In April, Workday announced the news that it is launching Workday Payroll in the UK. Laurent Botella, director, payroll product strategy gives Purely Payroll a sneak preview on the latest new developments and his views on the challenges of operating in this country.
Can you give us an update on the new developments at Workday?
Workday has been making additional investment in its payroll strategy and I am pleased to say that Workday Payroll is now available in the UK. It is a modern, cloud-based solution designed to address the full spectrum of a UK organisations’ payroll needs.
It supports Pay As You Earn (PAYE) statutory taxes including National Insurance, student loans, statutory absence payments and court orders. It also provides exception reporting capabilities, audits, and alerts to prompt users, ensuring improved accuracy with payroll calculations as well as real-time information (RTI) reporting. Our UK customers are very happy that it is available to them.
What are the common challenges that companies face when managing payroll in the UK?
Keeping up with the rate of change of UK legislation is definitely a concern, as UK organisations need to be compliant of the rules. If they don’t have the right system in place that is flexible enough to help manage this, in real-time, they may face a hefty fine.
Then there is RTI, which is there to improve the operation of PAYE. RTI is a real-time reporting framework that UK employers were required to start using two years ago. Where reporting on PAYE used to be an annual occurrence, businesses are now required to do this electronically, every time they pay an employee. In some cases this is on a weekly basis.
Auto-enrolment of workplace pensions, a new legal duty that came into effect in 2012, can be another challenge. It is a time consuming task as employers need to set up a pension scheme, assess the workforce, automatically enroll eligible workers in the pension, deduct their contributions, as well as handle any opt-outs.
All this of course is just the tip of the iceberg. Organisations with separate HR and payroll systems results have to deal with inefficiencies, such as reduced and poor communication and duplicable data entry, which trigger a greater risk for errors. Those using a bureau payroll service have access to limited reporting functions. They have difficulty slicing and dicing payroll data and cannot execute comprehensive reporting across HR and payroll.
Today’s organisations need a cloud-based payroll system, like Workday, to alleviate these pressures. It can offer control to manage payroll, flexibility to address unique requirements, and the insight needed to help organisations save time and money. Hardcoded, rigid packages that on-premise payroll applications provide simply cannot do this.
How would you describe the key differentiators of a cloud-based payroll solution such as Workday?
Our entire solution is based on a single, easy to use and unified platform. This alone brings many substantial benefits to users and organisations. We offer one single data source, one security model and one data privacy model for all processes.
This eliminates the need for separate application and data integration infrastructures between HR and payroll applications, cutting down on integration costs and initial deployment times. It also provides actionable insights into reports and payroll results. This means that organisations can run reports and audits on all payroll data, as well as retrieve and act on payroll data immediately to make adjustments.
Customers will be able to utilise our modern calculation engine to handle complex requirements, define processing criteria for pay runs, run multiple pay groups together, perform comprehensive audits before a final pay run, and get automatic tax updates. What is just as important is that organisations will be able to offer its employees access to mobile and online pay slips though the intuitive user interface.
Lastly, our delivery model means that new major updates happen faster and more smoothly for customers.
Keeping up with the rate of change of UK legislation is definitely a concern, as UK organisations need to be compliant of the rules.
From a cost perspective, what are the key economic benefits of a cloud payroll solution?
There is a lower cost of ownership with a cloud delivery model. Legacy, onpremise systems equate to customisation, maintenance charges and lengthy and costly upgrades. A cloud-based payroll solution removes all of that for the business. It empowers the payroll team to configure the pay calculation to handle their unique and most complex needs without requiring the support from IT or external consultants.
The payroll team has full control to define all the automated audit reports they require and that leads to better accuracy and fewer mistakes. Organisations do not need a dedicated team to download the tax updates and apply them to their on-premise solution. They get automatic tax updates from Workday through the cloud delivery model.
All these combined benefits provide organisations with more control over their payroll processing and more flexibility to meet their changing needs; many manual processes can also be automated and some, such as tax updates, are eliminated.
Why is Workday’s payroll strategy well equipped for global payroll management?
