Countries and local economies are at different phases of the global health event. This presents unique challenges for multinational businesses.
Worldwide, legislative changes in response to COVID-19 are impacting businesses on a frequent and rapidly-changing basis. The first wave of legislation that focused on providing immediate relief to employees and businesses is being updated to further refine and address issues that arose from rapid development. At the same time, new legislation is being released to address some of the longer term effects of business shutdowns and economic uncertainty. While some businesses are beginning to plan for returning to the workplace, they are doing so with extreme caution. Countries and local economies are at different phases of the global health event. This presents unique challenges for multinational businesses.
Marcela Uribe, VP and Assistant General Counsel for ESI, said, "Multinational businesses must be very attuned to local counsel for direction at this time." With legislation evolving so rapidly, and plans for things like reopening certain cities and regions being canceled, moved or changed on a day-to-day basis, the best source of guidance is local counsel in the areas where a business operates. Clients of ADP have the benefit of information from ADP's network of experts in the 140 countries where we do business, including partner expertise from our Streamline and Celergo partners. ADP's legislative compliance team maintains a detailed knowledge of global payroll legislation and ensures that changes are incorporated into our products.
Uribe also pointed out that countries are facing different issues on different timelines. In Asia, for example, issues in the forefront right now are contact tracing apps and procedures around physically returning to the office. The European Union is a bit behind that timeline, and starting to look at what a return to the office will be like in different regions and for different businesses. Contract tracing apps are likely to be subject to greater scrutiny and debate in the EU for data privacy reasons.
According to Phillip Russell, Communications Director, ESI, "A lot of the changes we're seeing are around government support and how to best support employees in different countries." For example, some countries such as Austria and the Czech Republic are beginning to get back to normal business operations, but there are likely to be further changes coming. "In the majority of countries , there are likely to be budgetary gaps based on the COVID-related shutdowns, and the payroll changes will be ongoing," Russell said.
As global organizations determine how to address continued business impact from COVID-19, ADP has been delivering timely legislative updates and guidance on payroll changes in all of the countries in which our clients operate. In addition to client portals, regular communications have been going out to multi-country payroll clients with information on ADP's COVID-19 resources and business resiliency plans.
Right now, one of the biggest concerns across the globe is how businesses are going to recover, and how they can adapt to do so. Stability and compliance are key factors in business resiliency. We understand the importance of our business resiliency and commitment to compliance for our clients and partners globally and will be here to support them through this next phase.
