The question my HR contemporaries and I have been asked for years is, how will you manage robots at work? Suddenly, we’re on the cusp of the greatest change HR has seen since the “personnel” process evolved in the 90s into the strategic business function of “human capital management” and this question needs answering.
The arrival of automation and cognitive processes is now reality and as innovation intensifies, this question needs clear answers, backed up by tight policies. The complexity of this will vary country-by-country depending on the stipulations of the work councils, but global guidance, change management and communication is a must.
HR technology is fast moving beyond improving HR processes. It’s about maximining business outcomes. HR leaders will find themselves more instrumental than ever in ensuring the correct workforce and service delivery dynamics are in place to deliver success, drive efficiency and enable competitive advantage by having the right ‘people’ in the right place at the right times.
This means attracting, training and retaining the best talent and ensuring that the clean HR data and analytics are in place to enable smart planning and the supporting processes. To achieve this, people will increasingly work side-by-side with robot(ics). This will need some smart handling by HR, as will ensuring there is the agility in the performance and learning processes to evolve people and job functions as the workplace of the future continues to evolve.
The reality is that the integration of robotics into the workforce has already begun. Any search related tool at work is founded on machine learning. Cloud-based HCMs and related services all have elements of cognitive learning powering the processes. It’s the speed of development that we need to be mindful of and how we communicate this to the different demographics in the business.
There are many people that will welcome the elimination of some of the mundane, repetitive processes robotics will remove from their job specifications and the introduction for more meaningful tasks, but others will be threatened, and we must be mindful of this. Actual facts are rarely passed on, so it’s vital that the dissemination of truth is managed well.
If they’re not already, all large organizations need to start thinking about the impact of next-gen HR tech now. The integration of these technologies and the automation of many repetitive tasks in HR and payroll will be commonplace in the 2020s. They simply have to be for businesses to remain compliant and competitive.
I steer away from the term robots as an HR professional because this has many negative connotations, largely fueled by the media. This perception of threat poses a huge and interesting challenge for HR teams. The reality is that most changes will be positive, but as already touched upon, smart change management and internal communications projects are essential.
As to the question, are we ready to manage people and machine side-by-side? Yes, we are. We know that as automation, artificial intelligence, and cognitive technologies gain traction, companies will need to reinvent worker roles, assigning some to humans, others to machines, and still others to a hybrid model in which technology augments human performance.
This emergence of the hybrid workforce – people and robots working together, introduces additional legal challenges and will require HR working in parties with other elements of the business to manage not only this transition, but the policies that sit behind the programming of these tools. How do you prevent unconscious or even conscious biases being built into cognitive technologies? Who influences the robots? We’re certainly looking at exciting times ahead of us.
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Your SuccessFactors talent management modules support you throughout the talent lifecycle – from recruiting the brightest talent to nurturing them with training and development, retaining key employees and planning for succession.
We help you get the most out of your SuccessFactors system, advising on the personalized learning platforms and dashboard tools, to help you plan and measure employee learning and progress.
Plus, the recruitment modules include tools to help you nurture the brightest talent both in and outside of the business. Plan for smooth successions so you’re never left under-skilled and execute high-volume or targeted external recruiting with ease.
We help you get the most out of your Workday talent and recruitment modules, making it effortless to recruit, retain and nurture the brightest talent.
Access specific recruitment modules designed to help you onboard new hires and get them up and running quickly to maximize efficiency.
Talent management modules use your global employee data to give you a complete overview of the skills you have access to. In addition to all employee career aspirations and their current progress.
Align this data with your business plan to identify skills and succession gaps, so you’re always prepared for any demands.
Help your people maximize their contribution to the organization by supporting them in achieving their goals through tailored learning and development plans. These can translate into real rewards for both them and the business.
Our partnership with beqom helps our customers transform their businesses through total compensation management automation. This enables them to optimize costs, attract, retain, and effectively align talent with their business strategy, while complying with audit and regulatory requirements.
The beqom Total Compensation solution is used globally across all industry sectors by more than 100 large companies such as PepsiCo and DHL. It addresses all performance and compensation aspects such as salary review, bonus, long-term incentives, sales commissions, benefits, non-cash rewards, and all key drivers towards employee performance and sales performance.
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Covid-19 forced the future of work upon organisations. The confidence of CHROs of delivering the future of work has always been a moving target for five years according business analysts and reflected in the findings of Alight | NGA HR State of HR Transformation Survey (APAC) 2020.
