Recently, someone took to Reddit to rant about the frequency of paychecks, saying the biweekly paychecks are only for the benefit of the companies, not the employees.
“Bi-weekly paychecks should be illegal,” the person wrote. The worker said the biweekly check was designed to trick workers into thinking they are making more.
Ultimately, workers are making the same about on money and having the same amount of taxes taken out.
Pay periods can be weekly, b-weekly (every two weeks), semimonthly (twice a month), or monthly. The most common pay period is biweekly, followed by weekly, semimonthly, and monthly.
In 2022, 45.7 percent of establishments surveyed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, paid employees biweekly, 31.8 percent paid weekly, 18 percent opted for a semimonthly pay schedule, and 4.4 percent paid monthly.
Many companies opt for biweekly because it means less accounting work. But the Reddit users said it’s all a trick to make employees thing they are rolling in the dough on payday.
Tell Finurah what your preference is: Weekly or biweekly?
Pros and Cons of a Weekly Pay Check
With weekly paychecks, employees have cash in hand every seven days. Employees reportedly have higher morale when paid weekly.
But for small businesses, weekly checks are a financial con because individual deposit fees range from about $1.50 to $1.90 per deposit, on average, according to NFIB, making weekly checks somewhat expensive. There’s also more frequent paperwork involved.
Pros and Cons of a Biweekly Pay
For companies, paying employees biweekly instead of weekly means they only have to process payroll only once every two weeks. It’s less time-consuming and most cost-effective.
On the flip side, workers just aren’t as happy, according to workplace experts, when they have to wait to get paid every two weeks.
Which is Better?
“A lot of this boils down to personal preference and how you budget and pay your bills. With weekly payments, you get more paychecks but less money each time,” notes an unnamed expert with the job recruitment platform Zippia. “While Biweekly, there are more checks with more money per check…but most people find weekly easier to keep track of, as you don’t have to count weeks. However, depending on how you budget, getting a small amount of money each week can make it difficult to save up for larger bills, like the rent.
