Ah, payday. The absolute best day of the week. Er, month. No, the best two days of the month.
Wait, does anyone standardize this stuff? How many payroll weeks are in a year, anyway? Or . . . wait, what even are payroll weeks?
It’s actually pretty simple: payroll weeks are essentially pay periods. And someone does standardize this stuff: your state government. And the number of payroll weeks in a year depends on how often you pay employees. If you pay employees biweekly (which, in this case, means every other week, not twice a week), you’ll have 26 or 27 payroll weeks. If you pay them semimonthly, you’ll have 24. If you pay them monthly, you’ll have 12, and if you pay them weekly, you’ll have 52.
So what’s the right payroll schedule for your business? The answer depends on a few things, including your state’s payday laws, your employees’ needs, and your business’s expenses (including tax payments). Keep reading for the lowdown on different types of payroll periods and the info you need to choose the right one for your small business.