Ingentis offers organizational charting solutions which enables companies to chart and amend their structures quickly and easily. It runs on the SAP Cloud platform and integrates seamlessly with SuccessFactors.
Our partnership with Ingetis began in May 2020. We are able to offer Ingentis’s solutions to our customers. We can integrate Ingentis’s organizational chart functionality with your wider HR systems.
Qualtrics is a leading experience data company. They are owned by SAP. They specialize in giving companies the power improve employee experience through data.
Our partnership with Qualtrics began in May 2020 and we are able to integrate the Qualtrics experience platforms into your existing HR and payroll platforms. This is a powerful option as it enables you to improve employee experience by using data and your existing HR systems.
Global Complexity Index 2019
The core countries of South America have caused the biggest shake-up in the history of the Global Payroll Complexity Index. Economies boosted by international investments have driven the quest for payroll process compliance. With inward investment, largely from Europe and the US, on the rise, organizations wanting to join the global economy have had to give the assurance that business processes and data protection are in line with levels constituted Europe and North America.
Argentina, Mexico and Brazil were ranked in the study as the three countries ‘most worried about ensuring process compliance.’ Brazil also sits highest, alongside Switzerland and Australia, when questioned about the ‘stress of potential failure.’
New | Venezuela | 6.52 |
Argentina | 6.29 | |
Brazil | 6.20 | |
Colombia | 5.12 |
Workday Human Capital Management is an intuitive and unified HR and Talent Management cloud-based solution. Based on a close partnership that started in 2011, NGA supports Workday HCM clients with application management and multi-country payroll services, as well as scalable Business Process Outsourcing (BPO). This partnership gives Workday HCM customers greater choice and flexibility for global payroll while lowering costs and easing the burden on integration.
NGA brings payroll in 188 countries to Workday HCM customers based on a preconfigured and out-of-the-box connector that supports bi-directional data exchange. NGA provides better data quality by eliminating dual data entry between systems. This results in significant savings in cost and time to implement.
At NGA HR we have developed expertise in SAP SuccessFactors since 2012, leveraging many years’ experience in SAP consulting. Our certified consultants have implemented all modules, and are able to integrate SAP HCM & SuccessFactors providing effective hybrid solutions.
With SAP SuccessFactors, companies can consolidate and streamline core human resources (HR) and payroll processes with a cloud-based, global solution for the total workforce. HR organizations can define and execute better people strategies, provide actionable insight, and focus on value-add activities that support the business.
Together, NGA and Benify provide businesses with the fully integrated rewards and benefits platforms they need to attract, motivate and retain talent in the increasingly competitive digital world of work. NGA HR provide their clients with the option to integrate Benify’s digital engagement platform into existing HR and payroll infrastructures and into all digital HR transformation projects.
Who are Benify?
Benify is one of the world’s leading independent providers of digital HR and employee solutions and services. Benify’s award-winning global benefits communication and engagement platform makes it easier for employers to attract, reward and retain employees through a personalized employee experience. Millions of employees enjoy access to Benify´s portal and app every day making it easier for them to engage with their reward and benefits beyond their salary with clear overviews, digital benefits enrolment and ongoing communication. The result? Happier and more engaged employees with increased loyalty, performance and profitability across your business
Nakisa is a leading provider of enterprise-level organizational design solutions to help companies automate their business transformation initiatives. The Hanelly cloud solution is used for organizational design activities and leverages existing HCM technologies to provide intuitive org charting and design with powerful analytics. Through the alliance, NGA HR helps modernize enterprise HR business, organization and change management initiatives and processes. With Hanelly, clients are able to visualize their organization structures, identify and create multiple change scenarios, and clearly measure their outcomes ensure alignment with business objectives.
Nakisa’s Hanelly solution allows companies to readily meet aggressive deadlines in the short term but more importantly, potentially save millions with automated and efficient scenario modeling, design, and management. The NGA partnership helps companies across all industries, and in particular those with complex organization and change management requirements.
PeopleDoc by Ultimate Software is committed to putting people first. The PeopleDoc HR Service Delivery platform helps HR teams upgrade the employee experience, improve HR agility, and ease compliance management. PeopleDoc global cloud solutions provide employee case management, knowledge portal, process automation, employee file management, and eVault capabilities. Delivered 100% software as a service, PeopleDoc solutions integrate with a wide range of HR and enterprise systems and can be implemented in 8–12 weeks.
The partnership enables NGA HR to add the PeopleDoc HR Service Delivery cloud solution to its portfolio of digital HR implementation and maintenance services. NGA HR is certified to provide implementation, training and ongoing application support for PeopleDoc customers.