Workday’s global payroll strategy is focused on driving payroll management from a global perspective and day-to-day processes and operations from a local perspective.
Beyond the three localised payrol applications (for the US, Canada and UK) Workday offers:l
• Cloud Connect for Third-Party Payroll - A flexible bi-directional payroll interface that enables our customers to easily integrate Workday Human Capital Management (HCM) with their preferred payroll vendors across the globe.
• The Workday Global Payroll Cloud - A partner programme that offers certified, bi-directional, pre-built integrations to move data between Workday HCM and other payroll systems.
Both provide the bi-directional capabilities needed to move data between Workday HCM and third party payroll systems. Customers have a comprehensive, global view of payroll insights while still having the choice and flexibility of selecting the best local payroll providers for their needs.
With Workday Global Payroll Cloud, partners build and maintain integrations, enabling customers to reduce the cost and burden associated with integrating, deploying, and managing multiple payroll systems. Business leaders are equipped with visibility into the true cost of the global workforce with realtime analytics on global payroll actuals in a single currency, or country-specific analytics in a local currency.
Move off your legacy system to a cloud-based application that gives you control over your payroll processes, automatically delivers tax updates and provides actionable insights.
What advice do you have for payroll managers struggling to adapt to change and meeting new compliance mandates?
Flexibility and agility are the key words here. Move off your legacy system to a cloud-based application that gives you control over your payroll processes, automatically delivers tax updates and provides actionable insights. Speak to peer groups who are using a cloudbased application and partner with a vendor who can offer the right solution for you.
What do you think payroll managers were most concerned about in the past and what will concern them the most in the future?
I would say that there is not much difference in what many payroll managers were concerned about five, or even 10 years ago, versus what they are concerned about today. New legislation that is out of their control is often imposed on them and there is the fear that their payroll vendor cannot manage with the rate of change.
Everything has to happen in real-time, which can be difficult to manage if employers have disparate systems in place. The bigger the organisation, the more difficult it is to manage. With all this in mind, there can only be one solution and that is a move to the cloud.
\
Laurent Botella
In April, Workday announced the news that it is launching Workday Payroll in the UK. Laurent Botella, director, payroll product strategy gives Purely Payroll a sneak preview on the latest new developments and his views on the challenges of operating in this country.
Can you give us an update on the new developments at Workday?
Workday has been making additional investment in its payroll strategy and I am pleased to say that Workday Payroll is now available in the UK. It is a modern, cloud-based solution designed to address the full spectrum of a UK organisations’ payroll needs.
It supports Pay As You Earn (PAYE) statutory taxes including National Insurance, student loans, statutory absence payments and court orders. It also provides exception reporting capabilities, audits, and alerts to prompt users, ensuring improved accuracy with payroll calculations as well as real-time information (RTI) reporting. Our UK customers are very happy that it is available to them.
What are the common challenges that companies face when managing payroll in the UK?
Keeping up with the rate of change of UK legislation is definitely a concern, as UK organisations need to be compliant of the rules. If they don’t have the right system in place that is flexible enough to help manage this, in real-time, they may face a hefty fine.
Then there is RTI, which is there to improve the operation of PAYE. RTI is a real-time reporting framework that UK employers were required to start using two years ago. Where reporting on PAYE used to be an annual occurrence, businesses are now required to do this electronically, every time they pay an employee. In some cases this is on a weekly basis.
Auto-enrolment of workplace pensions, a new legal duty that came into effect in 2012, can be another challenge. It is a time consuming task as employers need to set up a pension scheme, assess the workforce, automatically enroll eligible workers in the pension, deduct their contributions, as well as handle any opt-outs.
All this of course is just the tip of the iceberg. Organisations with separate HR and payroll systems results have to deal with inefficiencies, such as reduced and poor communication and duplicable data entry, which trigger a greater risk for errors. Those using a bureau payroll service have access to limited reporting functions. They have difficulty slicing and dicing payroll data and cannot execute comprehensive reporting across HR and payroll.
