Starting or expanding a global payroll practice is a substantial undertaking. In addition to having to learn the jurisdiction’s laws and regulations, run any necessary shadow payrolls, and pay employees accurately and on time, a payroll professional must familiarize themselves with the country, its challenges, and business culture to successfully manage payroll across borders.
Two free resources are available to help payroll professionals familiarize themselves with the countries where they process payroll—The World Factbook and Country Commercial Guides.
The World Factbook
The first resource is The World Factbook, produced by the CIA—the United States government’s intelligence agency. This resource provides intelligence on countries, territories, and other political entities (collectively referred to below as “country”) across the globe. While the data provided for each country varies, some standard sections of the Factbook may be helpful for payroll professionals.
Several of these sections can be found on the country’s main page, including the following:
- Introduction: Provides a brief history of the country
- People and Society: Demographic overview, including population, where the population is distributed geographically, and languages spoken
- Government: Identifies the type and organization of the government, type of legal system, and the organization of the judicial system
- Economy: Summary of the imports, exports, major local industries, and composition of the workforce along with other economic indicators
Additionally, the Terrorism and Natural hazards (under Geography) sections (found on the main page) are helpful for alerting payroll professionals and providing insight into events that may result in business interruptions.
Meanwhile, the Travel Facts section, linked under Special Country Products, has plenty of useful information for those who may need to travel to a country where they process payroll or have other business.
The CIA compiles this information primarily for its citizens; however, much of the information is universally applicable for travel to the country. These include travel advisories for any precautions that a traveler may need to take; electrical voltage and plug types for devices; tipping culture; brief insights into cultural practices; and more.
Country Commercial Guides
The second resource is the Country Commercial Guides by the International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce. Each country has a section—Business Travel—which includes information on business customs.
The customs section provides an overview of the best practices for business interactions in other countries, with tips on the usage of business cards, typical business attire, and more. For example, the “Japan Guide” discusses the custom of providing a small, sharable gift, like a U.S. regional specialty or company-branded item, which can be provided during some business meetings. The quality and the packaging of these gifts are extremely important in Japan as symbolic of the giver’s sentiment and respect for the relationship. Sets of four should be avoided (considered unlucky as the word for “four” is pronounced the same as the word for “death”).
Similarly, the “Chile Guide” touches on the custom of gifting company-branded items such as a USB drive, pens, or similar small items as a token of appreciation from the visitor or host.
The guides also contain practical information to assist travelers. These include tips regarding currency, transportation, local holidays, telecommunications, and more.
PayrollOrg Resources
To go beyond these resources, PayrollOrg offers educational opportunities to further the knowledge of global payroll professionals. These courses are offered through several delivery methods, from on demand webinars to interactive virtual classrooms, and cover a variety of topics, from general to country-specific payroll processing.
Jamie Owen, Esq., is Editor, Payroll Information Resources, for PayrollOrg.