Like NGA HR, PeopleDoc is a partner of the leading cloud HRIS platforms, which adds further opportunities for NGA HR clients to address growing requirements of businesses for integrated document management and HR workflow solutions, both high on the innovation agenda of HR leaders who seek to transform the employee experience.
Organizational requirements for different countries often dictate different payroll providers. And your choice of providers can affect your operation in significant ways. As a certified partner, NGA Human Resources offers cloud-based Oracle HCM customers a seamless integration with multi-country payroll outsourcing services in 188 countries. This provides Oracle HCM customers greater choice and flexibility for global payroll while lowering costs and easing the burden on integration.
With over 1,300 SAP HCM and payroll projects delivered, NGA has the expertise to develop, implement and maintain your SAP HCM on premise environment. With a wide range of services & solutions, we enable our clients to improve HR service delivery through smarter processes and more efficient technologies.
NGA’s in-depth knowledge of SAP HCM enables us to deliver high-quality projects across the globe. Based on a unique mix of our unprecedented expertise in SAP HCM, our global outsourcing capabilities and our suite of support & self-service tools, we offer businesses the flexibility to choose the right solution that optimizes your SAP HCM investment.
NGA Human Resources has a strong global alliance with Kronos Incorporated, the global leader in delivering workforce management solutions in the cloud.
NGA Time Powered by Kronos – an integrated Cloud Time solution – combines the global and local payroll, time expertise, and global delivery network of NGA Human Resources, with the cost control, compliance, labor productivity and engagement benefits of the Kronos Workforce Central and Workforce Dimensions solutions.
As a certified partner, NGA HR will deploy, operate and manage workforce management solutions from Kronos as part of a fully integrated global Business Process-as-a-Service (BPaaS) solution. Your complete cloud solution for integrated payroll, time, and HR administrative services.
Global Complexity Index 2019
The issue of managing state and federal rules in Australia, plus industry awards and in-country policies, makes the job challenging. There are few standard processes. Each employee can be affected differently by legislative changes depending on where in the country they are, and if their role or location changes even slightly.
Legislation around employment is a test. Most people are either paid through award or collective bargaining agreements. Each employee in Australia is identified by industry. Each organization is likely to have multiple industries represented in its workforce.
Minimum pay rates and conditions of employment are set across an industry, irrespective of company policy or state location. Calculations for shift workers are very complicated and flexible and ‘fringe’ benefit rules are a minefield to track, compile and report on.
Australia | 5.85 | |
New Zealand | 5.69 |
Global Complexity Index 2019
Africa is rather underrepresented in the 2019 Global Payroll Complexity Index, with only South Africa making it into the Top 40. This is likely to change in the 2020 report if predictions made by economists are correct. At least 10 of its 54 countries are predicted to be among the world’s fastest growing economies.
Already, there is great wealth. It is a continent rich with minerals and attracts huge interest from investors from around the world. According to the findings of the survey, many of these companies tend to install just one or two people in situ. Payroll for these organizations is managed either in South Africa, remotely or by bureaus, so contributing to the low levels of payroll complexity in Africa.
South Africa | 6.46 |
Global Complexity Index 2019
Asia, alongside Europe, has the greatest number of countries in the GPCI Top 40. As a continent, it is the fasted climber up the Global Payroll Complexity Index. This is thought to correlate with the expansion of service-centric businesses from the West into these fast-growing economies. This has led to the need to introduce new types of pay and reward structures and to look at global mobility for the first time.
Japan and China both sit in the Top 10, in 5th and 7th position. Alongside these, it is Hong Kong and Malaysia where noticeable increases in payroll complexity have been reported. Singapore and India are the only two countries in Asia to report a significant drop in payroll complexity. In Singapore, this is due to all tax calculations now being handled by the government. Of all countries in the world India is investing most on payroll automation processes.
Japan | 6.81 | |
China | 6.65 | |
Russia | 6.30 | |
New | South Korea | 6.21 |
– | Phillipines | 6.15 |
Malaysia | 6.01 | |
India | 5.99 | |
– | Turkey | 5.82 |
Hong Kong | 5.78 | |
Thailand | 5.10 | |
Singapore | 4.92 | |
United Arab Emirates | 4.55 |
Global Complexity Index 2019
Europe continues to present the greatest challenge for organizations with an international workforce. Belgium, France, Italy, Germany and Spain dominate the top 10 fore payroll complexity and more than a third of the 40 countries in the 2019 Global Payroll Complexity Index are European.
