Things You Need To Know About Pay Periods & Pay Days

1.    What is a Pay Period?

A pay period refers to the recurring schedule your business will follow to compensate employees. 

2.    Common Pay Periods

The most common pay periods to choose from include weekly, bi-weekly, semi-monthly, and monthly. 

•          Weekly Pay Periods.  Employees receive 52 paychecks per year—one for each week of the year.  Payroll is scheduled to run on the same day every week. 
•          Bi-Weekly Pay Periods.  Employees receive 26 pay checks per year.  Because bi-weekly pay periods occur once every two weeks, some months will have three pay periods. 
•          Semi-Monthly Pay Periods.  Employees receive 24 pay checks per year, 2 per month. 
•          Monthly Pay Periods.  Employees receive 12 paychecks per year, issued on the same date every month. 

3.    Pay Days

A Pay date is the day on which employees are paid and occurs after the payroll period ends. 

4.    Time Needed To Process A Payroll

Sufficient time needs to occur between the end of the pay period and pay day to collect all of the records necessary to calculate earnings and deductions.  Additional time is required to process direct deposit transactions.  We require a MINIMUM of three days between the end of the pay period and pay day.