducing compliance risks in each country because of local legal expertise. Instant in-country cultural knowledge. It allows operations worldwide across multiple locations while minimising vendor management,...
4 Strategic Reasons to Outsource Payroll Services | OPS According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, strategy means “a careful plan or method for achieving a particular goal, usually over a long period of time.” Interestingly, the first known use of the verb “outsource”, also quoted from Merriam-Webster, was in 1979. In this context, payroll outsourcing provides companies with a well-tracked strategy of several decades for business success. Where the phrase “business success” is not clearly defined. I’m going to call it “business goal” because that takes the pressure off a little. The first step in unlocking success from outsourcing payroll as a strategy for your business is to define the goal of the strategy, which is conveniently the same as the reasons for outsourcing. Outsourcing payroll has huge benefits for companies at all stages of growth, even a small start-up enterprise. If you see payroll outsourcing as a strategic investment, the cost in relation to the benefit over time is sure to make any business owner consider it seriously. Strategic Reason #1: Cost reduction You read it right. Even though the service might look like a big, regular expense for your small profit-and-loss account, outsourcing payroll means your business pay a single fee every month. Compare this to regular expenses like payroll staff salaries, IT staff because you had to buy inhouse software, more expenses to keep the software updated, security protocols for safeguarding sensitive information, and training. You can visualize it on a stress dial like the one below. Having payroll inhouse, your stress dial is going to jump to the uncomfortable red zone, whereas outsourcing this function...
The Benefits of Centralising Middle East Payroll | OPS Once a company has branches or subsidiaries in more than one country in the Middle East, the question of centralising administrative functions becomes a primary focus. One of the functions in the spotlight is HR and payroll. There are arguable benefits to keeping payroll local. Things like needing a smaller number of resources to manage payroll on an in-country basis, real-time response and better employee records are some of the arguments for keeping payroll local to the branch or subsidiary. However, parking the arguments for localization, centralised systems and management of groupwide functions have numerous benefits. That is what this post will investigate. 1. Current, real-time reporting Having a centralised payroll process allows for easy comparison and analysis between countries in the Middle East region, giving an organisation the ability to measure the same outcomes across multiple jurisdictions. The company does an apples-for-apples comparison, ensuring that you’re comparing the same datasets and formats for meaningful results. Additionally, getting data from numerous sources would require payroll to manually piece together reports from different countries’ branches that can be time consuming and easily contain errors. If you centralise a multi-country payroll in one place, real-time comprehensive and meaningful payroll reporting can provide instant meaningful insights, translating to instantaneous responses and adjustments to opportunities and problems. 2. Reduce overheads Centralised payroll can save your company lots of money. You have one system that is managed in one place by one central team of specialists, instead of multiple systems to maintain and manage in multiple locations with multiple teams of specialists. When...
Outsourced Payroll Solutions (OPS) the leading payroll provider in the Middle East for nearly 20 years have been shortlisted for 2 awards at the Global Payroll Awards 2021. The Global Payroll awards are an annual event hosted by the Global Payroll Association. The awards recognise and celebrate the achievements of payroll professionals, technology, and providers of the year. The awards recognise the outstanding achievements of businesses and individuals within the payroll community and have been running since 2016. This year, The Global Payroll Association received a record number of submissions, over doubling those of 2020. Outsourced Payroll Solutions (OPS) were honoured to be shortlisted for two categories: GPA Outstanding Award 2021 In-Country Payroll Provider of the Year 2021 “In the last 18 months, the OPS (Outsourced Payroll Solutions) team surpassed expectations and thrived. We as a team will remember 4 highlights in 2020, and it dimmed the adversary of the pandemic for us. Firstly we welcomed a host of new clients. Secondly, we developed a payroll software specific for our clients’ complex needs. Thirdly, we improved payroll processes to move clients to automation and provided more visibility with system access. Lastly, we launched both a payroll training academy and a payroll professional community that is growing faster than we anticipated. I am very proud of their hard work, and it is wonderful to see that their achievements are being recognised by the wider payroll community, and we are excited to see how we can positively impact our team, our clients, and the community.”- Diana Geldenhuys, Founder & CEO. The awards will be held in person in Hatfield, United Kingdom...
Key Strategies for Payroll Success in Your Business | OPS The Oxford definition of “strategy” is “a plan of action to achieve a long-term or overall aim”. As a verb, it means “the art of planning and directing overall operations and movement”.Tackling a company’s payroll strategically is not just clever. It’s essential for the whole system in the company to function optimally. It ensures that everyone knows their part, what actions are required when, and dictates the expected outcome. Synonymously we can call it the Masterplan, the Blueprint, or plain and simple, prevailing sanity. Because let’s face it, if Payroll doesn’t function, chaos ensues, and everyone becomes a little crazier. Not the path we choose to go down. Instead, strategic payroll is easily accomplished with a little organisational introspection. Why not to wing it A Payroll Masterplan helps an organisation to adapt to ever-changing circumstances, on the employees’ side, the company’s behalf, and for compliance’s sake. It future proofs a company to be robust and scalable. So, planning is essential. But where to start? 1. Payroll efficiency Payroll’s single biggest responsibility is to pay salaries correctly and on time, no matter what. The biggest determinants for success are your payroll employees and the resources they need to function successfully.Payroll staff must have the appropriate skillset to be good at what they do. Payroll might not entail splitting an atom, but it is a specialized career and requires proper knowledge. Ensure you work with the right internal and external payroll experts, and that you have the right payroll partner, if you outsource. Look at the customer support and...
