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Canadian HR Reporter, a Thomson Reuters business 2015
Tech changes impact payroll
Core HRMS replaced more often, SaaS expected to become increasingly dominant: Survey
BY SHEILA BRAWN
PAYROLL AND HR should get
used to using mobile technol-
ogy and software-as-a-service
(SaaS) in their jobs. Findings
from a survey show these tech-
nologies are continuing to grow
in popularity in the workplace.
The 2015 HR Service Delivery
and Technology Survey by global
professional services firm Tow-
ers Watson found 61 per cent of
organizations are using or plan-
ning to use mobile technologies.
"That was up 15 per cent from
last year, which was up some-
thing like 10 per cent from the
year before," says Mike DiClau-
dio, global leader of Towers
Watson's HR service delivery
practice in Chicago.
In the Americas, the number
of organizations using or plan-
ning to use mobile technology
was even higher, at 78 per cent.
DiClaudio says the trend to-
ward using more mobile plat-
forms is affecting the way payroll
departments operate.
"About a third of companies
allow you to view your pay slip
online. About a third of compa-
nies allow you to do some sort of
timecard submission or time en-
try online, either view or submit.
More than a third of companies
have a mobile application for ex-
pense management. We are ab-
solutely seeing growth in (this)
sector."
The survey contains respons-
es from 798 organizations in 37
countries. One-half of them are
globally based. Thirty of the or-
ganizations that participated
had headquarters in Canada.
When it comes to payroll
systems, the survey found that
while three-quarters of global
companies use a single system
inside their headquarters coun-
try, 78 per cent have more than
one payroll system or vendor
outside of their home country.
"They would have multiple
payroll systems outside to deal
with different complexities and
capabilities (because) the re-
quirements of payroll by coun-
try get quite complicated and
the technologies are not always
equipped to meet all of the coun-
try needs," DiClaudio says.
Looking at HR systems, the
survey found that 88 per cent
of respondents plan to spend
the same amount or more on
HR technology and systems this
year compared to last year. The
survey also found organizations
are replacing their core human
resource management system
(HRMS) more frequently.
Historically, companies re-
placed their systems every five
to seven years, but now it's every
three to five years.
When HR systems are re-
placed, there is an impact on
payroll, says DiClaudio. This
is especially true when payroll
and HR share the same system,
which is common for many or-
ganizations at their head office.
"The majority of organiza-
tions (54 per cent), inside their
headquarter country, are using
that core HR system as their pay-
roll system," he says.
"If they are swapping out that
core HRMS, they will likely need
to find a new payroll system
as well, which is why you have
seen a little bit of traction in the
market with something like a
News CPR
|
August 2015
see PAPER on page 8