Best Payroll Software in the UAE

Among all the tasks and responsibilities of an HR personnel, managing payroll is one of the most crucial and pivotal tasks, which isn’t as simple as distributing payments to employees. 

Payroll management involves tracking employees' time and attendance and calculating gross pay, as well as deducting taxes, filing tax returns, distributing payments, and maintaining payment records. These tasks make payroll management a demanding and critical process. 

While handling these processes manually won’t be a huge hassle for a startup or small businesses with single-digit employees, as your company and its employees grow, managing and processing payroll efficiently while ensuring employee satisfaction isn’t a cakewalk. 

Besides, managing payroll in the UAE can be a challenging task, given the unique requirements of the country’s labor laws and the Wage Protection System (WPS). It can also be challenging to accommodate a multicultural workforce while ensuring compliance. 

This is why leading enterprises today choose automated solutions like payroll software. Payroll automation is becoming significantly popular and essential for modern UAE businesses as it streamlines redundant tasks like data entry, reporting, and calculations. 

In fact, a report suggests that the payroll software market size, which was valued at $27.11 billion in 2023, is expected to grow to $60.34 billion in 2032, signifying the growing emphasis on improving the efficiency, compliance, and accuracy of payroll operations. 

In this article, we’ll look at the top 7 best payroll software you can try for your organization or business in UAE to make payroll processing a breeze. Let’s go!

What is Payroll Software and Its Benefits? 

Payroll software is a tool that manages, maintains, and automates payroll tasks, like calculations, payment processing, generating payslips, and tax payments and deductions. 

Modern enterprise-grade payroll software often integrates with HR operations and accounting systems to make it easier to manage employee data, automate statutory filing, and track attendance. 

This benefits companies in several ways, including: 

• Accuracy: Manually performing payroll tasks, such as calculating employee salaries and tax deductions, increases the risks of human errors, further damaging an organization’s reputation and increasing conflicts between employees and employers. Payroll processing avoids this situation and ensures high accuracy by automating payroll operations and improving accuracy by 99%. 
• Customizable reports and salary structure: Payroll software provides organizations with comprehensive reports on tax filings, payroll expenses, and employee costs. It also enables organizations to design customizable salary structures according to company policies, making it easier to modify them. 
• Compliance: Payroll software enables organizations to stay compliant with labor laws, changing tax laws, and statutory requirements by updating itself and accurately generating compensation based on the country’s changing laws and regulatory requirements. 
• Cost efficiency: Payroll software reduces the need for extensive manual work and the chances of errors, enabling organizations to save time and money and avoid costly penalties for non-compliance. Research shows that companies using AI for payroll processing see an 80% decrease in payroll processing costs. 
• Data security: Payroll software securely stores all employees' data and sensitive employee information, such as personal employee salaries and details, ensuring data encryption and security. It also prevents data loss by taking regular backups and enabling role-based access that ensures only authorized individuals can view or edit payroll data. 
• Time-efficient: Payroll software streamlines processes by completing time-consuming tasks that would otherwise take hours, such as generating payslips and reconciling salaries, in minutes. This makes payroll professionals save time, freeing them from mundane activities and enabling them to focus on more value-driven tasks. 
• Integration: Payroll software seamlessly integrates with accounting and HR software and time-tracking tools, reducing redundancy and ensuring data consistency and a smooth flow of information—boosting overall productivity. 

9 Best Payroll Software in UAE

If you wish to embrace and leverage the benefits of payroll software in the UAE, here are the top picks you can choose from. 

• Darwinbox for a unified, simplified, and 100% online payroll experience across departments and geographies with compliance and seamless automation 
• SAP SF for multinational organizations with complex payroll requirements requiring tax localization support 
• Oracle for highly configurable payroll software for large enterprises with high-volume payroll processing
• KEKA for affordable, user-friendly, and tailored payroll solutions for SMBs
• People Strong for simplified payroll management with 24/7 employee service and rich analytics capabilities
• ADP for organizations with diverse workforces, global compliance needs, and scalable solutions
• Ramco for end-to-end automation, DIY analytics, and extensive report viewing needs. 
• Bayzat for localized and customizable payroll software
• ZenHR for intuitive and cost-effective localized payroll management needs

Let’s dive deep into each of these tools. 

