Payroll Trends – Future of Payroll in the Coming Years

The pandemic forced a lot of organizations to analyze their existing business processes, especially those related to HR. While some business processes and functions were strengthened, others were overhauled, and some were redesigned from scratch.   And now that the worst seems to be over, HR teams are dealing with the “new normal”, which includes things like work-from-home, work-from-anywhere, hybrid working models, gig workers, and, of course, their wages & salaries!  Just like other business functions, technology is helping the HR teams to streamline their various functions and to obtain efficiency out of them. Even before the pandemic, one of the key HR processes that had started undergoing a technology-driven transformation was the Payroll Management System.  For a modern organization, an effective payroll management system and payroll outsourcing have become must-have tools. It does not just make sure that the troops are paid on time, but also makes sure that the HR team can do its core job effectively!  But just like every other business activity and function, payroll management systems and payroll outsourcing are likely to evolve further in the years to come. Here are five payroll trends that are likely to become stronger in the years to come.

The Next-Gen Payroll Management System is closer than you think.

There was a time when robots were thought to be useful in manufacturing units and on shop floors. This was the world before artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, and automation. The next-gen payroll management system of tomorrow will come equipped with these powerful tools that make managing payroll much more efficient than before.  A Global Payroll Benchmarking study conducted by Deloitte in 2020 revealed that 15% of organizations surveyed were already using the next-gen payroll management system to manage their global workforce effectively. Another 49% were likely to shift in the next 2-3 years.  Besides making the payroll management system super smart, these next-gen technologies will also be able to detect and prevent payroll fraud too! 

A Cloud-based Payroll Management System is the way forward.

The market for cloud services is likely to exceed $13.3 million by 2026. The primary advantage of cloud-based services is the ease with which you can access data from any device, and that too, from anywhere on the planet. With newer forms of employment like gigs, Work-from-home, hybrid, and work-from-anywhere gathering pace, a cloud-based payroll management system will emerge as a boon. While it will make life easier for the employees and the HR teams, the Cloud-based Payroll Management System is going to be secure and likely to prevent fraud and unauthorized security breaches too. Besides this, cloud-based payroll outsourcing is likely to do away with the need to upgrade your IT infrastructure as the business grows. As the scale of the business and its requirements grow, the Cloud-based Payroll Management System is capable of growing and evolving with it. 

HR data will help resolve issues and even prevent their occurrence.

For every successful business, data is crucial. The more data one has, the better information can be gathered and the quality of decisions improves drastically. As the scale and size of organizations grow, the huge amount of data collected from the Payroll Management System will help them with plotting the right trends and predicting the likely employee pain points of the future.  This data, when analyzed, will help businesses make effective decisions that will impact them positively in the long run. 

Flexible working will make payroll outsourcing essential  

Not every organization or every business function within the organization will accept flexible working. However, certain organizations and certain business functions within them will surely go that way. Payroll outsourcing will increase with the advent of flexible work policies. Organizations that identify these flexible working opportunities will gain a competitive edge over their rivals as they can dip into the global talent pool and hire the best for their advantage. In such situations, a technology-driven payroll management system will prove to be a boon, as managing teams across continents will become very easy.  

New regulatory changes will be introduced.

Europe has recently started experimenting with a 4-day week to encourage a healthy work-life balance for its employees. Organizations will experiment with such newer ideas to manage not just the work-life balance of their employees but also to comply with the law of the land. A tech-driven payroll management system comes in handy not just when an organization decides to experiment with newer formats but to analyze the results and arrive at decisions too!  We at Paysquare believe that the payroll management system of tomorrow will not be smart alone, but evolve too! It will keep pace with the changing needs of businesses and their various functions, especially that of the HR team.  That is one of the key reasons why some of the most well-known organizations trust Paysquare when it comes to payroll outsourcing or getting the best out of their payroll management systems.  With an experience of over 2 decades and serving a diverse set of clients in India, Paysquare has emerged as the partner you can trust. Our robust technology is acknowledged as one of the best by many organizations for its ability to customize.   So if you are planning to create a world-class organization, then it all boils down to your most important resource—your employees! And to manage this most important resource, always rely on a tried, trusted and future-ready payroll management system.