Research from a recent Grant Thornton International Business Report (IBR) reveals that one in every five businesses (20%) in South Africa is currently outsourcing back office operations within their organisation. The survey also found that payroll and HR are the most common back-office processes to be outsourced - worldwide, 34% of businesses either currently outsource these processes or plan to do so, while the picture in SA is similar (30%).

In response to this growing trend, Grant Thornton has merged its Payroll division with Paymaster Payroll Solutions to create an independent outsourced Payroll and HR Solutions offering. The new Grant Thornton associate / network company - Paymaster People Solutions - will provide focused in-house online payroll advisory services, specialised software and outsourced HR and payroll services to clients.

“We recognised that many of our clients – and small businesses in particular – really don’t want to be caught up in red tape, compliance and repetitive transactional processes inherent in the payroll and HR systems because they would much rather focus on their core businesses,” Jason Glass, partner and head of Outsourcing Services at Grant Thornton. “The technical expertise, superior internal processes and IT systems from specialist outsourced businesses such as those which Paymaster People Solutions can provide, are a very attractive, alternative option.”

The Grant Thornton IBR survey has been running since 1992 and is the leading mid-market survey in the world, covering more than 10,000+ business leaders in 36 economies on an annual basis. This particular survey – “Outsourcing: Beyond technical expertise” explores what companies look for in their outsourcing relationships and why companies bring outsourced services back in-house. Grant Thornton’s Outsourcing survey was conducted during February 2015 and responses were based on interviews with 2,571 business executives in 36 economies around the world.

Led by Managing Director Ian Hurst, Paymaster People Solutions officially commenced new business operations on 1 July 2016 and the company currently boasts more than 400 clients serviced by a team of professionals who jointly have over 100 years’ worth of Payroll and Human Resource Management experience.

“By putting our two businesses together, we’re able to utilise our focused experience in the outsourced HR and Payroll industry with the bolstered, strategic thinking of Grant Thornton Cape’s mind-set to provide our clients with greater accessibility to a host of expertise and advisory services,” says Ian Hurst, Managing Director of the new Paymaster People Solutions business.

Hurst adds that the roles and responsibilities required of companies in terms of payroll and HR services are becoming increasingly complex as regulation and red tape continues to grow.

“The traditional payroll requirements are just not enough anymore,” says Hurst. “Companies require an integrated human capital management system which incorporates the standard salary payment processes, but includes integrated HR documentation, alignment with SARS tax requirements and even compliance with B-BBEE employment equity needs.”

Grant Thornton’s Jason Glass adds that outsourcing of payroll and HR services is extremely beneficial for companies with operations throughout Africa because skills are often very scarce and tax requirements between different countries can be complex to navigate.
Ian Hurst concurs.

“Some of our clients from the USA have operations in many countries throughout Africa. We guarantee a tailored payroll solutions across all of the various African countries, each with different tax and processing requirements, can be managed successfully through our business, as a central solution for the continent. This takes the headache of this practice away from large corporations and gives them more time to focus on their core business – it’s a win-win for all,” concludes Hurst.