Remote’s Global Payroll Report 2026 surveyed over 6,200 professionals across seven countries, and the findings are stark: 56% of employees would consider leaving their job if pay concerns aren’t addressed, while 25% of workers say they’d need to make major lifestyle cutbacks if their pay stays stagnant. Pay is no longer just a finance function’s problem—it’s a retention problem, a trust problem, and increasingly, a board-level one.
Yet for most global organisations, payroll data still lives in fragments: different providers, different systems, different currencies, different timelines, spread across every country of operation. When an employee asks, “Why was I paid this amount?” too often, nobody can answer quickly, consistently, or with confidence. The report also found that 40% of employees are uncomfortable asking for a raise and only 49% of women feel comfortable negotiating pay. This is evidence that a lack of structure and visibility doesn’t just create admin headaches; it entrenches inequity.
We’re proud to partner with Remote for an evening exploring what it actually takes to consolidate global payroll into a single, accountable view and where AI genuinely helps versus where it’s a distraction.
The conversation will be led by James Ballard (Director at Annapurna), with the group discussing how HR and Finance can build shared accountability for pay, and what ‘one global view’ really requires in practice. The evening will likely follow the agenda points below:
- What does true payroll consolidation look like across borders? One system of record, or just fewer spreadsheets? What’s actually achievable versus aspirational?
- Who owns pay accountability when something goes wrong: HR, Finance, or the vendor in between? If an AI assistant could answer the same pay, benefits, and deductions questions instantly, what would be lost? Is there a “human finance touch” worth protecting?
- AI is often discussed as a black box, but in payroll it can do the opposite: surfacing anomalies, explaining pay changes, flagging compliance risk, and translating complex data into answers employees actually understand. Where’s the real opportunity, and where’s the hype?
Remote is the intelligent infrastructure for employing and paying people everywhere. Built on deep compliance, precise payroll, and fully owned in-country entities, Remote handles the legal and operational complexity of global employment. Open and programmable by design, Remote is the foundation tens of thousands of companies and the world’s leading HR platforms run on. Whether you’re integrating your existing HR and finance stack or deploying custom AI agents, Remote lets you move with speed and the absolute trust that your employment foundations are secure.
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