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Centralized global payroll

Combined with last-mile support drives strategic advantage

At a glance

Client details

It is a Western European multinational with business interest in: Adhesive technologies, Beauty care and Laundry & Home care.

Countries/Region

United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt, South Africa and Nigeria.

Number of employees

4,000 + staff across the eight countries

Mercans’ service provision

Global managed payroll outsourcing services

Background

Supported by a workforce from 100+ nations and locations globally, client approached Mercans to assist them in a region covering 12 entities across 8 countries. Managing a number of payroll providers across these countries, client was becoming increasingly frustrated by having to deal with many payroll aggregators. client faced many difficulties.

Payroll processing in various locations ranged from manual spreadsheets to managed services with payroll vendors. Each system had its unique process and IT support. Manual processes contributed to error. At the global level, management encountered different interfaces in accessing payroll data. As a result of this distributed environment, client had neither visibility nor control over payroll which led to costly compliance challenges.

Client wanted a common interface and better information sharing at a global level and also between the entities. They knew transformation was needed and required a clear plan of action.

100

Supported by a workforce from 100 nations and locations globally

12 entities across
8 countries

Client's challenges & objectives

ChallengesObjectives

Payrolls across 12 entities and 8 countries were managed locally either by internal payroll teams or outsourcing providers.

Consolidated supplier base and outsource payroll processing across all countries.

HR and Payroll data was maintained manually in multiple systems.

Establish a single system-of-record for all HR data and implement global interfaces between HRMS and payroll software.

Transition to a centralized shared services center for payroll and HR support services. Increase the standardization of the payroll processes.

Consolidated supplier base and outsource payroll processing across all countries.

Payroll reports and controls lacked consistency.

Implement standard payroll reports and payroll control process across the countries.

Manual processes for timekeeping, overtime work and attendance records contributed to errors and was time consuming.

Introduce time clocks for electronic capture of employees' attendance data and interfaces for the transfer of the data automatically to the payroll system.

Mercans’ project management approach

A robust project management and governance model was implemented to drive the simultaneous implementation processes across 8 countries.
Global program management team, supported by in-country implementation teams were deployed.
Extensive business requirements gathering and mapping workshops were conducted by Mercans’ subject matter experts at the local and regional levels.
Dedicated technical teams focusing on interfaces and technical aspects were assembled.
Advanced project management tools, including online project management software, were deployed to ensure real-time project status resorting and active risk mitigation.
Mercans’ business processes advisory and transformation experts were engaged in order to identify opportunities for payroll processes transformation and automation.
Multi-tier testing plan with a dedicated test environment was activated.

Mercans’ solution objectives

Payroll processing

Streamline and automate Client’s payroll processing cycle by introducing fully automated in- and outbound interfaces, increase the payroll accuracy to at least 99.9% and timeliness to 100% by leveraging electronic data capture tools and machine learning technology for payroll audit and validation. Enable client to reduce and consolidate their internal payroll resources by deploying Mercans in-country operations teams across all countries included in the scope.

Statutory compliance

Guarantee 100% accuracy and timeliness of all local statutory calculations and filings by ensuring that the gross-to-net payroll alculations are generated fully on Mercans’ compliant global payroll software. Automate all statutory calculations involving gross-ups and expatriates. Generate all statutory reports and filings automatically from Mercans’ proprietary HR Blizz global payroll platform.

Mercans’ solutions to client’s challenges

Mercans’ primary goals:

Ensure smooth payroll transition to a single solution and software platform, deliver improved payroll accuracy
and timeliness, as well as exceptional customer and employee experiences.

Workforce management integration with payroll:

Standardized workforce management related business processes and requirements
Integrated client’s time & attendance systems with Mercans’ payroll platform
Automated all payroll calculations involving attendance and absences data

Automation of payroll processing activities and calculations:

Implemented API technology based automated inbound interfaces from client’s HRMS system to Mercans’ proprietary global payroll suite HR Blizz
Deployed automated payroll inputs validation processes
Activated payroll processing robotics
Leveraged machine learning tools validate and audit payroll calculations
Implemented custom payroll reports to deliver improved controls

Introduced about 200 wage types:

Automated payroll calculations by introducing close to 200 wage types
Introduced sophisticated wage type eligibility rules to ensure compliance with client’s HR policies
Leveraged advanced calculation formulas to eliminate any manual interventions with payroll inputs or calculations
Ran more than 1,000 user acceptance test scenarios to confirm the accuracy for the configurations for all possible business cases.

What is a wage element?

It refers to the different categories of costs that contribute to maintaining an employee. Examples include base salary, housing allowance, bonus etc.

Automation of payroll reports generation:

Fully automated the generation of all payroll reports, including General ledger (GL) upload files and electronic bank files
Introduced standardized bilingual payslips
Eliminated all manual activities related to statutory filings

What was unique about our solution & approach

We established a project governance model that focused on early detection and mitigation of risks.
Deployed our in-country subject matter experts and implementation resources in order to improve and streamline communication with client’s local teams
Leveraged the latest and most modern proprietary technology to maximize automation
Focused on delivering the best last-mile support, including local statutory filings and hard-copy payslips.
Maintained “can-do” and solution-driven attitude at all levels of the organization

Business benefits

Increase the minimum payroll accuracy rate to 99.9%

Deprecated legacy payroll software solutions and providers across 8 countries

Delivered 100% payroll timeliness and statutory filings accuracy

Enabled client to successfully consolidate all payroll processes to a single regional shared services center

Delivered tangible costs savings by reducing client's internal resource requirements

Introduced GDPR and local data privacy compliant payroll processes

Lowered client's business risks by eliminating business dependencies related to local resources and systems