
Close-up Photo Of Businesswoman Hand Giving Cheque
In the United States, bi-weekly pay is used by over 36% of businesses.
Getting paid every two weeks is so common that many people don’t question why businesses pay on such a schedule. The truth is that paychecks every two weeks aren’t something done for their workers, it is for business. A lot of the reasoning behind bi-weekly pay comes from before modern technology, let’s take a look at it.
Saves on Paperwork
Before the advent of computers and digital banking, every transaction required numerous forms and pieces of paperwork. Paying employees money as they earned it would not be feasible thirty or forty years ago. Companies knew this, and biweekly pay made it a lot easier for them.
Some businesses didn’t function like this, because it didn’t work with their model or their employee system. Those companies looked at alternatives to giving their workers a paycheck every two weeks. They established unusual pay periods, sometimes resulting in monthly or bi-monthly paychecks.
Use of Payroll Services
A lot of companies take advantage of payroll services. This means that they bring in a third party to deal with their pay cycle. Using these services helps to save the company money by removing the need for a dedicated HR position dealing with employee pay.
Imagine before computers were in use, how much paperwork it would require a third-party firm to manage even a single company’s payroll. Then expand that out by the average number of clients for one of these businesses and you can see why they’d want to stick to bi-weekly pay.
Larger Sums
A lot of companies justify their bi-weekly pay by noting how it provides larger amounts than weekly pay. This is true, and it can be easier to pay bills and save a bit on the side with bi-weekly over someone paid weekly. However, that doesn’t matter when you’re waiting for payday with no money left over.
The Power of Tradition
Make no mistake, tradition is a powerful motivator for a lot of people and companies. For many companies there is no actual reason why they pay bi-weekly, they do it because that’s how it has always been. This type of justification has been more and more challenged by modern technology and culture.
Paid Every Two Weeks
A growing number of people have become unsatisfied with paychecks every two weeks. For those people, new options are becoming available for companies to use. Some of these options are based around specific dates for pay, but the most inspired approach is called earned wage access.
Modern solutions focus on making sure that the pay system works out for both company and employee. This way the employee gets the money they need when they need it and companies aren’t overwhelmed trying to take care of each individual employee’s pay requirements.
Work and Pay
While being paid every two weeks is a great solution for the time it was introduced, it has become a relic of the past. Modern solutions and computers make it easy to pay employees in a variety of ways. No one today should have to struggle because of their pay schedule.
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