There is no standardization across the continent. However, common to all are the challenging regulatory and government reporting expectations. These are frequently revised, often with little warning. Tax and social security deductions are testing in almost all European countries.
Status-based employee benefits and compensation, bonus and reward packages are common, as are non-standard annual leave entitlements. For example, there can be up to 14 public holidays a year in some countries, but not all applicable to all employees. The rules around these and other workplace regulations effecting payroll are under the strong influence of trade unions, Works Councils and collective bargaining agreements
In the past two years, rigorous data protection legislation has been introduced across the continent. Despite expectations, it turns out that compliance of the GDPR is not ‘standard’. Many governments in Europe have added their own layers of protection. Outside of the EU, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Ukraine, Montenegro and Monaco are set to follow with new data protection regulations in 2019, adding layers of complexity and uncertainty to already challenging payroll processes.
– | France | 7.65 |
– | Italy | 7.58 |
– | Belgium | 7.01 |
Germany | 6.85 | |
Spain | 6.70 | |
Denmark | 6.59 | |
Netherlands | 6.50 | |
Poland | 6.49 | |
Portugal | 6.38 | |
Sweden | 6.25 | |
Ireland | 6.19 | |
New | Ukraine | 6.10 |
New | Finland | 6.08 |
New | Romania | 5.89 |
United Kingdom | 5.60 | |
New | Austria | 5.31 |
Global Complexity Index 2019
There are three standout factors that raise the payroll complexity stakes across North America. These are the three levels of legislation: federal, state and local, multiple tax calculations and frequent changes in legislation. Compliance and consistency for multi-state employers can be very difficult. It’s a never-ending battle to figure out the federal, state and local tax for each employee.
While the USA has on paper moved down the Index, this drop has been influenced by the rise in the number of organizations in the US now using opting to use managed or complete BPO payroll services. There is also significant movement to integrated cloud HR platforms and the increased use of process automation in US payroll processes.
Canada has seen a slight fall in its ranking in the Index. This serves to highlight the success that years of industry and government collaboration have had in the bid to create a national payroll infrastructure that ensures that everyone can be paid accurately and on time.
One of the clear outcomes from this partnership is the clarity around national legislative updates. This said, provincial changes to tax and payroll legislation, and union collective agreements do continue to test. Twice monthly is the most common frequency for payroll runs in Canada, but this can become weekly or even daily when all is factored in.
Quebec is the most challenging, also requiring bi-lingual payroll in many instances. Once respondent stated; “If I had to manage payroll in Quebec as well, I would have ranked payroll complexity in Canada, nine out of 10 rather than the four out of 10 I am giving it.”
Mexico | 6.13 | |
United States | 6.07 | |
Canada | 5.53 |
Andy joined NGA in November 2015 as President of the Enterprise segment, and was promoted to CEO in October 2017. He has spent over 30 years in the information technology industry and was a senior executive with IBM. For the first 19 years of his career, he led various financial organizations at IBM, and for the last decade he led several of the global business units. Andy worked and lived in the US, Japan and Europe. He currently serves on the boards of several start-ups, community and not-for-profit organizations.
Aitor Vinos leads Account Management, and is responsible for delivering HR and global payroll solutions to NGA Human Resources’ clients across 100 geographies. Aitor has worked in the Payroll and HR industry for more than 20 years, having joined NGA HR in 1999. During this time, he has been instrumental in driving innovation, employing a client first approach to solution development.
In 2005, Aitor was promoted to lead the European BPO Operations, setting up the Granada Service Center – which now employs over 1,000 HR & payroll experts and serves employees in 18 languages – and helping clients to implement and manage global payroll and HR solutions across the EMEA region. Since 2014, Aitor’s role has expanded to include the development of NGA HR’s Digital HR Services business, essential to supporting clients in their transition from OnPremise solutions to HR & payroll in the cloud. Aitor has a university degree in industrial engineering and lives in Spain with his wife and two children.
Michael Rogers has been leading the HR function since May 2016, and was appointed as Senior Vice President Human Resources in May 2017. His goal is to ensure that NGA HR is a Great Place to Work. This includes leadership of the regional HR function as well as the Talent Acquisition, Learning & Development and Reward and Recognition teams.
Michael is focused on improving employee experience and engagement alongside the driving of a high-performance culture. Prior to this role and having joined NGA HR in 2012 as Senior HR Business Partner to the COO UK, Michael held several key HR leadership roles.
