International payroll refers to the execution and managing payroll payments made to workers based overseas. International payroll processing can come with its share of challenges, including regulatory hurdles, communication barriers, and international banking costs.

To process global payroll, you need to have a system in place that accounts for local regulations, employee compensation and benefits, and cultural considerations. Normally, the easiest way to handle all this is by outsourcing these tasks to a third-party provider with the necessary expertise in place. One way to verify this expertise is by working with an intermediary provider that can accurately vet and analyze the provider’s performance.

At its core, organizing global payroll involves adopting a system that allows you to manage all aspects of payroll, in all countries you operate in, in one place, so that you can have better data visibility and tracking capabilities. A technology-first approach is the right move here. Make sure that the solution you choose has a robust infrastructure and can adjust to payroll anomalies whenever necessary.

Paying your global employees involves choosing the payment method that best suits your growth strategy and your employees’ locations. Deciding how to go about hiring your employees, ensuring the correct classification according to local requirements, and selecting the relevant services are all part of the game. For example, deciding whether you want to open a local entity in a new country or use EOR services may have to do with your expansion budget.

Paying international contractors can be done in all sorts of ways, like bank wires, credit cards, money transfer companies, and freelance platforms. When paying your contractors, it’s important to ensure you’re correctly classifying them and that you’re complying with the local regulations of the region where they’re based. To choose the best payment method and ensure accurate and compliant payment delivery, you may want to consider partnering with a third-party provider with the relevant expertise on the subject.

To avoid international payroll fraud, you need to employ maximum security standards. Some steps you can take to properly do this involve training your employees on how to share and protect information, limiting access to sensitive data, dividing payroll tasks among your payroll team, and adopting cloud security measures.

You may also consider outsourcing much of your payroll tasks to a payroll software provider. Of course, make sure to do your homework first to ensure built-in compliance, audit trail capabilities, data encryption and the relevant certifications.