How many monthly pays are in a year?

Answer 1

Semi-monthly payroll means that employees will get their paychecks twice a month, or 24 times per year. Common dates for pay are the 1st and 15th, or 15th and the last day of the month, but an employer may choose any two dates that are roughly half a month apart.

Some states, however, require that certain employees (namely hourly workers) be paid no more than two weeks apart. In these situations, weekly or bi-weekly payroll is the norm.

With bi-weekly payroll, paychecks are issued every other week. For example, if paychecks are issued on a Friday, employees will receive their checks every other Friday. Since most months have more than 28 days, this will mean that three paychecks are issued in some months. With 52 weeks in a year, 26 paychecks will be issued with a bi-weekly cycle.

Weekly paychecks, just as they sound, are issued every week on the same day, for a total of 52 pay periods per year.

Both the semi-monthly and weekly/bi-weekly pay cycles have positive and negative points. Which one a company chooses depends on their specific situation: do they have mostly salaried or hourly workers? Is your payroll department flexible with their scheduling, enabling them to do semi-monthly, which rotates the days specific tasks are performed? Assessing these specific points will direct a company to the method that best fits their needs.