Although companies may be experiencing operational difficulties, the global health crisis should not materially affect companies in the midst of transformation projects if they are given the right attention.
Multinational organizations in the process of global payroll transformations may face some uncertainty about how COVID-19 will impact these projects. In a global payroll transformation, the goal is to align and centralize payroll and HR functions for multiple countries, consolidating them through a global or regional organization, to capitalize skills, resources and tools to leverage common process and practice across countries.
Ian Sparrow, VP Payroll Strategy at ADP, recently spoke about the impact of COVID-19 on global transformation projects. Interestingly, Sparrow noted that although companies may be experiencing operational difficulties, the global health event should not materially affect companies in the midst of transformation projects given the right attention: "This situation is not driving any significant new impacts that can't be managed through a solid project plan."
There are many people and systems involved in transitioning to a shared payroll and HR organization. From communicating the upcoming change to employees and training them on new systems to bringing operations on board for data migration and system implementation, ADP's global transformation teams have the experience and expertise to guide clients through the process. The key, says Sparrow, is to continue to track milestones. "Deliverable milestones tell you where you are in the project, and these data points help identify if deliverables will get off track and then proactive measures can be taken to compensate and continue moving forward." Keeping momentum up is important: slowing down activities is fine, but stopping can create challenges as restarting projects often creates delays or redundancies of good work already completed.
3 Steps to Keeping Global Projects on Track
- Track project milestones.
- Communicate openly and regularly between client and provider.
- Look to slow or phase projects when needed to adjust milestones rather than stop.
Every project should have checks and balances that allow managers to monitor progress and maintain momentum. Even in a situation like the current environment, a well-managed, well-controlled project with good check points can be successfully implemented. For organizations thinking about global payroll transformation, now can still be a good time to begin planning. This is an ideal time to look at whether your organization is best prepared to handle things like furloughs, legislative changes, and alternative pay methods should something like this happen in the future.
As a leader in global Human Capital Management, ADP works with businesses in more than 140 countries on these transformational projects every day to support multi-country payroll and HR. During the global health crisis, there were many potential opportunities for disruption of ADP´s activities, however due to our robust global business resiliency program, essential services and operations were sustained while maintaining a safe work environment for associates. This speaks to ADP's strong infrastructure, long term investment in business continuity preparedness, and legislative expertise. Partnering with ADP for a global payroll transformation can help you keep payroll running even when it's not business as usual.
Global Insights
Register for our complimentary virtual summit to be launched May 29 – Looking Beyond the Curve: Recovery and Engagement in the New World of Work: One of the three keynote sessions will address how employer and employee sectors have been impacted. The conversation, led by Ahu Yildirma, PhD, co-head of the ADP Research Institute® and VP of Corporate Strategy, will offer workforce insights with an eye toward helping employers manage these significant changes. Dr. Yildirmaz directs economic and labor market research into crucial trends shaping today's working environments, leveraging insights gained from ADP's global employee sample of nearly 40 million workers worldwide.
