Expert: Shirley McAllister, CPP, PHR - 2/14/2011

Question
Hello,

We currently pay our salary employees biweekly. The Friday pay includes the preceding two weeks (ie. we would pay for the 1-14 on the 13th)

We would like to change our payroll cycle by implementing a one week "hold back" (for example, instead of the current method of paying Feb 13-26 on Feb 25, we'd like to pay Feb 13-26 on Mar 4).

We are unsure of the best way to implement this change with the smallest impact on our employees. Ultimately, when we make the change, the employees will end up with only 1 week pay where they normally would have had 2.

Do you have any suggestions for how this can be handled?
Thank you.

Answer
This can be accomplished, I have done it. It is not easy for the employees, so they must be told way ahead of time so they can prepare for it.

I have actually allowed those with PTO or Vacation time to use that time for the week even though they are being paid for it. In essence allowing them to cash out a week of time.

I have also allowed them to take a week advance and than pay it back over payperiods for the rest of the year.  So they would take a week's pay in advance and I would divide the amount by the remaining pay periods in the year so it could be paid back a little at a time.

It is especially hard for those that live paycheck to paycheck.

Talk to the employees, find out if they have suggestions. Perhaps if it is done over a holiday week they will have holiday pay and only be 4 days short.

Shirley