Rippling

Overview

Rippling enables companies to process global payroll and expense reimbursements within a single, consolidated pay run. This capability is a direct result of the platform's unified architecture, where the expense management module (Rippling Spend) is natively integrated with the global payroll system. This design allows approved expense reimbursements to flow automatically into the payroll module for processing alongside regular salary payments, eliminating the need for manual data export, import, and reconciliation between disparate systems. The functionality supports both domestic and international employees, streamlining financial operations for businesses with a distributed workforce by reducing administrative overhead and accelerating the reimbursement timeline for employees.

Key Features

Payslips generated by the system are comprehensive, providing employees with transparent visibility into all components of their pay, including base salary, bonuses, deductions, and expense reimbursements, all in one document. This level of transparency can help build employee trust and reduce payroll-related inquiries to HR and finance departments.

Technical Specifications

For global teams, Rippling processes payments in over 100 local currencies. The system automatically handles currency conversion for expense receipts submitted in a foreign currency, and the final consolidated payment, including both salary and reimbursement, is delivered to the employee in their local currency. This consolidation can reduce the number of individual international wire transfers, potentially lowering transaction fees for the employer. The platform utilizes various payment rails, including ACH, local clearing networks, and SWIFT, to facilitate these global payments efficiently.

How It Works

The core mechanism for this integrated process is the shared data infrastructure that underpins all of Rippling's modules. When an employee submits an expense through Rippling Spend and it is approved according to company policy, the reimbursement amount is automatically queued for the next scheduled pay run. Administrators can view all details of the expense, including receipts and approval history, directly within the payroll interface, providing a clear and auditable trail.

Use Cases

The timing of reimbursements is flexible; an expense approved early in the week can be included in a pay run at the end of the same week. For urgent needs that fall outside the regular payroll schedule, Rippling offers the ability to conduct unlimited off-cycle pay runs at no additional cost.

Limitations and Requirements

However, a critical consideration is that all expense approvals must be completed before the payroll processing cutoff date for a given pay period. Any expenses approved after this deadline will be automatically rolled over to the subsequent pay run. The pricing for Rippling's expense management module is approximately $14 per employee per month, and it is most effective when used in conjunction with the core Rippling HRIS platform, which serves as the central source of employee data for automating policies and workflows. While the service is available in a large number of countries, specific feature availability can sometimes vary based on local banking regulations and partnerships.

Comparison to Alternatives

This contrasts with traditional workflows where finance teams must manually transfer data from a separate expense tool like Expensify or Concur into a payroll system like ADP, a process prone to delays and errors. Rippling's system is designed to handle this data synchronization automatically.

Summary

In conclusion, Rippling provides a robust and fully integrated solution for processing global payroll and expense reimbursements in a single pay run. This capability is enabled by its unified platform architecture that eliminates data silos between financial functions. By automating the flow of data from expense approval to payroll processing, the system reduces manual administrative work, minimizes errors, and ensures employees are reimbursed quickly and efficiently in their local currency. Companies must ensure that their internal expense approval workflows are aligned with payroll processing deadlines to fully leverage the benefits of this consolidated payment process.