Payroll Schedule

[K305]

Hi Everyone,

I was looking to see what the general consensus was when it came to establishing a payroll schedule. Are there any stand out benefits to issuing paychecks on a bi-monthly, bi-weekly, or even weekly basis? (...besides the obvious issue of frequency of having to process payroll of course...).

Thanks!


Also, any recommendations for managing a payroll in regards to using software or a service? Our company consists of 3 salaried employees and a number of hourly employees.

Thanks again!

[peteVA]

Having paid a management consultant a nice amount of money I received basically two suggestions. I did get a lot of compliments for doing things properly, which was nice, but high 4 figures to be told to 1 - monitor trash removal to make sure no inventory was going out the back door and 2 - to go from a weekly to a bi-weekly payroll in order to keep more operating cash on hand and cut down costs sort of burned me up. All of the compliments didn't change my feeling of getting screwed.

I was dealing with low paid employees and while bi-monthly would have been even better, it's not a practical way to pay hourly people who live week to week. Dealing with salaried people, I would go with a bi-monthly plan, no question about it.

[Future of Edu]

Hey Gravity,, Like pete stated above, cash on hand is going to be the main benefit between weekly and bi-weekly. The type of business you have and your revenue stream would have to determine that. I personally pay bi-weekly. I also do not issu echeck any longer. I pay them through debit cards that I ordered. It cost me next to nothing to have them loaded and there is an electronic papertrail for both the employee and myself.

As for not paying bi=weekly because of the type of job or employee, I'm sorry but tuugh luck. If they don't like being paid bi-weekly, get new employees. In this economy they are not hard to find and train. If you are need to pay bi-weekly to have more cash on hand then that's what you need to do. You can't let your employees wishes determine that for you.

Best of luck

Enjoy Life,
Nick

[ChrisBenjamin]

Pay 2x a month or every other week is very standard, I wouldn't pay any more or less. More would be more paperwork and effort on your part, any less and the employees get restless only getting paid 1x a month.

As for services, there's tons out there now. Usually for a small business your bank will offer payroll services that are completely online and will handle your needs. Best part is for pretty cheap, compared to an ADP or the like. Bank of America handles my payroll just dandy.

[K305]

Thanks for all the tips! Much appreciated!