The 4-Minute Guide to How Biweekly Pay Works (2024)

One of the first concerns your new business is likely to face is pay period -- should you pay your employees weekly? Biweekly? Monthly?

The 4-Minute Guide to How Biweekly Pay Works (1)

Of course, you'll want to take into consideration both the needs of your employees, and your HR payroll administrators. In other words, what is the easiest system for your HR team to process, and what will make most of your employees happiest?

Biweekly is a good option to consider, and it's also the most popular option in the U.S. -- the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports 36.5% of private businesses have decided to use biweekly pay as their pay system of choice.

Biweekly Pay

Biweekly is the most common option for a business's pay period in the U.S. Biweekly pay means you pay your employees on a set day once every two weeks, resulting in 26 paychecks per year. Because payday occurs once every two weeks, some months will have three paychecks. Biweekly can be helpful if most of your employees are hourly workers. Additionally, your employees will be happy to be paid more often (as opposed to monthly or semimonthly).

If you're wondering which pay period option is best to implement at your company -- or if you're just curious what biweekly pay entails -- keep reading.

What Is Biweekly Pay?

Biweekly pay means you pay your employees once every two weeks, on a set day you choose.

For instance, let's say you choose to pay your employees once every two weeks, on Friday.

Take a look at the following calendar for the months of January and February, 2019:

The 4-Minute Guide to How Biweekly Pay Works (3)

The 4-Minute Guide to How Biweekly Pay Works (4)Calendar courtesy of Towncalendars.com

As you can see, it doesn't matter which day of the month you pay your employees -- you can pay them on the4th one month, and then the 1st another. It's only important you pay once every two weeks.

Once you start the year, you'll pay your employees once every two weeks. This might sound simple, but that means for two months out of the year, you'll have three pay periods instead of two.

Pros of Biweekly Pay:

  • Your HR team needs to process payroll once every two weeks, which can reduce the likelihood of payroll errors and time spent on payroll processing, in comparison to weekly pay periods.
  • Employees receive more pay checks during the year than semimonthly, even if those paychecks are slightly lower than they would be on a semimonthly schedule.
  • A biweekly system is more consistent for employees -- for instance, an employee can expect to receive a paycheck on every other Friday. With a semimonthly pay period, the days of the week will vary, with an employee potentially receiving a paycheck on a Monday, and then a Wednesday.
  • It likely makes your employees happier than operating on a monthly schedule, which requires employees to budget for a longer period of time.

Cons of Biweekly Pay:

  • If you use biweekly pay, your business must be prepared for the months with three paychecks, and budget accordingly to ensure the payroll account has enough money for those extra expenses.
  • Your payroll provider might charge your business for each payroll run, which results in higher annual fees than if you opt for semimonthly.
  • Your employees might want to get paid every week, so they have more consistent money coming into their accounts.
  • If your industry operates on contract work, where projects can stall for periods of time, employees might appreciate weekly pay for a sense of security.

Ultimately, it's critical you consider what your competitors are doing, and what makes the most sense for your employees, when choosing a pay period. Your decision might vary depending on the size of your HR team, whether you can find a payroll provider with fair payroll fees, and whether your employees are salaried or hourly workers.

How many biweekly pay periods in 2019?

There will be 26 biweekly pay periods in 2019. Since biweekly means once every two weeks, you simply need to take the number of weeks there are in 2019 -- 52 -- and divide that number by two.

The Difference Between Semimonthly and Biweekly

At first glance, these two terms sound awfully similar -- once every two weeks or twice a month are the same thing, aren't they?

Actually, they're not. Semimonthly means your employees get paid on two specific days of the month, regardless of when they fall. For instance, you might choose to pay your employees on the 15th and 30th of every month. Biweekly, on the other hand, promises employees a paycheck once every two weeks regardless of what day of the month it is -- hence, in the calendars above, employees receive paychecks on the 4th, 18th, 1st, and 15th of the month.

Semimonthly means employees receive 24 paychecks per year, instead of 26. Additionally, the 15th and 30th of each month could fall on a holiday or weekend depending on the month, so your HR team needs to ensure they're on-top of processing deadlines and pay dates to ensure your employees still receive a paycheck.

How to calculate biweekly pay

  1. Figure out your gross annual salary
  2. Divide that number by 26
  3. That number is the amount you'll receive biweekly
  4. If you want to know your hourly pay, take your biweekly paycheck and divide by the number of hours worked every two weeks
  5. For instance, someone who makes 60,000 gross annual salary will make $2,307.69 biweekly, or $28.84 per hour for a 40-hour work week
  6. You might need to factor certain benefits, such as health insurance or 401(k), into your biweekly pay if you get money taken out of your paycheck for those benefits

Topics: Human Resources

The 4-Minute Guide to How Biweekly Pay Works (2024)

FAQs

The 4-Minute Guide to How Biweekly Pay Works? ›

Biweekly, on the other hand, promises employees a paycheck once every two weeks regardless of what day of the month it is -- hence, in the calendars above, employees receive paychecks on the 4th, 18th, 1st, and 15th of the month. Semimonthly means employees receive 24 paychecks per year, instead of 26.