Today’s organisations need a cloud-based payroll system, like Workday, to alleviate these pressures. It can offer control to manage payroll, flexibility to address unique requirements, and the insight needed to help organisations save time and money. Hardcoded, rigid packages that on-premise payroll applications provide simply cannot do this.
How would you describe the key differentiators of a cloud-based payroll solution such as Workday?
Our entire solution is based on a single, easy to use and unified platform. This alone brings many substantial benefits to users and organisations. We offer one single data source, one security model and one data privacy model for all processes.
This eliminates the need for separate application and data integration infrastructures between HR and payroll applications, cutting down on integration costs and initial deployment times. It also provides actionable insights into reports and payroll results. This means that organisations can run reports and audits on all payroll data, as well as retrieve and act on payroll data immediately to make adjustments.
Customers will be able to utilise our modern calculation engine to handle complex requirements, define processing criteria for pay runs, run multiple pay groups together, perform comprehensive audits before a final pay run, and get automatic tax updates. What is just as important is that organisations will be able to offer its employees access to mobile and online pay slips though the intuitive user interface.
Lastly, our delivery model means that new major updates happen faster and more smoothly for customers.
Keeping up with the rate of change of UK legislation is definitely a concern, as UK organisations need to be compliant of the rules.
From a cost perspective, what are the key economic benefits of a cloud payroll solution?
There is a lower cost of ownership with a cloud delivery model. Legacy, onpremise systems equate to customisation, maintenance charges and lengthy and costly upgrades. A cloud-based payroll solution removes all of that for the business. It empowers the payroll team to configure the pay calculation to handle their unique and most complex needs without requiring the support from IT or external consultants.
The payroll team has full control to define all the automated audit reports they require and that leads to better accuracy and fewer mistakes. Organisations do not need a dedicated team to download the tax updates and apply them to their on-premise solution. They get automatic tax updates from Workday through the cloud delivery model.
All these combined benefits provide organisations with more control over their payroll processing and more flexibility to meet their changing needs; many manual processes can also be automated and some, such as tax updates, are eliminated.
Why is Workday’s payroll strategy well equipped for global payroll management?
Workday’s global payroll strategy is focused on driving payroll management from a global perspective and day-to-day processes and operations from a local perspective.
Beyond the three localised payrol applications (for the US, Canada and UK) Workday offers:l
• Cloud Connect for Third-Party Payroll - A flexible bi-directional payroll interface that enables our customers to easily integrate Workday Human Capital Management (HCM) with their preferred payroll vendors across the globe.
• The Workday Global Payroll Cloud - A partner programme that offers certified, bi-directional, pre-built integrations to move data between Workday HCM and other payroll systems.
Both provide the bi-directional capabilities needed to move data between Workday HCM and third party payroll systems. Customers have a comprehensive, global view of payroll insights while still having the choice and flexibility of selecting the best local payroll providers for their needs.
With Workday Global Payroll Cloud, partners build and maintain integrations, enabling customers to reduce the cost and burden associated with integrating, deploying, and managing multiple payroll systems. Business leaders are equipped with visibility into the true cost of the global workforce with realtime analytics on global payroll actuals in a single currency, or country-specific analytics in a local currency.
Move off your legacy system to a cloud-based application that gives you control over your payroll processes, automatically delivers tax updates and provides actionable insights.
What advice do you have for payroll managers struggling to adapt to change and meeting new compliance mandates?
Flexibility and agility are the key words here. Move off your legacy system to a cloud-based application that gives you control over your payroll processes, automatically delivers tax updates and provides actionable insights. Speak to peer groups who are using a cloudbased application and partner with a vendor who can offer the right solution for you.
What do you think payroll managers were most concerned about in the past and what will concern them the most in the future?
I would say that there is not much difference in what many payroll managers were concerned about five, or even 10 years ago, versus what they are concerned about today. New legislation that is out of their control is often imposed on them and there is the fear that their payroll vendor cannot manage with the rate of change.
Everything has to happen in real-time, which can be difficult to manage if employers have disparate systems in place. The bigger the organisation, the more difficult it is to manage. With all this in mind, there can only be one solution and that is a move to the cloud.
\
Laurent Botella
