Meeting the Gold Standard of Global Workforce Payments

There’s a quiet trend emerging: more and more international companies are hiring Canadian remote workers. Data collected by HR platform Deel revealed that the countries with the fastest-growing rates of Canadian hires since January 2023 are Australia (224% increase), Sweden (109% increase), Singapore (80% increase), and India (62% increase).

Many of these hires are tech workers, as the IT staffing crunch still affects companies. And it’s easy to see why global companies are courting Canadian workers; they are typically highly educated, savvy, and – perhaps most importantly – cost less than their American counterparts.

While hiring abroad is a great way to ensure you find the right person for the job, it’s not without its challenges. First among them is paying workers across borders. The reason is simple: most multinationals rely on banks or payment service providers (PSPs) to pay workers. PSPs and banks use traditional rails to deliver salaries. These rails were not designed for workforce payments, often resulting in late and inaccurate transactions.

Late and inaccurate payments can lead to a high rate of employee attrition. That’s especially true in Canada; according to a recent study by the National Payroll Institute, more than 90% of Canadian workers would look for a new job if their pay was regularly delayed or inaccurate. Even if the worker doesn’t end up leaving, the lasting effects of disrupted workforce payments can’t be underestimated:

• 64% of workers would trust their employer less.
• 51% would have concerns about how much their employer values them.
• 59% would caution others about joining the company.

Declaration of commitment

It’s not surprising that timely and accurate payroll payments are the only acceptable outcome in Canada. Last year, the National Payroll Institute compiled the core principles required to conduct payroll professionally, labeling them the “Declaration for Payroll.” The eight principles are accuracy, compliance, disclosure, equity, professionalism, security, timeliness, and transparency.

Accuracy

“Providing accurate pay in accordance with current legislation and agreed upon conditions and stipulations of any employment or contract agreements.”

Partnering with J.P. Morgan Chase, Papaya established the world’s first workforce-dedicated rails. Unlike traditional rails, which are littered with unexpected charges nibbling away at salary sums, on Papaya’s rails all fees are known in advance. This allows us to make the full value transfer, known in advance, meaning your workers receive every cent they are entitled to.

Compliance

“Upholding compliance with all applicable legal requirements, legislations, and regulations.”

Ensuring compliance in a dynamic environment can be challenging, as the regulatory landscape varies from country to country. This is where Papaya’s compliance engine comes in. With local labor laws, tax codes, and benefits regulations in more than 160 countries baked into it, this feature can detect any compliance gap and alert payroll managers in time, eliminating the risk of fines and potential employee litigation.

Disclosure

“Providing disclosure to employees/contractors at the earliest opportunity of changes, errors, or discrepancies related to their pay. Any pay discrepancies should be resolved as quickly as possible while ensuring that all other payroll rights are upheld following disclosures.”

Papaya’s automated platform runs audits in no time, sends alerts if required data is missing, and catches errors at the earliest possible point, allowing payroll teams to provide full disclosure and fix any discrepancies promptly.

Equity

“Engaging in fair and equitable pay practices that do not discriminate on the basis of gender identity or expression, age, race, disability, national or ethnic origin, religion, language, sexual orientation, or any other protected ground.”

As part of Papaya’s analytics suite, our DE&I metrics dashboard enables clients to track their company’s performance in essential KPIs such as fair pay, gender distribution, diversity, and more to ensure equitable pay practices.

Professionalism

“Ensuring that pay is managed with the upmost professionalism by those who possess the skills, competencies and expertise required to earn the confidence and trust of workers and organizations.”

Papaya’s core offering includes access to in-house experts on global employment, taxes, benefits, and payments in 160+ countries. Our team delivers the targeted advice international companies require. In addition, we have strong relationships with a broad network of finance professionals across the globe, who can equip you with local insight, resources, and information.

Security

“Ensuring that any personal information required for payroll processing is handled securely, and that confidential or sensitive information or property is protected and stored.”

Papaya’s platform provides the highest level of data security. It supports SSO, complies with GDPR, holds SOC 1 Type II and SOC2 Type II audit reports, and is certified by CSA. It also offers fully customizable roles and tailor-made approval chains so that only the right people can access sensitive information.

It doesn’t end there. Papaya performs Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti Money Laundering (AML) processes for each new client and for each worker who is being paid via our platform. We run rigorous screenings for every payment, every cycle. And because Papaya is a regulated financial service company via its subsidiaries, all our clients’ funds are segregated in CMAs (Customer Money Accounts) and safeguarded.

Timeliness

“Ensuring pay is delivered on time, according to regularly scheduled pay dates or other defined time frames, as stated in established employment agreements or contracts.”

Papaya’s payment tech shifts the focus from “send date” (the date the funds enter the payment rails) to “land date” (the date the money must arrive in the worker’s account), takes care of the reverse calculation, accounts for possible delays on route, and delivers each transfer on time – every time.

Transparency

“Being transparent with employees regarding their pay, benefits, and deductions. Information on these topics should be easily accessible and unambiguous. Employees/contractors should receive communications in clear, plain language and be entitled to ask questions and receive honest answers and explanations delivered in good faith.”

Employees of Papaya clients can use Papaya Personal. This self-service app allows workers to stay on top of their finances – whether logged in from their computers or phones – by giving them access to payslips, work documents, and Papaya’s support team.

Papaya Global’s payment services are offered through Azimo, Papaya’s licensed payments arm. Azimo is a payment services provider regulated in five Tier-1 jurisdictions. These licenses allow Papaya, together with its partners, to provide workforce payments worldwide. For further information on Azimo’s licences worldwide, check our licensing page