1. Darwinbox 

   Darwinbox simplifies payroll management with a 4-step process that’s based on the RIVeR framework. The four steps include reviewing inputs, initiating the process, verifying and e-approving, and releasing and reporting. 

   What’s unique about Darwinbox and what makes it ideal and hassle-free is its standard and unified solution. Irrespective of the pay group, department, or region, Darwinbox offers a standardized payroll platform, which makes managing payroll for distinct worker groups and various countries a breeze. 

   Besides, it’s best known for its unified payroll, which consolidates HCM, WFM, and payroll and eliminates the need for multiple payment systems for different departments. 

   For instance, its robust framework provides real-time input sync, which syncs and overrides time, attendance, and overtime directly in the payroll system. 

   Another critical benefit of Darwinbox’s payroll software is its ease of use and centralized visibility on the central payroll dashboard with previous, current, and past periods, along with audit logs for the last payroll run. 

   It eliminates email dependency, as you can manage and record payroll actions, such as adding comments and finance approvals on a single platform—making the process 100% digital and traceable. 

   Moreover, to ensure compliance, Darwinbox offers audit-readiness, so you don’t have to worry about record-keeping. It automates real-time audit trials, record-keeping, and standardized reports, ensuring transparency across payroll operations. 

   Key features: 

   • It offers integration with 15+ APIs related to the compensation master and 200+ outbound APIs. It also offers standard JV integration, which was built for some banks in the Philippines. 
   • Includes delta processing as a part of the same payroll run, minimizing the volume of data transfer and improving efficiency. 
   • Generates compliance reports, variance analysis, salary registers, and customized checklists for each payroll run. 
   • Integrates with tools like Power BI and Tableau to generate advanced payroll analytics and visualizations. 
   • It provides an extensive cost dashboard that facilitates cost-to-budget analysis, trend analytics, seasonal trends, and drill-downs that focus on salary differences by department, division, group company, business unit, and more. 

   Best-suited for: Darwinbox is scalable for businesses of all sizes, especially SMEs and large enterprises with complex payroll requirements. 

2. SAP SF

   SAP SuccessFactors (SAP SF) is cloud-based payroll management software that simplifies employee payroll processes and ensures that employees receive accurate and timely payments. 

   It manages core HR processes, analytics, and employee payroll management to integrate the overall employment payroll management system. 

   However, while it automates payroll processing tasks and removes manual work with built-in retro calculations and off-cycle support, it doesn’t directly link Employee Central (EC) and Employee Payroll Central (EPC); instead, it needs to be integrated. 

   This means that EC and EPC are designed to work seamlessly together; however, they require integration to work or function as a unified payroll solution. While EC manages core HR processes and data, like hiring, absences, promotions, and time management, EPC handles the payroll aspect, including payroll calculations and payments. 

   Key features: 

   • While it integrates with accounting, ERP, and time-tracking solutions, it is highly complex when integrated with third-party solutions. 
   • While it appears to be a unified solution, the data sync between EC and EPC is a separate issue that leads to data discrepancies and requires deep technical expertise. 
   • When it comes to delta processing, SAP SF doesn’t support more than one correction on the same day. 
   • Allows businesses to use tax localizations and compliance management functionality for over 57 countries. 
   • It supports bank files and JV and enables HR, finance, and payroll stakeholders to be on a single platform only if you buy ERP and HCM. 
   • Offers robust analytics to monitor costs, payroll trends, and compliance metrics and generates customizable payroll reports for audits, budgeting, and workforce planning. 

   Best-suited for: Ideal for large enterprises with complex payroll requirements and multinational operations. 

3. Oracle 

   Oracle offers a configurable payroll solution that is fully unified with its Oracle Fusion Cloud Human Capital Management (HCM) suite for compliant payroll processing.

   While Oracle offers a scalable and reliable solution that helps process high-volume payrolls accurately and quickly, it doesn’t deliver on the ease of use and intuitiveness aspect. For instance, it generates complex reports and comes with tedious and confusing configurations that require extensive technical assistance. 

