Eddy’s HR Mavericks Encyclopedia
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Weekly Payroll
How does weekly payroll benefit employers and employees? How can you transition your company to performing payroll on a weekly basis? Continue reading to learn the answers to these questions and more.
What Is Weekly Payroll?
Weekly payroll is the procedure of calculating and processing payroll for the total number of hours worked in one week (including paid time off). Employees are paid on the same day of the week every week, 52 times a year. Weekly payroll has advantages compared to bi-weekly (26 times per year), semi-monthly (24 times per year), and monthly (12 times per year) payroll.
How Does Weekly Payroll Benefit Employers?
Employers should consider several factors when deciding whether to process payroll on a weekly basis, including attracting more talent, higher levels of engagement, and simplified administration.
- Recruiting. Employees work to get paid. Promoting weekly payroll through recruiting can attract new talent. You might also consider the industry you work in and determine the types of payroll that your competition offers. Providing weekly payroll might give you an advantage over other companies.
- High engagement. Paying employees weekly can motivate your workforce, especially if they don’t have much money to save. When employees feel taken care of, their engagement is likely to increase. Having an engaged workforce is important in retaining and attracting new talent as well as increasing production.
- Administration. Preparing payroll weekly can potentially help you and your payroll administrators better organize the payroll process. Additionally, employees will always know which day they need to submit their timesheets.
- Faster error correction. Even though administrators strive to process payroll without errors, they still occur occasionally. Having weekly payroll allows them to correct any missing time or other supplemental pay the following week as opposed to processing a separate payroll for corrections, which costs companies more money.
How Does Weekly Payroll Benefit Employees?
Being paid more frequently benefits employees in a number of ways.
- Faster pay. Weekly paychecks mean employees receive their pay as soon as they earn it. This can be especially beneficial for employees who live paycheck to paycheck. If an employee works many overtime hours throughout the week, they only have to wait until the following week to be paid. Faster access to their money can mean a great deal to them.
- Predictability. As opposed to other forms of pay, weekly payroll can help your workforce more easily understand how they are being paid. Having an easy -to-remember payday is simpler for your employees to keep up with.
- New hires. When new hires start, they’ll be paid the following week rather than waiting several weeks to receive their first check.
Factors to Consider Before Deciding on Weekly Payroll
Before you decide on pursuing weekly payroll for your organization, please consider the following factors. They include the cost of running weekly payroll, state laws, and deductions.
Cost
There are likely to be more administrative and accounting costs associated with performing payroll on a weekly basis, including processing loans, garnishments, advances, etc. The size of your workforce and the payroll system your company uses can result in more time and money required to complete payroll every week.
State Laws
You may need to pay your employees weekly depending on your industry and state (or states) your company operates in. For example, in New York, manual workers must be paid weekly (unless approved otherwise). Also, in Rhode Island, employees must be paid weekly, and “Childcare providers shall have the option to be paid every two weeks.” Consult your state's department of labor.
How to Get Started With Weekly Payroll
Getting started with weekly payroll requires careful planning and preparation. The following steps explain the importance of helping employees consider the new weekly pay period, calculating weekly pay, and handling weekly deductions.
Step 1: Consider the Pay Period
At the end of the defined pay period, employees need to submit timesheets for approval. You will need to send out communication before implementation of weekly payroll that describes the timesheet approval process so that sheets are approved in a timely manner without slowing down the process. Then review timesheets for both exempt and non-exempt employees. Salaried employees should have 40 hours, which may include paid, sick, or holiday leave. As you review timesheets, scrutinize them to ensure that time was logged correctly. You can do this by filtering for time that appears to be dramatically more or less than that of their coworkers. If needed, speak with their manager to clear up any issues or concerns.
Step 2: Calculate Pay
For exempt employees, divide their annual salary by 52. The result will give you the amount that they are to be paid for the given weekly pay period (keep in mind that every five to six years, it is possible for a year to have 53 weeks due to a leap year or the year beginning on a Thursday). Next you can begin to calculate gross pay for non-exempt employees. If your company uses payroll and timekeeping software, this can typically be done automatically. Depending on the state you operate in, remember to consider any applicable overtime laws (such as daily overtime and double time) while performing your calculations.
Step 3: Deductions
It’s important to review deductions to be certain that they are set up and calculated correctly for weekly payroll (especially since they may not need to be deducted on a weekly basis). Benefit deductions, charitable contributions, and federal and state withholding, along with any applicable loans or advances should all be reviewed. It’s never a bad idea to double check everything several times as you go through the payroll process in order to reduce potential errors. Once you’re positive that everything is in sequence, you can process weekly payroll.
Topics
James Barrett
James has worked in the HR field going on 5+ years and has held various positions of leadership. His areas of expertise are in benefits, recruiting, onboarding, HR analytics, engagement, employee relations, and workforce development. He has earned a masters degree in HR, along with a nationally recognized SHRM-SCP certification.
