How to Create an Effective Global Payroll RFP

Selecting the perfect global payroll vendor can feel daunting when your organization operates across borders, with varying regulations, complex integrations, and the need for crystal-clear compliance.

Many HR and finance leaders find the global payroll RFP process overwhelming—struggling to articulate precise goals, compare capabilities, and ensure vendors truly understand their multinational needs.

In this guide, we'll walk you step-by-step through crafting an effective global payroll RFP—covering everything from setting measurable goals and identifying essential vendor requirements to drafting discerning questions that uncover a provider’s true strengths.

With Deel’s proven expertise, you can look forward to smoother payroll rollouts, reduced manual effort, and the confidence that your organization is set up to scale compliantly and efficiently around the world.

What is a global payroll RFP?

A global payroll RFP is a request for proposal that defines what you’re looking for in a global payroll solution, giving payroll vendors what they need to submit a proposal that fits your needs.

By looping in the right vendors for your multinational business, your global payroll system becomes more streamlined and less manual.

While this list isn’t exhaustive, a global payroll RFP should at least contain these key items to give payroll vendors as much information as possible about what you’re looking for.

• Project overview
• Project goal
• Project scope
• Company background
• Timeline
• Vendor requirements
• Budget information
• Needs analysis
• Questions for potential vendors

With this high-level list in mind, let’s get into the details of what the process of drafting a global payroll RFP entails.

Set clear global payroll goals

To create an effective global payroll RFP, you need to start by clearly defining your goals.

For global payroll, you should look at metrics that indicate effectiveness, compliance, technology integration, data security, scalability, and growth. Identifying your payroll pain points can also help you identify areas you’d like to improve.

Here are a few examples of strong and measurable global payroll goals to get you started:

• Achieve a payroll error rate of less than 2%
• Automate timekeeping records across the company, reducing manual labor costs by 20%
• Integrate payroll and human resources data into a single platform for real-time data reporting, better retention, and more successful initiatives over the course of one year
• Reduce non-compliance expenditures by 25%

Including as many details as possible about the objective, timeline, and metrics will help you measure the success of your goals and report on compelling results.

Outline your gaps and identify your needs

The next step is to determine what capabilities you need from a vendor to achieve your goals. A common mistake that companies make is starting their payroll vendor search by looking at what’s available instead of what they need. This approach fails for two reasons:

• You come to the table prepared to compromise.
• It’s easy to get distracted by new and shiny features.

Instead, begin by gathering data and objectively assessing what’s working with your current global payroll model and what’s not. Be realistic about your resources and capacity, then measure your findings against your goals to pinpoint opportunities for improvement. These opportunities become the services that you need to look for in a payroll vendor, and you’ll need to detail them in your global payroll RFP.

Start drafting your global payroll RFP

With your goals and needs defined, the next step is to use all these details to start drafting your global payroll RFP. Here are the main components that make up an RFP and the specific information to include in each one.

Project overview

The first component of a global payroll RFP is a clear and concise overview. It’s essentially the elevator pitch for the entire proposal and lets vendors quickly qualify or disqualify themselves.

The purpose of this section is to align with the right providers, taking the next steps only with those who might be a good fit. Be specific about what countries you need coverage in and whether you’re looking for centralized or decentralized payroll support. Here are a few quick tips for writing the project overview:

• Keep it short by sticking to about 50 to 75 words or three to five sentences
• Highlight your main goal to let vendors know exactly what you are looking to accomplish
• Make sure this statement is as specific as possible

Project details

The next section of your global payroll RFP will expand on the information from the overview.

List out your specific goals, aiming for three to five that are specific and actionable. Clearly spell out the scope of the services you are looking for in a few paragraphs, using bulleted lists and subheadings to keep it readable.

Then, provide some context with some brief and relevant details about your company. This should include the size of your company, recent growth and plans for future growth, industry, services, and specializations.

The logistics

In this section of your global payroll RFP, provide an overview of your anticipated timeline. Is this something that you need to get up and running as soon as possible, or are you working with a one or two-year plan? There are vendors that can scale to fit either situation, but it is important to communicate your needs upfront.

Provide detailed budget information regarding how much you’re looking to spend and lay out any specific vendor requirements that are non-negotiable for you. If you have invested a lot of money into your current IT infrastructure, you may require a vendor that can provide integrations to match what you’re already using. Or it may be that you’d prefer a vendor that provides local assistance for your employees in each country that you operate in.

Vendor questions

Detailing your needs takes up about half of the payroll RFP document. The other half consists of a series of questions designed to pull the right information out of the vendor, so you can assess if they will be a good fit. Just like a job interview, these are open-ended questions that provide clues about values, priorities, and behavior that are often hidden behind clever marketing language. Asking the right questions goes a long way in finding the right payroll vendor.

Compile a formal list of 8-12 vendor questions in your global payroll RFP that get to the heart of what it means to be your perfect partner. Here are some key topics to ask about, along with some example questions you can use to get started:

• Business model
  • How do you monitor compliance in different regions and countries?
  • Who is your typical client?
  • What is your pricing model, and what constitutes additional fees?
• Service model
  • What are your functional areas of expertise?
  • If my employees have questions about their benefits, who can they contact?
  • How will your company handle payroll obligations during a major disruption?
• Adaptability
  • What reports do you provide with your services, and how long will it take to implement custom reporting?
  • How long would it take to set up a new geographical area?
  • Can you provide payments and payslips in local currencies and languages?
• Values
  • How long is your average client relationship?
  • How do you approach project management and client communication?
  • How does your organization give back to or serve the community?
• Technology and integrations
  • What integrations does your technology support?
  • What steps do you take to ensure data security?
  • How is your technology updated to match legal, regulatory, and tax code changes?

Package and send

Once you’ve included all of the above information, it’s time to send your payroll RFP to at least three shortlisted vendors on your list. Remember to package your RFP in a formatted, branded document for distribution. Then, all there’s left to do is wait for responses and send follow-ups if needed.

Drafting a global payroll RFP can feel overwhelming with so many factors to consider and research to conduct, but remember that this is your chance to make sure you’re getting the right payroll service for your business’s needs. Invest the time and effort to create an effective global payroll RFP now, and you’re more likely to end up with a highly successful payroll strategy and operation later.

Find the best global payroll provider for your growing business

As your business grows, global payroll complexity increases. But it doesn’t have to remain a confusing process with multiple payroll providers and systems.

With the right global payroll provider, it’s possible to consolidate and streamline your payroll operations while maintaining compliance. Deel’s global payroll services combine local payroll experts in 100+ countries with a unified HR platform, ensuring your payroll is processed seamlessly and accurately.

Looking for the right global payroll provider starts with a strong RFP, and we’ve designed a comprehensive template to set you up for success. Get the answers you need about implementation timelines, integrations with HR and finance tools, reporting capabilities, escalation procedures, and more by downloading our global payroll RFP template.