With 15 years of HR experience, before joining NGA HR Michael held key HR roles in several companies, including at Vistaprint, where he played a key role in driving their hyper-growth in Europe based out of Barcelona; at lastminute.com, where he supported the integration into the wider Sabre business and developed their people strategy for Sales and Marketing; and also at Cisco, where he performed various HR roles including a key leadership role in their worldwide sales and engineering academy based out of Amsterdam.
Michael lives in London, with his wife and two children.
Steve Chalker is Chief Financial Officer at NGA HR, responsible for financial strategy, budgeting, planning, accounting, tax and treasury and investor functions. He joined the company in February 2013 and was appointed as CFO in October 2018, to guide the business through continued growth.
Rather than a typical accountant, Steve is a “business partner” and as such he brings a wealth of non-financial experience to his role. He believes this rounded approach is essential for business success in the global digital economy.
Since qualifying in 1999, Steve has experience across a variety of industries prior to joining NGA HR including transport, telecoms, utilities and FMCG at a senior level in both listed and private companies. In addition to finance team leadership and business management, he has been integral to finance change management programs as well as leading several post-acquisition integrations. In addition, for more than 10 years he’s been co-owner and director of several small service businesses he helped found.
Steve is married with two children and enjoys spending time with friends and family in a variety of pursuits.
Malcolm Bennett has been NGA Human Resources Group Counsel and Company Secretary since January 2015. He was previously Associate General Counsel for over 13 years with IBM and previously held legal positions with CMS Cameron McKenna and BHP Billiton prior to that.
Malcolm has experience in managing teams/departments and structuring and negotiating complex commercial transactions in multiple jurisdictions – he now leads a small team of legal, compliance and security professionals for NGA HR across the globe.
He studied Law at the University of Cape Town and now resides in Manchester with wife and son.
Mike Eralie is COO at NGA Human Resources, and is responsible for leading the company’s global delivery and customer operations, including global HR service centers, HR technology consulting and service readiness. Mike joined NGA HR in 2014 as Vice President, Service Delivery Architecture, and subsequently held the position of VP Operations for the Americas region.
Mike has more than 20 years experience in the HR BPO and IT, most of which has been in senior management and leading client-focused delivery and technology operations. Prior to joining NGA Human Resources, Mike served as SVP HR Services at Xerox. Before Xerox, he held various management positions at Iomega and Arthur Andersen.
Mike has lived in the US and Germany, and currently resides in Belgium. He holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Utah, as well as an MBA degree from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University.
Anita is responsible for Strategy & Alliances, Analyst and Advisor relationships and external comms. She joined NGA HR in 2001 as part of the acquired Arinso International organization. Anita has held a number of key senior positions working with NGA HR clients and alliance organizations to ensure strategic value propositions are developed and brought to market.
She is now responsible for defining the global strategy of the NGA HR business and owns the relationships with key alliance partners such as SAP SuccessFactors, Workday, Kronos.She previously was NGA HR’s VP for Northern Europe and Managing Director for the Netherlands – leading our face-to-market execution and designing new offerings for the region. Anita has lived in the US and Germany, resides in the Netherlands and has a Master’s of Art degree from the Free University of Amsterdam.
Luca joined NGA HR in November 2007. He has held a number of senior sales and general management positions across Europe and Latin America, working with large multinational clients on their respective transformation journeys. He now leads Sales globally and is responsible for leading over 200 sales professionals representing NGA HR in the market. His sole focus is on enabling clients to create value and Make HR Work Better within their industry.
Most recently Luca was the President for Europe and LATAM responsible for driving the go-to-market strategy and offerings development for those regions.
Prior to this Luca held a number of senior positions with a multinational packaging company and with HR software services organization. Luca began his career in consulting with Accenture. He holds a Political Sciences & Economics degree from the Università degli Studi di Milano.
Luca lives in Madrid with his wife and two kids. He is a big sports fan and enjoys triathlons and skiing.
Johan Bosschaerts was appointed Senior Vice President Technology, Innovation and Solutions for NGA in June 2013. He is responsible for ensuring the innovation, development and continuation of our own IP offering and integrate these with those from our strategic partners to create a platform for sustainable growth and drive operational excellence.
Having joined NGA in 2006, Johan held various key positions in the company, Country Managing Director, Global Program Director on the company’s largest outsourcing deals, and Executive for Enterprise Product Engineering. Before having joined NGA, Johan held key positions in various companies in both product and client program design and delivery functions leading large international teams, especially in the pharmaceutical and manufacturing industries.
Johan holds degrees in both Commercial Engineering and Information Technology. Johan is married with two children and is based in Belgium.