   Key features: 

   • Supports global payroll management for over 160 countries with localized compliance for tax laws and statutory deductions. 
   • Key features include effective-dated transactions, configurable fields, and country-specific HR data that can be transferred directly to the payroll system. 
   • While it offers a unified HR and payroll experience, data sync is an issue. 
   • Corrections run as an off-cycle payment when it comes to delta processing. 
   • Only if you buy both ERP and HCM can you access online verification, e-approval, and HR, finance, and payroll stakeholders on a single platform. 
   • An extensive cost dashboard is available but with minimum drill-downs. 

   Best-suited for: Large enterprises with complex compliance needs and varied salary structure. 

4. KEKA

   Keka provides a one-stop automated payroll software solution that connects annual leave and attendance data and ensures compliance for all GCC and Middle-East countries, including the UAE. 

   It focuses on simplicity and automation with a 5-step payroll process that eliminates manual data entry and syncing issues while ensuring compliance with localized laws and payroll regulations, such as GPSSA, WPS, and End of Service (ESG) and gratuity management. 

   Moreover, it offers a unified payroll platform, allowing businesses to manage multiple business units on a single platform. 

   Key features: 

   • Integrates with third-party accounting tools, such as Zohobooks, Tally, SAP, Xero, and Quickbooks. 
   • It enables employees to view their financial details, such as payslips, loans, salary breakups, and expense claim tracking, at their fingertips, facilitating employee self-service. 
   • Once the payroll cycle is locked, the admin must perform a payroll rollback for delta processing, which increases the chances of calculation errors. 
   • Enables employees and HR to manage payroll-related tasks via Keka’s mobile app. 

   Best-suited for: Small and medium-sized businesses. 

5. PeopleStrong

   PeopleStrong claims to provide a simplified payroll management process that comes with an easy-to-use backend system with automated workflows and salary calculations. 

   With its configurable and compliant payroll solution, you can manage multiple salary structures, payslip formats, pay periods, and approval mechanisms. Besides, it also helps automatically calculate statutory numbers, such as EPF, TDS, and ESI. 

   Key features: 

   • Lets you leverage rich analytics and real-time insights with a custom report builder that helps generate IT declarations, variance reports, and more. You also get 350+ pre-defined reports and configurable dashboards for deeper insights. 
   • Provides employees with self-served 24/7 access to download payroll information and payslips, even on mobile phones. Employees can also scan and upload bills for a seamless reimbursement process. 
   • It claims to provide a unified HR and payroll management process but faces data sync issues, as data sync takes up to 3-4 hours to reflect in the system, especially for large enterprises due to system stability. 
   • The verification and approval processes are a part of workflows but doesn’t connect with the payroll processes. 

   Best-suited for: Medium and large-sized businesses

6. ADP

   ADP offers a cloud-based payroll software that complies with all your legislative updates and frequently changing regulations. 

   However, one drawback is that, compared to other payroll software mentioned in the list, ADP comes with a user interface that employees and clients often struggle with. ADP’s payroll system generates two types of reports—business-specific reports and local reports. 

   While business reports provide salary and compensation details, such as total salary calculations with paid time off and overtime, local reports provide information related to tax laws and regulations, including employees' gross and net pay. 

   Key features: 

   • Provides primitive HCM and WFM functionality instead of a seamless unified solution. 
   • Comes with additional charges for data sync and transformation requirements. 
   • When it comes to delta processing, the software can only handle corrections before running the payroll. 
   • It doesn’t provide advanced features, such as online verification and e-approvals, embedded chats and checklists, bank files and JV, or the flexibility for HR, payroll, and finance stakeholders to work on a single platform. 
   • The extensive cost dashboard is only in the ADP GlobalView payroll plan. 

   Best-suited for: Small-to-medium-sized businesses and large enterprises with multinational locations and corporations. 

7. Ramco 

   Ramco offers Payce, a cloud-based, end-to-end automation solution known for its global reach and compliance management solutions. 