Frequently asked questions
Other Related Terms
Eddy’s HR Mavericks Encyclopedia
Weekly Payroll
How does weekly payroll benefit employers and employees? How can you transition your company to performing payroll on a weekly basis? Continue reading to learn the answers to these questions and more.
What Is Weekly Payroll?
Weekly payroll is the procedure of calculating and processing payroll for the total number of hours worked in one week (including paid time off). Employees are paid on the same day of the week every week, 52 times a year. Weekly payroll has advantages compared to bi-weekly (26 times per year), semi-monthly (24 times per year), and monthly (12 times per year) payroll.
How Does Weekly Payroll Benefit Employers?
Employers should consider several factors when deciding whether to process payroll on a weekly basis, including attracting more talent, higher levels of engagement, and simplified administration.
- Recruiting. Employees work to get paid. Promoting weekly payroll through recruiting can attract new talent. You might also consider the industry you work in and determine the types of payroll that your competition offers. Providing weekly payroll might give you an advantage over other companies.
- High engagement. Paying employees weekly can motivate your workforce, especially if they don’t have much money to save. When employees feel taken care of, their engagement is likely to increase. Having an engaged workforce is important in retaining and attracting new talent as well as increasing production.
- Administration. Preparing payroll weekly can potentially help you and your payroll administrators better organize the payroll process. Additionally, employees will always know which day they need to submit their timesheets.
- Faster error correction. Even though administrators strive to process payroll without errors, they still occur occasionally. Having weekly payroll allows them to correct any missing time or other supplemental pay the following week as opposed to processing a separate payroll for corrections, which costs companies more money.
How Does Weekly Payroll Benefit Employees?
Being paid more frequently benefits employees in a number of ways.
- Faster pay. Weekly paychecks mean employees receive their pay as soon as they earn it. This can be especially beneficial for employees who live paycheck to paycheck. If an employee works many overtime hours throughout the week, they only have to wait until the following week to be paid. Faster access to their money can mean a great deal to them.
- Predictability. As opposed to other forms of pay, weekly payroll can help your workforce more easily understand how they are being paid. Having an easy -to-remember payday is simpler for your employees to keep up with.
- New hires. When new hires start, they’ll be paid the following week rather than waiting several weeks to receive their first check.
Factors to Consider Before Deciding on Weekly Payroll
Before you decide on pursuing weekly payroll for your organization, please consider the following factors. They include the cost of running weekly payroll, state laws, and deductions.
Cost
There are likely to be more administrative and accounting costs associated with performing payroll on a weekly basis, including processing loans, garnishments, advances, etc. The size of your workforce and the payroll system your company uses can result in more time and money required to complete payroll every week.
State Laws
You may need to pay your employees weekly depending on your industry and state (or states) your company operates in. For example, in New York, manual workers must be paid weekly (unless approved otherwise). Also, in Rhode Island, employees must be paid weekly, and “Childcare providers shall have the option to be paid every two weeks.” Consult your state's department of labor.
How to Get Started With Weekly Payroll
Getting started with weekly payroll requires careful planning and preparation. The following steps explain the importance of helping employees consider the new weekly pay period, calculating weekly pay, and handling weekly deductions.
Step 1: Consider the Pay Period
At the end of the defined pay period, employees need to submit timesheets for approval. You will need to send out communication before implementation of weekly payroll that describes the timesheet approval process so that sheets are approved in a timely manner without slowing down the process. Then review timesheets for both exempt and non-exempt employees. Salaried employees should have 40 hours, which may include paid, sick, or holiday leave. As you review timesheets, scrutinize them to ensure that time was logged correctly. You can do this by filtering for time that appears to be dramatically more or less than that of their coworkers. If needed, speak with their manager to clear up any issues or concerns.
Step 2: Calculate Pay
For exempt employees, divide their annual salary by 52. The result will give you the amount that they are to be paid for the given weekly pay period (keep in mind that every five to six years, it is possible for a year to have 53 weeks due to a leap year or the year beginning on a Thursday). Next you can begin to calculate gross pay for non-exempt employees. If your company uses payroll and timekeeping software, this can typically be done automatically. Depending on the state you operate in, remember to consider any applicable overtime laws (such as daily overtime and double time) while performing your calculations.
Step 3: Deductions
It’s important to review deductions to be certain that they are set up and calculated correctly for weekly payroll (especially since they may not need to be deducted on a weekly basis). Benefit deductions, charitable contributions, and federal and state withholding, along with any applicable loans or advances should all be reviewed. It’s never a bad idea to double check everything several times as you go through the payroll process in order to reduce potential errors. Once you’re positive that everything is in sequence, you can process weekly payroll.
Topics
James Barrett
James has worked in the HR field going on 5+ years and has held various positions of leadership. His areas of expertise are in benefits, recruiting, onboarding, HR analytics, engagement, employee relations, and workforce development. He has earned a masters degree in HR, along with a nationally recognized SHRM-SCP certification.
Frequently asked questions
Other Related Terms
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