Payroll - Your thoughts

[sparklynails23]

When you said they were a government employee that would revolt it made sense. They probably have a union behind them so they would fight any change little as senseless as it may be. At least that seems to be the way it happens around here.

Oooorrrrrr, they might have thought it was a pain to change their retirement withholdings, automatic payments, automatic balance transfers, etc. But you're probably right, them union lubbin lazy guvmnt workers was just causin' trouble for nuttin.

 

[niklynn1]

I'm a teacher, and for my whole career I've been paid monthly. Even though I've never really known anything different, I actually like it. As a young adult, it forced me to learn how to budget to make the money last all month.

Now, I like it because I get paid once a month and send all my monthly bills out the day after pay day, then don't have to think about it again for another month.

 

[manning]

If you get paid monthly you better be good at budgetting. We used to get paid monthly in the army and thank god they gave you a place to sleep and 3 meals a day. A majority of the men were flat broke by the 3rd week.

 

[MariDisney]

I get paid monthly. You just get used to it.

 

[BrerMom]

I get paid every two weeks and we have a mortgage that has 26 payments a year. Easy. My check is automatically deposited and the mortgage is automatically withdrawn.

DH is paid twice a month. His check is also automatically deposited and most of the bills are automatically withdrawn based on when he gets paid.

There are only a few bills that I have to request online or pay with a check. I think it wouldn't be a big deal to be paid monthly after an adjustment period. It's working well now, though, so I wouldn't voluntarily change it.

 

[chamonix]

The employees who thought of the third "extra" paycheck in some months as a "bonus" need a lesson in math. Assuming their actual yearly pay won't change, it really doesn't matter how often they receive a check. I think if you assure them the pay, benefits, deductions, etc will all remain exactly the same, then there really is nothing to complain about to the employer.

Sure, it will suck for a month or two or three to get used to it and to change any direct billpays, etc but after that, it's their problem to learn how to budget for a longer pay period. It's not rocket science.

Many bills can be re-scheduled for a due date that coincides with their payday. I don't understand why it's so difficult to deal with...every other bill they have (besides gas and groceries) only needs to be paid once a month.

I think it's a great idea to save the company money. Of course, I say this as someone whose husband has been getting paid monthly for years, so I'm used to it. I really can't imagine another way! It's so much easier to look at that one monthly check and know exactly how much bills will eat out of it! I can't imagine the bother of having to "save" a certain amount each weekly paycheck for those monthly utility bills, or bothering myself with wondering which bill gets paid which week out of which paycheck. What a headache. Much easier to just get one monthly check and schedule all my bills to be due and paid the same week.

 

[leebee]

DH and I were paid monthly, on the last day of the month, for years. It was actually pretty sweet. I knew when the money would be in the bank, so I set up all my bills to be due around the 12th of the month. I would sit down on the first of the month and pay ALL the bills in one fell swoop. I liked it.

Now, we get paid every other week (don't work in the same place, it just happened that way). I pretend that we still get paid monthly and do all the bills on the 1st. It's OK but sometimes challenging to balance the checking account, depending on when paychecks are posted in relation to when the bank statement is printed.

I know what people mean by that 3rd check. When you are paid twice a month, you get used to thinking the monthly income is $X times two. When you get that 3rd paycheck, it's a thrill... for me, it usually means there's a little breathing space in the budget. I know, it's all the same overall, but it's a psychological high to see that third check come in!

 

[2disneyboys]

I would love monthly. I used to get paid 1st and the 15th and a few years ago it was changed to bi-weekly (26 a year). Dh gets paid weekly...ugh...

The best thing about participating in the Dave Ramsey program for us is we developed a plan and set aside enough money over the course of a few months that we pay current month bills with last months pay...so the money for our Jan bills was deposited into our account throughout dec. And on the first of each month, I pay all of that months bills and set aside our misc expense money for the month. It does make budgeting for the month alot easier, IMHO.

The problem is so many people live paycheck to paycheck (for whatever reason) so I could see it being a budget crunch to switch over from one style of pay to the other.

 

[si-am]

I don't mind getting paid monthly.

In a way, I think I would have a hard time if I were paid every two weeks instead. My mortgage and most of my bills are due the first half of the month. I'd be wiped out immediately if I had to use two week's salary to pay!

I could manage but it would be an adjustment to my budgeting, for sure.

 

[tvguy]

Would you accept a job that pays monthly?

Many companies (small operations for the most part) in our area have moved to a monthly payroll system. Our firm made the decision over ten years ago to pay our employees monthly. We disclose our payroll policy to all applicants.

This morning I was discussing payroll with a government employee and it is her position that employees at her office would revolt if the entity moved to monthly payroll.

Well, government jobs are the only ones I am familar with that pay monthy around here, but the local government workers credit union routinely extends cash advances for no charge before pay day so I guess that helps for those who are poor planners.
I have been paid every 2 weeks, and twice a month (the 15th and 30th), and prefer every 2 weeks because my credit card and major bills are all due on the 14th and the 29th . Now, I know the employer that paid on the 15th and 30th got into hot water because they were calculating hourly workers paychecks wrongly and basically shorting all the hourly workers 2 weeks pay a year.
My son has always worked for small firm, 5 to 15 employees, small businesses and has always gotten paid weekly. He has been told they do that because it works better with their cash flow, they just hope enough revenue comes in every week to cover that weeks payroll. And there is no added cost really, their payroll service charges per employee, not per pay period.

 

[sasywtch]

Well, government jobs are the only ones I am familar with that pay monthy around here, but the local government workers credit union routinely extends cash advances for no charge before pay day so I guess that helps for those who are poor planners.
.

Hi TV guy. Not familiar with any of the credit unions with advances--there were a few months when it would have been nice. Golden1 does deposit a day early based on our last month's pay but that's about it. They also guarantee us they will pay us our check if the Gov decides not to pay us. Right now they shorted us about $50-70 on our paychecks 12/31 and we all are taking bets when we will see it LOL We're guessing our January 31 paycheck. They are making some interest off 300,000 employees this month.

I juggled bills more when I was paid bi-weekly then the once a month.

I have a supervisor who asks people when they accept a job if it's going to be difficult for them. Alot of people are younger, living at home won't be in trouble if they don't get a check for a month or they are a second earner in the home. For the few who were still working and paid twice a month and want this better job, the supervisor will have them start in the middle of the month so they get their final paycheck from old job and in 2 weeks they get a check from the new state job. Then they learn to wait that long month until payday again. It's all the same amount of money whether I get 1500 on the 1st and 15th or 3000 on the last day of the month.

What's nice right now is we are able to work overtime for $$ instead of time off so we get a separate check around the 8-10th of the month.

 

[NHdisneylover]

Our income has been paind once a month for about the last 11 years. I don't why so many people think that is hard to work with You jsut budget for it like you do for anything else.

 

[deegack]

I loved being paid monthly. I paid all my bills for the month, put a little in savings and then divide the rest out for the rest of the month and I was done.

 

[stsomewhere]

My husband just took a job that paid monthly in Oct. I was hard the first month because his old job paid on the 15th and last day o month.

He was offered the job in August. So, we started to prepare by saving and really watching our spending. We did have to go into our savings to cover a little.

It is very easy to budget now.