   It comes with a payroll workspace or console that simplifies end-to-end payroll processing in a few simple steps. These include reviewing inputs, reviewing arrears, processing payroll, approving payroll, and authorizing payroll. 

   Key features: 

   • Globally compliant solution, offering payroll services for over 150+ countries. 
   • Offers seamless integration with HCM systems like SAP, Oracle, and Workday. 
   • While it offers real-time information sync of core HR data and employee data, the information sync can take up to 1 day to sync. 
   • Unified solutions, like the payroll, HR, and finance stakeholders on the same platform, are only available when you buy both ERP and HCM. 
   • It provides an extensive DIY analytics tool and report viewer, enabling you to generate on-demand reports and gain real-time insights. However, no data drill-downs are available. 

   Best-suited for: Mid-sized to large organizations with complex payroll management and diverse workforce across multiple geographies and currencies. 

8. Bayzat 

   Bayzat’s payroll software is locally developed in the UAE, making it ideal for UAE businesses. It automates your business’s payroll calculations within just a few clicks. 

   It lets you create custom payroll cycles with a simple setup to determine the monthly date range to run your company’s payroll cycles. In addition, automation makes loan processing a breeze, allowing you to gain visibility and better report on your employees' loans. 

   Key features: 

   • It enables seamless accounting integration to ensure fewer errors and accounting mistakes and make the process stress-free. 
   • Facilitates expense management by making it easier to track, control, and manage employee expenses across the business. 
   • Provides over 100 customized payroll templates to make it easier to create custom payroll reports. 
   • Despite these features, several users report delayed turn-around times for customer support and service, which come with limited customization options. 
   • Bayzat’s pricing structure may not be suitable for all types of businesses. 

   Best-suited for: Small and medium-sized businesses operating in the GCC regions 

9. ZenHR

   Another fully localized payroll software solution is ZenHR, which offers a bilingual user interface in English and Arabic and a bilingual mobile app to enhance the employee experience. 

   Its payroll module includes automated salary deductions and calculations, salary history, and localization for WPS, social security, GOSI, and your country’s tax. 

   It also helps you seamlessly integrate with the General Organization for Social Insurance (GOSI), Mudad Business, and Muqeem in Saudi Arabia. 

   Key features: 

   • ZenHR comes with an Employee Self-Service (ESS) mobile app—allowing managers and employees access to payslips, automated time and attendance tracking, leave and vacation requests and approvals, and employee shifts and work schedules at their fingertips. 
   • It calculates and handles vacation in-advance salary considering the vacation date and all the deduction transactions. It also comes with a notification system—notifying employers of the employee’s work resumption dates. 
   • Compared to other payroll software in the UAE, ZenHR has limited integration and customization options, particularly for businesses with unique and specific needs. 

   Best-suited for: SMEs and large enterprises 

Conclusion 

Ensuring an efficient and streamlined payroll process is the key to a streamlined business. 

With issues like half-offline, half-online payroll steps, admins spending long nights doing manual verification and reconciliation, and inefficient audit processes, choosing reliable, intuitive, secure, customizable, and integrated payroll software is crucial. 

Darwinbox simplifies payroll management with four simple steps and offers enhanced integration and automation capabilities. It enables high accuracy, audit readiness, and 100% compliance with local and global regulations, making it easy for payroll administrators to transition from data management to governance control. 

So, if you want to benefit from a unified, effortless, and secure payroll software, request a quote or schedule a demo today for free.

FAQs

What is delta processing in payroll software?

Delta processing is a feature offered in advance payroll software that refers to recalculating payroll data for certain changes or corrections during a payroll cycle.

What are the key payroll management software challenges in the UAE?

Key payroll management software challenges in the UAE include navigating complex payroll calculations, ensuring compliance with evolving labor laws and regulations, integrating with HR software and accounting systems, adhering to WPS requirements, and maintaining data security of sensitive information.

What are the key features you should be looking for when choosing payroll software in UAE?

You should look for ease of use, WPS compliance, integration capabilities, customization, cloud-based vs. on-premises, data security, and localization when choosing payroll software in the UAE.