Managing payroll is a challenge, even when you are only employing locally. And when you extend to get international talent on board, be prepared to get overwhelmed—at least during the initial period. When dealing internationally, you will have to consider several factors like currency exchange rates, global payroll compliance, cost of living, and local benefits. This can easily build up to form a towering chore that can scare you a bit. However, it doesn’t have to be intimidating if you know how to manage it or who to hire to do it. In this article, we bring you the top 3 companies that can solve your international payroll problems.
What Is International Global Payroll?

Global payroll is an umbrella term that covers a lot of activities related to managing international employees and contractors. Besides payroll, it also includes hiring employees, tax payments, distributing pay slips, calculating wages, and following labor laws. It becomes more complex when multiple countries are involved, so if a company has employees in
Hong Kong,
the US, and
the U.K., it will have to consider the payroll legislation of all three countries. So, global payroll is the ability of a company to handle the payrolls of international employees from different countries simultaneously.
Why Companies Should Hire Globally
Many factors can make a company look towards hiring overseas; however, the primary reason is to broaden its talent pool.
And although hiring and managing international employees can be difficult, the pros outweigh the cons.
Here are a few reasons why companies are looking for international talent:
Widening Talent Pool
This is the most significant benefit of hiring internationally; you no longer have to compromise on talent. You get candidates with relevant skills, knowledge, and experience that you may not find locally. Having more options speeds up your hiring process compared to hiring locally, which can take a long time.
Brings A New Perspective
The problem with employees of similar backgrounds is that they have similar outlooks. International hires bring a different perspective to the team. People from international borders bring diverse backgrounds and cultures, making way for greater innovations.
Improve And Expand Your Global Brand
International businesses are globally recognized and have a better reputation. They are considered more empathetic, easy to work with, and socially responsible.
Additionally, clients are more likely to choose international businesses because they view them as adaptable, receptive to change, and advancing toward becoming a common commodity worldwide.
Employees also like multinational corporations because they offer more rewarding and richer work cultures, happier working relationships, and higher employee morale.
Competitive Edge
Employees from different backgrounds bring viewpoints, creativity, and ideas, raising the company above its competitors. The company reaches its goals more quickly and efficiently, outperforms its competitors, establishes itself internationally, and increases customer flow.
How Does Global Payroll Work?
One can establish a payroll process by using any of the methods listed below:
Employer Of Record (EOR)
An Employer Of Record or EOR is a third-party organization that positions itself as an employer for your company, hiring employees and handling employer-related responsibilities on your behalf.
It helps companies engage with employees globally without having to establish a local entity in each country legally.
Professional Employer Organization (PEO)
A PEO is just like EOR, but the company must own a legal entity in the county of employment.
Also, your EOR acts as the company’s HR team and manages all its employee administration tasks, but it is in a co-employment arrangement with the company.
So, both the company and the PEO employ the person simultaneously, and the PEO positions itself as the company’s HR.
In-house Payroll Operations And Workforce Management
You can also manage global payrolls internally. However, you will have to set up a team that must be able to:
- Monitor and centralize the payroll process
- Launch legal entities in countries where you have employees
- Have local legal representation
- Understand local laws, payrolls, taxes, and benefits of each country.
Top 3 Global Payroll Solutions Today
Many international payroll provider companies make hiring and managing international employees look like an easy job. They do this, besides saving money for the company and simplifying the process to an easy plug-and-play solution.
However, finding the best service provider is the biggest challenge that companies face.
To help you with your search, here are the top 3 payroll providers in Australia.
1. Papaya Global

Papaya Global has a revolutionizing workforce and payroll management thanks to its innovative cloud-based SaaS platform.
It has an extensive partner network that makes onboarding employees from more than 160 countries and managing their payrolls very easy. It also keeps you updated with your country’s tax and local employment regulations.
Here are some of Papaya Global’s top features:
- Papaya Global is best for businesses looking to expand their company globally. They are one of the leading PEO companies, which help you hire and pay international staff. They will also help you in getting international permits when you want to send an employee to work in your international office.
- Papaya Global is the best international payroll service provider, as it has the essential tools to handle multi-currency payouts and cross-border payments. It also manages employees locally and even provides pay slips in the employee’s local language.
- Apart from managing employees, Papaya Globals can also help find and manage international contractors in more than 160 countries. It will access the contractor’s worker classification, so you do not have to worry about labor compliance issues.
Papaya Global’s pros include:
- EoR, contractor management, and payroll services in more than 160 countries
- Reasonable and transparent pricing for global payroll solutions
- Compliance support as it performs contractor’s worker classification
- HR and customer support
- Immigration services
- Benefits management
- User-friendly platform
Cost
Papaya Global’s per-month international payroll services start at $20 and can reach up to $100. However, for global EoR services, their pricing starts at $650.
2. Oyster

Despite being young, having started just recently in 2019, Oyster is one of the largest payroll providers in the world and is designed to help businesses streamline their remote hiring process.
They have an extensive network spread over 180 countries, which helps it in hiring and onboarding, providing multi-country payroll, managing invoices, benefit plans, localized compensation packages, converting salaries into local currencies, and much more.
Oyster is the best choice for someone looking for the following features:
- It is a one-stop destination for onboarding info, hiring documents, and pay-related documentation. As a result, you have to do minimum paperwork. It will also manage expenses by sorting local deductions, contributions, and taxes.
- Organized payroll, compliance regulations, and employee benefits. Its watertight compliance management is one of its best features.
Some of Oyster’s pros include:
- Payroll services in more than 180 countries
- Helps with managing compliance
- Hiring employee benefits and other HR functions
- Customized services
- One of the best customer services
- Local health benefits
- Expense reimbursement
Cost
The cost generally starts at $399 per month for business. However, the rate changes according to country, so while it is $399 for Bangladesh, it is $699 for Australia.
3. Rippling

Rippling is a user-friendly, all-in-one HR software solution that automates and streamlines employee management processes and can handle a team of 2 to 2,000 employees.
Its features include hiring, managing, training, and paying employees. It also offers benefits management, learning management, time and attendance tracking, IT solutions, an employee portal, and PEO services.
So, you must get Rippling, if:
- You are a small business that does not have an HR or IT team. It will help recruit employees and provide workflow approval automation tools, full-service payroll, paid time off tracking, commuter benefits, and access to health insurance.
- It is a great international payroll software that helps manage the global workforce—remote and local workers. It provides employees with app access from anywhere and tracks their work hours. Rippling can also process wage payments and send salaries in appropriate currencies.
- Another great thing about Rippling is that after purchasing the rippling unity platform, you can choose the IT and HR solutions that suit your needs. You do not have to buy everything at once and can add modules as your company grows.
Some of Rippling’s pros are:
- Modular payroll, IT, and HR solutions that seamlessly connect
- Supports international payments
- PEO option that can be easily turned on or off
- Intuitive and user-friendly
- Integrates with 500+ third-party software
- Automated and customizable features
Cost
Pricing starts at $8 per employee monthly. However, it increases as you add modules.
Conclusion
Managing payroll takes work. And considering the high international employment following the pandemic, managing payroll has become quite a task.
However, with the many payroll solutions companies on the market today, recruiting and managing international employees is now a breeze.
If you are looking for a payroll solutions provider, consider the top providers we’ve listed in this article.