How does it work when you get paid biweekly? ›

Biweekly pay describes when employees are paid every other week on a specific day of the week. For example, if you want to establish a biweekly pay schedule, you might choose to pay your employees every other Friday. Since every calendar year has 52 weeks, this results in a total of 26 paychecks per year.

How do you calculate biweekly pay periods? ›

Calculating Bi-Weekly Gross Using Annual Salary
  1. 365 days in a year* (*please use 366 for leap years)
  2. 14 days in a bi-weekly pay period.
  3. Formula: Bi-Weekly Gross = Annual Salary / 365 days X 14 days.
  4. Example: if your annual salary is $50,000, your Bi-Weekly Gross = $50,000 / 365 days X 14 days = $1,917.81.

How do I run biweekly payroll? ›

Bi-weekly pay for an hourly employee is calculated by multiplying their hourly rate by the number of hours worked in a two-week period. For example, an employee who earns $20 per hour and works 60 hours every two weeks will earn $1,200 on a bi-weekly basis.

How many hours should be on a biweekly paycheck? ›

That's because a biweekly pay period always encompasses two workweeks, which will amount to 80 hours (plus overtime, if applicable) under most circ*mstances. An hourly employee's biweekly paycheck amount is just 80 hours multiplied by their hourly pay rate—easy!

What are the disadvantages of getting paid biweekly? ›

Biweekly pay also has its disadvantages compared to weekly, semi-monthly, and monthly alternatives, such as:
  • It requires additional paperwork. The more payroll runs, the more administrative work is required.
  • There's more room for potential error. ...
  • It's more expensive than monthly.

How much is $15 an hour biweekly? ›

$15 hourly is how much per two weeks? If you make $15 per hour, your Biweekly salary would be $1,200. This result is obtained by multiplying your base salary by the amount of hours, week, and months you work in a year, assuming you work 40 hours a week.

How much is $12 an hour biweekly? ›

$12 hourly is how much per two weeks? If you make $12 per hour, your Biweekly salary would be $960. This result is obtained by multiplying your base salary by the amount of hours, week, and months you work in a year, assuming you work 40 hours a week. How much tax do I pay if I make $12 per hour?

How many pay periods in a biweekly pay cycle? ›

Biweekly processing requires the flexibility to handle a third payroll run in some months. Generally, there are 26 biweekly pay periods in a year, but depending on how the days of the week fall, there could be 27 pay periods. In some months, the regular pay date will occur three times rather than two.

What is an example of a biweekly pay schedule? ›

A biweekly pay schedule is the payment of employee wages every two weeks, often on a Friday. For example, if, in October 2021, your employees received their paychecks on Friday, Oct. 8 and Friday, Oct. 22, you paid them biweekly.

How much is $17 an hour biweekly? ›

$17 hourly is how much per two weeks? If you make $17 per hour, your Biweekly salary would be $1,360. This result is obtained by multiplying your base salary by the amount of hours, week, and months you work in a year, assuming you work 40 hours a week.

How much is $18 an hour biweekly? ›

To calculate your bi-weekly earnings, we can divide your annual salary by 26. Using the same example of $18 an hour, we can multiply it by $40 hours per week and then divide that amount by 26 pay periods to get bi-weekly earnings of $1,440.

How much is $1300 every two weeks? ›

$1,300 biweekly is how much per year? If you make $1,300 per two weeks, your Yearly salary would be $33,800.

How much is $20 an hour biweekly? ›

$20 hourly is how much per two weeks? If you make $20 per hour, your Biweekly salary would be $1,600. This result is obtained by multiplying your base salary by the amount of hours, week, and months you work in a year, assuming you work 40 hours a week.

How much is $2000 a week hourly? ›

How much is your salary? $2,000 weekly is how much per hour? If you make $2,000 per week, your hourly salary would be $50.

Is getting paid every two weeks better? ›

For employees, getting paid weekly provides more frequent paychecks, which can be beneficial for managing short-term expenses and maintaining a consistent cash flow. On the other hand, biweekly pay results in larger paychecks, making it easier to budget for extended periods.

Does biweekly pay get taxed more? ›

Do you get taxed more if paid monthly versus biweekly? Whether you're paid monthly or biweekly doesn't affect the amount of your taxes. Regardless of how often you're paid throughout the year, the withheld taxes will be the same at the end of the year.

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