HR administration and payroll are essential HR processes, whether managed in-house or outsourced. In this area, the key challenges for HR Directors, HR administration teams and payroll teams are:
- Compliance: ensuring accurate payroll for employees and statutory reporting to public authorities, while managing the risk of payroll adjustments and regulatory reassessments.
- Efficiency of HR administration processes: digitising processes, improving the user experience and leveraging the contribution of ERM (Employee Relationship Management) tools, optimising processes and automating them through RPA (Robotic Process Automation).
- Payroll efficiency: improving organisational performance, optimising processes and leveraging the contribution of artificial intelligence, optimising costs, and ensuring high service quality for employees and internal customers.
- Performance Management ou Governance: putting in place the prerequisites for continuous improvement processes through performance indicators(payslip costs, employee NPS, shared service centre response times, etc.).
- Flexibility: relying on an organisation and tools capable of anticipating the company’s growth and changes, and enabling business transformations (carve-in/-out, etc.).
- International: implementing a scalable organisation and tools to pool resources at Group level.
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Althéa’s perspective on the evolution of HR administration and payroll
At Althéa, we observe that, following the advent of Payroll Shared Service Centres, the rise of outsourcing and the improvement of HRIS tools, HR administration and payroll teams will have to meet new challenges—often linked to economic pressures and the labour market—in a context of regulatory instability.
However, our conviction regarding the evolution of this function is based on the following major trends:
- The acceleration of corporate changes, which will require HR administration/payroll to structure their activities around anticipation
- The acceleration of BPO, due to the difficulty of recruiting/retaining payroll professionals and the desire to outsource a support function
- The role of HR administration in the company’s attractiveness, through tthe deployment of modern tools that improve the employee experience
- The contribution of artificial intelligence in securing and automating repetitive tasks and improving HR data management
Althéa supports its clients across all of these challenges and developments, drawing on the expertise and know-how of its consultants and on methodologies developed through various assignments for CAC 40 and mid-market companies, as well as local and ministerial administrations.
Key figures
Consultants
from software vendors, system integrators, payroll departments and BPO providers.
projects per year
HR/HRIS master plans, solution selection, HRIS project management assistance, payroll white papers, operational support and payroll assessments.
articles per year
Analysis of new regulations, payroll trends, and the role of AI in the future of payroll.
References
For an international media company
2 000 employees
Process analysis, support with selection and HRIS project management assistance (AMOA) with France Payroll and Core HR, international HR – talent management
The company operates in 150 countries. Following the planned obsolescence of its HRIS tools—primarily the France payroll solution—it decided to launch a project to simplify and harmonise HR processes worldwide through a Core HR solution, while also modernising and securing payroll by avoiding duplicate data entry. To achieve this, Althéa supported the company with process analysis, the tender process to select the France payroll solution and the Core HR/talent management solution. The support was structured around the following activities: project scoping, process formalisation, benchmarking of market HRIS solutions, drafting the requirements specification, preparing the tender with software vendors/integrators, organising vendor presentations and supporting the selection, and support during project phases with the progressive rollout of modules worldwide.
For a logistics leader
25 000 employees
Support with selection and project delivery
Following the sale of the company to an international group, a new entity was created and must implement a new HRIS for HR administration and payroll in France and internationally. Across both dimensions, Althéa produced the requirements specification, supported solution selection, supported the implementation project and the stabilisation phase, incorporating a high proportion of expatriates.
For a key public-sector HRIS organization
<strong>French State Civil Service</strong>
Test support
A national competence service created in 2007, the organisation is jointly attached to the Directorate General of Public Finances (DGFiP) and the Directorate General for Administration and the Civil Service (DGAFP), and contributes to the rollout of modernised HRIS and to the modernisation of the chain between information systems and the State employees’ payroll system. It provides ministries that do not have their own system for managing the Déclaration Sociale Nominative (DSN) with the CTDSN tool—an interministerial information system covering a functional scope that includes consolidating PAY data and HR data, converting it to the DSN format, and managing submission to Net-Entreprise.
In this context, Althéa’s role was:
- Managing testing with deployment
- Responsibility for third-party application testing (TRA) during the verification of fitness for proper operation (VABF) phase
- Verification and control of non-regression of production functionalities in parallel with functionalities under development and qualification.
- Supporting the organisation in its service as a provider of hosted applications.
- Support for training and change management
- Support for managers during partner deployments (MCC) on the use of the CTDSN tool
Challenges
Compliance
Ensure accurate payroll for employees and statutory reporting to the State.
Manage the risk of reassessments.
HR Administration Efficiency
Digitisation of processes. Improved user experience and the contribution associated with ERM tools.
Process optimisation and automation through RPA.
Payroll Efficiency
Optimising processes through artificial intelligence improves organisational performance, reduces costs, and ensures a high level of service quality for employees and internal customers.
Performance Management
Put in place the prerequisites for continuous improvement processes through steering indicators (employee NPS, shared service centre response times, etc.).
Flexibility
Rely on an organisation and tools capable of anticipating the company’s growth and changes. Act as an enabler of business transformation.
International
Implement a scalable organisation and tools to pool resources at Group level.
Contacts
Frequently Asked Questions About HR Administration and Payroll
What is the average cost of an HR Administration/Payroll transformation project?
As mentioned, the payroll and HR administration sector is set to evolve and undergo a digital transformation. To properly understand the structure of the average costs of such a transformation project, it is essential to analyse the different components and the factors that influence the overall budget.
Core cost structure
Implementing a modern payroll solution requires several major investments. Acquiring the payroll software is the first expense, including licences and the various modules (time management, leave management, social declarations). Added to this are external service provider costs for implementation and team training.
The time spent by internal resources also represents a significant share of the budget: payroll administrators, the payroll manager, and HR administration officers must be mobilised to define processes and implement the system.
Factors influencing the budget
The complexity of the company’s organisational structure directly impacts costs. The number of collective bargaining agreements, the specific applicable labour law requirements, and particular legal obligations may require specific developments. Payroll production and HR administration become more complex as schemes and social contributions multiply.
The size of the site and the number of payslips to be processed each month also influence solution sizing. A larger workforce implies greater needs for training, technical support and management control.
Typical breakdown of investments in HR administration and payroll
The overall budget is generally broken down as follows, although this is an estimate:
- 15–20% for the preparation phase: needs analysis, legal compliance, process definition
- 40–50% for implementation: software configuration, integration with existing systems
- 20–25% for change support: professional training, documentation
- 10–15% for post-deployment support: maintenance, legal monitoring, administrative follow-up
This breakdown may vary depending on whether the company opts for an in-house solution or outsources payroll. The choice between these two options depends on many factors, such as payroll mass, the skills required internally, and whether or not the company wishes to retain full control of the payroll process.
How can the costs of an HR Administration/Payroll transformation project be optimized?
To optimise spending, several levers can be activated:
- Thorough upfront preparation with a clear definition of needs, notably through external professional support
- Collaborative project management involving all stakeholders
- Time savings through the automation of administrative tasks
- Taking future developments into account from the outset
Project success and return on investment depend largely on the quality of preparation and the involvement of HR teams in delivery.
