04:05 APAC
organisations can do to manage obligations with confidence. Why Global Payroll Systems Find it Difficult Australia combines modest scale with disproportionate complexity. With just over 11 million workforce participants, the country is small compared to global giants, yet the rules that govern pay rival those of much larger markets. This mismatch makes it difficult for global platforms to invest deeply in local functionality. Larger markets justify the effort; Australia’s size often does not. As a result,
organisations use systems that are technically capable but require extensive configuration and oversight to reflect the fine detail of local rules. The issue is not the systems themselves but the environment they must support, which calls for knowledge, testing, and governance across payroll, HR, and legal teams. State Differences: The Long Service Leave Example The impact of state variation is clear in long service leave. This entitlement exists in both Australia and New Zealand, granting
employees extended paid leave after long service. In Australia, each state and territory applies it differently, and some industries even allow entitlements to move with employees across employers. This creates a translation problem. Legislation is expressed in weeks, while most payroll systems process in hours. Small misalignments can quickly accumulate into significant variances. Accuracy requires collaboration with legal or external advisors to interpret obligations, supported by payroll teams who apply and test them in practice. Long service leave is less about a single calculation and more about reconciling legal language with system logic. It also highlights how state-based differences add another layer of complexity to the national framework, reminding organisations that payroll in Australia can never be treated as one-size-fits-all.
The issue is not the systems themselves but the environment they must support, which calls for knowledge, testing, and governance across payroll, HR, and legal teams.
48 I 04:05
GLOBAL PAYROLL MAGAZINE ISSUE 17
Made with FlippingBook - Share PDF online