Magazine |
Explosion in demand for international payroll

A leading payroll recruitment specialist has warned of an ‘explosion’ for the increase in the demand for international payroll experts and the need for payrollers to increase their knowledge of the international payroll market.

Melanie Pizzey, director at leading payroll search specialist Chase Moulande, said: ‘There’s much more demand for international payroll expertise, but encouragingly there’s much more supply. I do see quite a few CVs of people with German or Spanish payroll experience and language skills. Ten years ago you would have seen very few indeed.’

The comments followed a warning earlier in the week by London Mayor, Boris Johnson, who said the city could see some 9,000 workers pack- up and leave the city if the government’s super tax plans are not ditched.

The higher earners will also be hit by the 50p income tax rate and higher national insurance rates, and those with a non-domiciled status face an additional levy, giving them a further reason to leave. Mayor Johnson warns that thousands of workers will be forced to move abroad.

Banks such as JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs are reported to be among those considering moving staff and operations abroad.

Mr Johnson told the Evening Standard: ‘One bank told my office that 1,600 of its staff had asked for help in relocating from London and another bank told me that it is considering moving 700 to 800 staff from London.’ He claimed losing so many highly-skilled staff could cost up to £1.2 billion in lost revenues.

Kate Upcraft, who looked after international payroll when she worked for retail giant, Marks & Spencer, told Payroll World that she has seen an increase in enquiries from employers about international payroll. ‘People are expected to have more international payroll knowledge.

‘Those who do have this knowledge will be very marketable. Whether it’s knowledge for training others or for delivering the payroll, those who have international knowledge and are trained in this area will certainly be in demand’, she said.

Ms Upcraft said the requirement for greater knowledge of the international payroll market should ‘not be seen as a threat but as an opportunity. We [UK payrollers] have always been both proficient and efficient and because we have skilled workers here employers will look to up-skill them rather than moving entire departments off-shore.’

Talking of the opportunity this created for British payrollers Ms Upcraft said that employers were not able to find services that met their requirements, she added: ‘Employers are struggling to either find packages or experts with local knowledge in this country who have run international payrolls.’

18/01/2010