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Another distinction between semimonthly and biweekly pay is the day of the week on which payroll is processed and employees are paid. It is vital to decide on the pay frequency or the amount of time between an employee’s paydays for a small business. The pay frequency of your business determines when you process your payroll and how often your employees get their salary. We’ll also talk about the instances when you might want to change your payroll frequency, offering your employees earned wage access (EWA), and how you can go about it. When businesses operate on a biweekly pay schedule, overtime pay is much simpler to calculate than when operating on a semi-monthly pay schedule. Because calculations take place every other week, it is easy to manage overtime accordingly.
Because it occurs every week, the weekly pay schedule is the most expensive and most time-consuming pay schedule. But, it’s best for companies that have hourly employees or have employees with irregular schedules (freelancers or contractors). In this case, employees with direct deposit generally receive payment on the preceding business day.
Calculating the Semi monthly pay of a salaried employee
Employees who are paid semi-monthly have specific dates for their payment schedule, such as the 15th and last business day of each month. Therefore, the days are different; an employee may get its paycheck on a Monday and Thursday. Businesses with hourly employees or commission employees may not find a semi-monthly frequency is the best option.
You will be able to know the amount needs to be paid out with each payroll period by dividing the amount agreed upon by 24. If you expand your business operations into other states, you’ll need to make sure you’re following each state’s requirements around pay frequency. Failure to follow the laws could result in fines and penalties. Where your business operates geographically also plays a role in determining which type of payroll frequency to choose. In July 2017, the first pay period would have 10 workdays and the second pay period would have 11 workdays. If we assume the employee works an eight-hour day, then the following would be true.
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Rachel Blakely-Gray is a writer for Patriot Software, a provider of payroll and human resources management solutions for small businesses. With 10 years of experience in employee benefits and payroll administration, Ferguson has written extensively on topics relating to employment and finance. A research writer as well, she has been published in The Sage Encyclopedia and Mission Bell Media.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 36.5 percent of employees are paid biweekly. On the other hand, semi-monthly hourly payroll processing can be a little more confusing. You may need to specify that the pay period ends earlier for semi-monthly payments than biweekly payments.
Pros and Cons of Semi-Monthly vs Bi-Weekly Payroll
In this article, we’ll explore the differences between a semimonthly and a biweekly payroll. The lack of consistency with semimonthly payroll can also be a turnoff for some businesses and employees. Since payroll will be processed on a different day of the week, the person running payroll could lose track of that responsibility.
Because some months have 31 days and others have 30, a semimonthly hourly worker may be paid for a distinctive number of days on different occasions. Simply put, payroll frequency is how often you pay your employees. Ideally, you pay your employees following the same consistent schedule throughout the year so they know what to expect and how to budget. Now that you’ve determined which payroll frequency is right for you, it’s time to compare service options.
Monthly payroll offers easier-to-manage benefit deductions since you only have to factor out the monthly cost. And processing payroll only has to happen Biweekly vs Semi-Monthly Payroll once a month, making it less time-consuming than other options. Only 19.8% of employees, on the other hand, are paid on a semimonthly basis.
Therefore the gross income of an employee working $100,000 annually would be $4,167 if paid semi-monthly. Workers will be given their salaries every other Friday if the selected payday is Friday, for a total of 26 paychecks throughout the year. The answer depends on the needs of your staff as much as the overall impact on your business. Your business size, industry, the type of employees you have, their compensation rates, federal laws, and state laws all have an influence on your decision.
Differences in Payroll Processing: Salaried Workers
For full-time salaried employees, biweekly schedules typically account for 80 hours of work. However, semimonthly paychecks for full-time salaried https://quickbooks-payroll.org/ employees account for 86.7 hours of work. A biweekly payroll schedule pays employees 26 cheques per year every second week, usually on a Friday.