<h1>Boards make payroll and statutory compliance a governance priority amid complex labour laws, diverse work models and investor scrutiny</h1> Boards and senior management increasingly treat payroll and statutory compliance as governance issues rather than back-office functions, driven by complex state and central labour laws, diverse workforce models (hybrid, contract, gig), and investor scrutiny tied to ESG and transparency. Legal risks include regulatory fines, litigation, investigations, reputational harm and erosion of employee trust from payroll errors or missed filings. Companies are adopting integrated HR-tech and outsourced managed services to ensure real-time compliance, accurate reporting and board-level oversight; failure to modernize heightens regulatory and fiduciary exposure as businesses scale and seek global investment.