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What is a Pay Period?
A pay period is the recurring schedule in which the time employees have worked is recorded and paid for. At the end of a pay period, payroll should be submitted so that employees are paid on a regular basis.
Pay Period Types
Every company is in a different situation and has unique needs, so payroll schedules may vary from business to business. Here are four of the most common types of pay periods used and how they work.
Weekly
A weekly pay period means that payroll will occur once a week, on the same day of the week. Though payroll will take more time to run using this method, a weekly schedule is perfect for businesses whose employees need to be paid more often.
Bi-Weekly
Companies with a bi-weekly pay period will submit payroll every two weeks. This means that the specific date of that month that payroll occurs will vary from month to month.
Semi-Monthly
Pay periods that are semi-monthly happen on the same two days of each month, usually once somewhere in the middle of the month and once at the end. It’s very similar to a bi-weekly schedule, but is more consistent in the days that pay can be expected.
Monthly
The monthly pay period is exactly what the name indicates, one month in length. Usually payroll day will happen either at the end of the current month or the beginning of the next month.
How to Keep Track of Your Pay Period Schedule and Employee Time Worked
The last thing you want as an administrator or payroll manager is to have employees all over your back about getting payroll submitted in time. That’s why it’s extremely important to keep a consistent schedule so your employees know when they can expect to be paid. Here are some common ways you can keep track of that schedule.
A Physical Calendar
If you’re a very small office with only a few employees, a physical calendar may work for you. Just buy a physical calendar or print one from the internet, mark your payroll days, and hang it in a highly visible area in your office. Now all your employees know exactly when payroll day is.
One restriction of a physical calendar is the ability to keep track of employee time. Not only is there more allowance for human error in calculating times, but there’s not as much room to manually record clock in and out times (unless you keep track of times on a separate sheet of paper).
Excel or an Online Spreadsheet
Spreadsheets are a great way to see lots of data in one place. You can create a spreadsheet with your pay schedule and have your employees enter their times manually into the spreadsheet each day. With spreadsheets, you can clean up the paper mess and move your time tracking to a more accessible location: a computer.
A downside of this is once again human error. It’s easy for an employee to round their time or possibly even lie about what time they came in or left. It also may be difficult to keep track of the times within a period if it’s not specified very clearly.
Time Clock Software
In my opinion, the best way to keep track of pay periods and employee time is a time clock software. You can enter your company’s decided payroll schedule and the software will automatically calculate what dates you should keep track of to run payroll. You also can automate your employee time calculations as they clock in and out. This greatly decreases the risk of buddy punching or forgetting when you need to run payroll.
Though time clock software usually costs money to get, it’s well worth the price. Time tracking software such as TimeClick makes running payroll reports simple, fast, and accurate. You can hold yourself and your employees accountable and make payroll day a breeze.
How to Change Your Pay Period Type in TimeClick
If you are a current TimeClick user, choosing and recording your payroll preferences is incredibly easy. Just follow these steps and you’ll be tracking the right pay schedule in no time.
- Open the TimeClick software and navigate to Administration Options.
- Click on the Preferences section in the Navigation bar.
- Select the Pay Period and OT tab.
- From there, you can choose your pay period type from the dropdown menu under “Pay Period Preferences.”
Within TimeClick, you also have the option to choose your report defaults to be either the last completed pay period or the current pay period.
Final Comments
If you are interested in a time clock software to keep track of your pay period and employee times, you can try TimeClick for 14-days, free! Feel free to call us at (435) 753-4102 ext. 1 or email sales@timeclick.com with any questions.