Payroll Frequency change to semi-monthly

Susan Rush

We are bi-weekly considering switching to semi-monthly and would like to hear the pros and cons.

Cheryl S SPHR

The State of South Dakota just did this. For information, you could contact their state Bureau of Personnel at 605-773-3148.

Susan Rush

Thanks, I'll do that.

SDDCHR

The pros of this change were for budgetary reason. As far as the con's go, since we went to this change on July 1st I would say the biggest cons would be the change over in our payroll system, trying to explain to employees how we are not paying them less then what they made before the change, and assisting the employees with questions and helping them understand the concept of the new pay system. As with any change, it takes time and people are going to have a hard time dealing with it. Good luck...if you do it they will get used to it!

LBL

We changed from semi-monthly to bi-weekly a number of years ago because employees could not understand that we were not cheating them out of pay when there was a month with 31 days, for example. Many people cannot understand the concept at all. It was easier to go to bi-weekly, even though you have to deal with 27 pays every 5 years or so.

System

We just did a pay period conversion in July. It's very difficult for some employees to understand. We (HR) publicized the conversion 5 months prior to the event. HR visited all departments in medium sized groups. We handed out new schedules and answered questions. We did periodical newsletter reminders. After all that, some employees still didn't understand.

One month after the fact, everyone is OK. There are not many pros or cons to your conversion. Employee awareness is probably the biggest obstacle.

"Sam"