The latest survey for Alight’s Global Payroll Complexity Index (GPCI) has begun and the GPA is encouraging our industry peers to participate. The benefits of participation are two-fold: at the survey’s end, you will immediately receive an indicative view of the complexity of payroll in your company and see your level of risk. Then, following the conclusion of the entire survey, the results from all respondents will be compiled into the GPCI; a valuable biennial resource and insight into the payroll big picture.
On the subject of insight, we are looking back to the 2021 Global Payroll Complexity Index and exploring attitudes to payroll modernisation and lessons learned post-pandemic. The survey covered the years 2019-2021, a period of unprecedented turbulence and uncertainty for payroll. The pressure on our peers to stay calm and carry on delivering timely and accurate pay was at an all-time high and played out against an ever-changing regulatory and legislative backdrop.
Trends reflected in the 2021 GPCI findings highlighted a need to address the previous lack of investment in payroll modernisation and to make it a priority. The report concluded that understanding stakeholder needs for payroll investment was key to making this breakthrough. It suggested that doing so would enable payroll teams and the wider organisation to:
- Formalise the global payroll strategy
- Update payroll operating models
- Make payroll intrinsic to strategic business planning
- Address the lack of investment in digital payroll processes and additional integrations
The findings shone a spotlight on the underinvestment in payroll modernisation. Cloud, automation and artificial intelligence technologies had been proven to deliver results but uptake was slow. The overarching conclusion the 2021 GPCI reached was that process risk levels were tested more than before in 2020 and 2021 making the business case for payroll modernisation stronger than it had ever been.
The pandemic made starkly evident the physical limitations of business continuity plans, including those for payroll. With workplaces compelled to close, the maintenance of on-premise-only payroll software became a challenge. There was no way to log on to essential payroll processes and data, for many, and therefore no way to pay employees. And legacy system payroll partners hit the same wall. For many organisations in 2021, the need to address remote access to payroll processes was prioritised.
The negative impact of any payroll failure is well known; the domino effect reaches performance, profitability, employee retention and customer loyalty. As a result of pandemic learning experiences, 26.5 per cent of companies accelerated payroll project investment. At that time, the GPCI Executive Perspective from Alight was that the period since the 2019 report was published had potentially been the most challenging ever for the payroll industry and this was reflected in the 2021 findings. The conclusion spoke of the push to use learnings from the past two years to fill the resilience gaps that became evident through the pandemic in payroll processes, moving forward.
Moving forward to today, with the 2023 survey well underway, we asked Alight whether the underinvestment in payroll modernisation had been adequately addressed and if the pledge to learn from the pandemic and shore up resilience gaps had been fulfilled.
Luca Saracino - Commercial Worldwide Payroll Lead, Alight Solutions - said, “Two years on from the COVID-19 pandemic, it will be interesting to see in this year’s survey, if companies have continued with the acceleration of payroll improvements. With artificial intelligence (AI) making headlines throughout the world, we may see an increase in the use of AI in payroll in this year’s results. I, as well many others are excited to see how payroll has evolved since 2021, so I’d encourage all payroll professionals to complete the survey to have their say.”
The 2023 GPCI will reveal whether lessons learned about resilience and the necessity of modernisation translated to tangible action and whether an investment in these crucial areas has led to positive change, in the experience of respondents. With your participation, we can more accurately pinpoint exactly how far we have come.
To take Alight’s 2023 Company Payroll Complexity survey and contribute to the big picture click here.
The latest survey for Alight’s Global Payroll Complexity Index (GPCI) has begun and the GPA is encouraging our industry peers to participate. The benefits of participation are two-fold: at the survey’s end, you will immediately receive an indicative view of the complexity of payroll in your company and see your level of risk. Then, following the conclusion of the entire survey, the results from all respondents will be compiled into the GPCI; a valuable biennial resource and insight into the payroll big picture.
On the subject of insight, we are looking back to the 2021 Global Payroll Complexity Index and exploring attitudes to payroll modernisation and lessons learned post-pandemic. The survey covered the years 2019-2021, a period of unprecedented turbulence and uncertainty for payroll. The pressure on our peers to stay calm and carry on delivering timely and accurate pay was at an all-time high and played out against an ever-changing regulatory and legislative backdrop.
Trends reflected in the 2021 GPCI findings highlighted a need to address the previous lack of investment in payroll modernisation and to make it a priority. The report concluded that understanding stakeholder needs for payroll investment was key to making this breakthrough. It suggested that doing so would enable payroll teams and the wider organisation to:
- Formalise the global payroll strategy
- Update payroll operating models
- Make payroll intrinsic to strategic business planning
- Address the lack of investment in digital payroll processes and additional integrations
The findings shone a spotlight on the underinvestment in payroll modernisation. Cloud, automation and artificial intelligence technologies had been proven to deliver results but uptake was slow. The overarching conclusion the 2021 GPCI reached was that process risk levels were tested more than before in 2020 and 2021 making the business case for payroll modernisation stronger than it had ever been.
The pandemic made starkly evident the physical limitations of business continuity plans, including those for payroll. With workplaces compelled to close, the maintenance of on-premise-only payroll software became a challenge. There was no way to log on to essential payroll processes and data, for many, and therefore no way to pay employees. And legacy system payroll partners hit the same wall. For many organisations in 2021, the need to address remote access to payroll processes was prioritised.
The negative impact of any payroll failure is well known; the domino effect reaches performance, profitability, employee retention and customer loyalty. As a result of pandemic learning experiences, 26.5 per cent of companies accelerated payroll project investment. At that time, the GPCI Executive Perspective from Alight was that the period since the 2019 report was published had potentially been the most challenging ever for the payroll industry and this was reflected in the 2021 findings. The conclusion spoke of the push to use learnings from the past two years to fill the resilience gaps that became evident through the pandemic in payroll processes, moving forward.
Moving forward to today, with the 2023 survey well underway, we asked Alight whether the underinvestment in payroll modernisation had been adequately addressed and if the pledge to learn from the pandemic and shore up resilience gaps had been fulfilled.
Luca Saracino - Commercial Worldwide Payroll Lead, Alight Solutions - said, “Two years on from the COVID-19 pandemic, it will be interesting to see in this year’s survey, if companies have continued with the acceleration of payroll improvements. With artificial intelligence (AI) making headlines throughout the world, we may see an increase in the use of AI in payroll in this year’s results. I, as well many others are excited to see how payroll has evolved since 2021, so I’d encourage all payroll professionals to complete the survey to have their say.”
The 2023 GPCI will reveal whether lessons learned about resilience and the necessity of modernisation translated to tangible action and whether an investment in these crucial areas has led to positive change, in the experience of respondents. With your participation, we can more accurately pinpoint exactly how far we have come.
To take Alight’s 2023 Company Payroll Complexity survey and contribute to the big picture click here.