Case Study: Austral Education Group cuts contractor payment time 80% with Papaya Global

Key results

The challenge

Austral Education Group, founded in 2005, designs and delivers global academic travel and education programs across more than 30 locations, with over 200 employees and contractors. As it expanded into new regions including Asia, its contractor workforce grew rapidly and contractor payroll became increasingly complex. Contractors submitted invoices in inconsistent formats, payments were processed manually, and bank fees varied widely, with some transfers charged more than $100.

The solution

Austral extended its existing Papaya Global payroll partnership into Papaya Payments, adding bulk uploads, on-demand processing, wallet-based funding segmented by region and project, and real-time payment visibility. Payments to locations such as Chile, Vietnam and Serbia were delivered in hours rather than on rigid payroll-like schedules.

The results, in context

Austral cut contractor payment processing time by 80%, with payments that once took 96 hours now taking about 10 hours. Transaction costs fell 70–80%, saving more than $1,500 each month and over $18,000 annually on bank fees, while delivering flexible, on-time payments across 30+ global locations.

Products used