As a technology agnostic business, we’re often asked to provide our thoughts on the evolution of the payroll provider market and what has changed. As the year draws to an end, we thought we would reflect on some of the key developments and share. One of our resident payroll experts Adam Morris was detailed to see what has happened in the market this year…
2021 has been another turbulent year that has continued to place payroll under a global spotlight. The ongoing pandemic, and continual discovery of new variants, has placed supply pressures onto the labour market, seeing shortages in key areas and increasing wages and prices. So how has payroll reacted to not just this, but the resultant changing demands of the consumer?
Broadly we have seen a shift in focus for payroll on both the client and provider sides. There is more focus on the outwardly looking side of payroll and payroll systems as we look to serve the needs of the business in changing times. Time & Attendance capability is being improved to enable central management and effective analysis; this capability is even being developed as part of solutions it used to sit alongside. The demands and reliance on data is leading to developments in what the tools can offer by way of reporting and analytics, many of which are there to serve the C-suite in strategic decision making. What underpins all of this though is for payroll and payroll resources to support in this more strategic and outwardly focused manner, the tools we use need to do more of the day job, and this is where many of the changes we see mentioned by each of the providers below come in. With a more forward-thinking cap on, I think we will continue to see developments in the way providers and payroll teams can support employees with their financial wellbeing, pay-on-demand is something we are starting to see and hear more of, giving employees real-time access to what they have already earned.
So, what have payroll providers done in the market this year to adapt to such a tumultuous global landscape, and innovate into next year:
Ceridian
Ceridian recently announced plans to deliver Dayforce Payroll across nine new markets, including Germany and Singapore. With its continuous calculation engine, the Dayforce platform is also transforming the payroll experience for organisations by allowing organisations to pay people accurately, on-time, and when they need it globally and at scale. Already available in North America, Ceridian is bringing its industry-first on-demand pay solution. Dayforce Wallet, to the UK in 2022. It delivers a new pay experience that supports the financial wellness of workers at the pace of real life.
Immedis
2021 saw the introduction of numerous new capabilities to the Immedis global payroll solution that remove manual tasks and streamline the payroll process. Among these being a world-first innovation called Immedis CSI (Country Specific Information). CSI is a dedicated payroll database, containing the specific requirements regarding the data to be collected, stored, and used for payroll processing and taxation calculations in each country. These include benefit types, banking information, absence types, and compliance requirements per country to name a few. Midway through the year, Immedis brought out a new Customer Portal Control Center that, together with Perpetual Validation, integration logs, and payroll logs, systemically guides users through the inputs stage. This meshing of all the different capabilities of the platform means missing employee data that impact the payroll process is identified at an early stage, eliminating the risk of missed or inaccurate payments. Finally, they have announced Immedis Pay, a complete, automated, end-to-end payments offering that establishes a single central hub for all their payroll payment and reporting needs.
Neeyamo
In the year 2021, Neeyamo opened its doors to 11 additional centres across the globe, including a first of its kind all-women centre in Nagpur, India, aimed at empowering women employment. Its global workforce has now breached the 3000 mark with its employees based out of over 45 countries globally. From a tech standpoint, Neeyamo launched Skunkworks – Neeyamo’s own R&D labs that aims to create future-ready tech solutions that helps organizations succeed in their workforce management goals. Neeyamo’s payroll connector has been certified by Workday allowing their mutual customers to now use a certified integrator that assures accurate and seamless flow of data between their payroll and HCM solutions. Furthermore, Neeyamo’s Time and Absence application has been rolled out with steep upgrades for all its clients ensuring better analytics. From a strategic perspective, Neeyamo has now entered the Global Employer-of-Record space allowing them to leverage their portfolio of HR and payroll products including Global Payroll, Benefits, Workforce Administration, Global Employment, Background Screening, Compliance Management and Employee Helpdesk.
PSSG
Over the last year PSSG have developed a large amount of functionality into their new cloud environment. This allows outsourced payroll customers the ability to see and understand exactly what is happening with the payroll, what their employees are being paid, any variances month on month and the details of the calculation. It also enables outsourced customers to directly enter data into the payroll system with full validation, dramatically reducing the back and forth inherent in most outsourced interactions. Finally, they have developed a range of functions that automate large portions of the process of running a payroll, seeing this as a big feature of payroll into the future.
SD Worx
SD Worx has had significant development across growth and acquisitions, client engagement, new user experience and expanded offering. SD Worx made several significant acquisitions in 2021; Aditro, Launch! And GlobePayroll. These acquisitions strengthen SD Worx’s HR and payroll technology and outsourcing services and allow them to expand into new territories to better support the needs of businesses across Europe. Throughout 2021, SD Worx has strengthened its commitment to client engagement so clients can inform them on the outcomes that matter the most to them. One of the biggest outcomes from the client forums is that clients are looking to improve their employees’ experiences to enable more engagement in their teams. As a result, SD Worx has implemented a new employee and line manager self-service user experience. Finally, during 2021, SD Worx has expanded its payroll plus service catalogue by delivering additional services based on customer demand. These include updated and enhanced workforce management (and time and attendance) and expense management capabilities on its expanded HR platform solution.
Zellis
Early in 2021, Zellis launched its flagship Zellis HCM Cloud solution, announcing new features addressing the evolving needs of customers, particularly those coping with rapid legislation changes, a shift to hybrid working, and increased focus on employee wellbeing and experience. The need for accessible, intuitive user-experiences has come into clear focus – and Zellis responded with improved sign-on processes, a better mobile app, better integration with Outlook, and tools for colleagues to recognize and celebrate each other via online platforms. Zellis also launched a customer portal for their Managed Service customers to enable enhanced collaboration between in house teams and Zellis with improved data sharing, payroll review progress, and introducing access advanced payroll insights. Overall, improvements to reporting and data integration have been key for granting more control over major costs. Zellis is also helping businesses embrace the advantages of automation to reduce error rates and process faster with Zellis Faster Payments. Finally, in a year where hiring challenges became headline news – Zellis has enhanced services which streamline the onboarding process.
If you have any thoughts, comments or would like to recommend any other providers, or talk to any providers, we can help.
