After a breakdown of the HR operations team and a problematic outsourcing of payroll to an external service provider, the interim manager was given the mandate to stabilize the payroll processes. The client was a research-based pharmaceutical company. The company is active around the globe and is one of the top 20 pharmaceutical manufacturers with 17,000 employees worldwide. The payroll expert reported directly to the HR Director at the Munich site.
Removing errors and differences in payroll
At the beginning of the interim mandate, the client had to cope with a breakdown of the entire HR operations team and the problematic outsourcing of payroll to an external service provider. As a result, the errors and subsequent errors that had accumulated over 6 to 8 months could not be dealt with by the employees previously responsible. For this reason, the payroll processes had to be analyzed at the beginning of the interim mandate. At the same time, regular payroll accounting had to be ensured as quickly as possible. And that with a productive organization, preparation and follow-up as well as follow-up activities and reporting.
The project objective was therefore to eliminate the accumulated errors and differences in payroll and to stabilize the ongoing payroll process. It was also necessary to revise the internal processes in the HR Operations team. Due to the departure of employees, a new team had to be set up. The basis for the new team had to be created first and foremost. It was also necessary to improve the quality of payroll internally through measures such as JSOX audits.
Complex reconciliation in an international context
The interim manager was appointed as interim department head and expert for payroll. He also managed two external employees. Together, the team worked through the sometimes very opaque cases and errors. This clarification often proved to be very complex. For example, it was necessary to coordinate with the headquarters in the UK and the payroll service provider in the Czech Republic in regular telephone conferences.
The team benefited greatly from the fact that the HR interim manager conveyed a "we feeling" through his appreciative and motivating leadership, thus ensuring a positive working atmosphere with a high level of motivation.
Further payroll strategy
The payroll expert's tasks also included preparing the decision on a new payroll service provider. He created a benchmark in the form of a cost analysis per payroll case. The scope of services also included requesting and comparing offers, a service description with specifications and requirements as well as the future strategy for payroll accounting in BPO service/outsourcing.
Another sub-project was to initiate the recharging of services within the Group. This required determining, calculating and creating these services and cost recharges to affiliated companies using calculation schemes - including monthly monitoring and quarterly invoicing. This also included creating international assignments for employees and seconded employees. This served as the basis for the collaboration with the headquarters, finance and the HR business partners/personnel managers of the affiliates.
Working with auditors
As a further sub-project, it became necessary to outsource the payroll cases of seconded employees to another service provider as an interim solution. This included, among other things, corrective recalculations in accordance with the country-specific taxation agreements. This was necessary because the previous service provider for business process outsourcing (BPO) had handled the secondment cases inadequately.
Practical and efficient payroll solutions brought about
The interim manager was able to bring about practical and efficient solutions and set a positive example in dealing with the employees and contacts. The project achieved a very good status in terms of stabilization and error correction in payroll accounting and in the other fields of activity in HR Operations, which met the high quality requirements. As a result, employees were once again offered a service for a wide range of issues. The feedback from employees and managers on the cooperation and case solutions was also very positive across the board. The consulting contract was extended several times. The client gave the payroll expert and the intermediary provider an unqualified recommendation.
