Working remotely has benefits, as does working from the office. Both concepts are part of changing workplaces. Rather than choosing sides, workplace cultures should evolve to embrace these new dimensions. But when companies still rely on old software, they lack the flexibility they need to grow—and payroll software is one of the surprising culprits.

RTO? WFH? It's not a contest

Tensions between working remotely and in the office are well-documented. Employees treasure their hard-won autonomy, the option to work remotely (WFH), and not being judged by how long they sit at a desk. Many executives see human contact as the foundation for strong workplace cultures and insist on return to work (RTO) as the way forward.

At a glance, the latter have the momentum. Most recently, Microsoft joined the RTO trend by requiring employees to be in the office at least three days a week, while Amazon requires five days a week. But business experts warn against rushing back to the previous status quo. The new workplace culture grasps how people work at least as much as where they work.

"Work hasn't been limited to an office for at least a decade. When businesses decide about where they want their people, they should modify their culture and not romanticise a style of working that hasn't existed for quite some time," says Sandra Crous, MD of payroll provider Deel Local Payroll.

Businesses are realising that simply rewinding the clock has consequences, ranging from talent retention, missing goals, and falling morale to legal consequences, especially when they contravene labour laws around due process.

The new office is the old office

An office is important. It represents the essence of an organisation and provides a common space for its people. Even so, it's not the same office of a decade ago.

Technologies like video meetings and messaging platforms alter how people produce results. Many employees embed with customer teams or work on a customer's schedule, often remotely or at the latter's offices. Companies are hiring people for their skills and competitive costs, regardless of which country they live in. Productive workforces increasingly integrate part-time, contract, and freelance workers.

These changes became embedded during the pandemic years. The battle between RTO and WFH is a misguided attempt to diffuse this tension. Instead, business cultures should evolve to accommodate the new workplace.

Technology is at the heart of the change. This cultural reconfiguration needs flexible and feature-rich business software, while outmoded software creates more rigidity. Payroll software, a cornerstone of employer-employee relations, is one of the worst holdups.

Traditional payroll software makes it much harder for payroll, HR, and finance staff to align with employees. According to the 2025 Deel Australia Payroll Report (https://apo-opa.co/4huBEuQ), 56% of payroll staff flag inflexible reporting as a major barrier, 41% struggle to respond to employees in a timely manner, and 40% frequently encounter payroll system errors.

More specifically, many point to difficulties managing hybrid, remote, and global workforces.

"The office may have changed, but we still often meet payroll teams who say they have to keep doing things like they did ten to twenty years ago. That means old and inflexible systems that sit in a corner and grow more isolated from the modern direction their companies are moving in," says Crous.

Going cloud-native

A substantial number of companies still use payroll software that is at least 10 years old. This is prehistoric considering the features of cloud-native payroll platforms, such as self-service access, earned wage access, process automation, remote administration, flexible reporting, and automatic legislative and software updates.

With cloud-native software, a payroll administrator can remotely access and process salaries securely. A travelling manager can seamlessly check and approve requests on their smartphone. Executives in charge of finance can examine audit trails and generate custom reports directly. HR staff can automatically enhance talent management systems with payroll data.

Cloud software improves productivity, saves substantially on payroll processing costs (PAYO - https://apo-opa.co/42QS8ay), and reduces mistakes by 60% (Forrester - https://apo-opa.co/4ow4BZg). It also reduces total cost of ownership—economies of scale create lower usage and licensing costs that companies can easily increase or decrease.

Remote work versus working at the office shouldn't be opposing ideas. They are both part of the new workplace. Companies using modern software platforms enjoy the flexibility to find the right balance for their unique culture and requirements, says Crous.

"In the modern workplace, these options work alongside each other. The key issue is which parts of the business are lagging and how to improve them. For payroll, the answer is simple—use cloud-native platforms."