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wait, where in the world is it common to get paid twice a month? we got rid of that in like the 70s...
US based here. My wife gets paid on the 15th and last day of the month (28,29,30, or 31st). So she could have anywhere from 9-12 working days each check. I am paid every other week.
For a second I was like "what month ends on the 29th???"
And then I realized you were being so specific as to include leap years one day.
strange. as far as i understand it we got rid of it because more frequent paychecks can make people subconsciously less likely to put money into savings, sort of how like living next to a supermarket makes some people cook less. it's not a law, but the unions pushed for it until it became the standard.
Hint: if it's a thing that unions push for, don't be surprised if it doesn't exist in the U.S.
It's not a coincidence at all, this place absolutely hates empowered workers.
I've never had a job that paid semimonthly, but almost every job I've ever had was bi-weekly.
I had a job that paid 2x/month 20 years ago. I think the one before that did the same, but... That was a long time ago and I'm not sure if I remember
wait, what does semimonthly mean? like, not every month?
The English language is scuffed; due to misunderstandings we end up with seemingly opposite words now being used interchangeably to mean the same thing:
It’s at the point where if you can’t derive the intended definition from context, you need to ask for clarification! 🤦🏻♂️
In this context, I’m pretty sure the commenter was referring to twice-a-month payment. Here in Australia we would call that fortnightly (once every two weeks), where we end up with a scenario where twice a year we end up with 3 payments (for a total of 26 a year). This tends to be more common for hourly wages roles.
It’s been a hot minute since I was paid like that, as corporate salaried positions now tend to be monthly - in order to keep things simple for the HR and Finance teams, and honestly helps people like me to learn/maintain better fiscal responsibility and budgeting.
"Flammable" was invented specifically to avoid confusion with "inflammable."
No! Bad! Do not encourage this! Like biweekly, biannually is every two years.
I’m not encouraging it, it’s actually one of my biggest pet peeves!
I can understand why given how rarely they’re used, people get confused between semi-annual and biannual - especially since things happening every ~6 months is a more common occurrence than every ~24.
In a world where possible/impossible is simple to understand, why is flammable/inflammable confusing!?
Don’t even get me started on “literally” - I want to bang my head against my desk every time I hear it misused.
why then separate it from biweekly?
Biweekly is fortnightly. Every two weeks. I.e. Every other Thursday.
Semi-monthly would be twice a month, i.e. the 1st and the 15th.
26 biweekly paychecks in a year...24 semimonthly paychecks in a year.
wtf
JasonDJ did a good job at explaining the what, the why would be down to cost-cutting. There are fixed costs associated with putting out payroll (beyond man hours required, there are processing fees etc.); so opting for 2/month instead of fortnightly saves you ~10% in fixed costs.
why not jush do it once a month then?
In general, because the transition puts too much of a financial strain on hourly/wage staff - they tend to live paycheque to paycheque and would struggle to be able to wait an additional 2-3 weeks for their pay to come through.
Besides risking possible staff revolt, it would also make hiring staff much more difficult if new employees learned during induction they might have to wait 5 weeks to be paid!
...then how come it works everywhere else?
What does?
paying out once a month. even when i worked an hourly job at a restaurant we got paid monthly.
I guess it depends on what is seen as the norm in a particular country. In Australia, it’s most common for hourly wages to be paid either weekly or fortnightly - and I believe it’s a similar case in North America also.
Given they only the companies stand to benefit from paying employees less frequently, it makes it harder for those companies to compete for quality labour (without then offering a higher hourly rate, negating any benefit for them to do so).
it also benefits the workers though. that's why unions push for it.
How does being paid less frequently benefit workers?
it helps structure personal finances since bills are always due at the end of the month. it also incentivices putting more into savings. at least that's how i understand it.
Counter-point: it actually robs those employees from learning the ability to save, and denies them (albeit small, incremental) opportunities to earn interest.
You just made me recall one of my gripes with the finance department at my previous job; they would withhold posting an invoice until the week after it was due, and considered it good business. Why? Because that 100K would sit in their bank account for 5-7 more business days accumulating interest at ~5%.
It’s no different to only paying employees monthly; the company profits from withholding payment for as long as possible.
well i don't know too much about this other than the fact that we do it because labour unions.
also, that anecdote describes a breach of contract. that's why late fees are so large.
You’d be surprised just how common ‘breaches of contract’ like this are, especially among SMEs.
If the supplier knows that the customer has a tendency to pay invoices EOM +35 rather than EOM+30, it’s not worth the cost to pursue legally - especially as doing so would risk them losing a client.
The first secret of business is to collect money as quickly as possible, and avoid paying out as long as possible, to profit off the arbitrage.
here everyone just stopped doing business with us when the company i was at tried that. we were about to go bankrupt so they tried to squeeze more money out and as a result everyone just left.
Total stab in the dark, but I assume you’re somewhere in continental Europe?
Seems like your businesses have a lot more scruples, morals and ethics than ours do!
well not continental, but yeah. i wouldn't want to work for a company without some sort of moral code. it's all written down it our bylaws how we should act towards customers, governments, prospects, etc. to not break any laws and always compete fairly.
I get paid every 2 weeks, so slightly more often than twice a month. The twice a year "extra" paychecks go straight into savings because they're not part of my monthly budget. It's a government job in the USA.
My last job paid 1st and 15th . And the company i own now does the same.
I find budgeting much simpler than with a bi-weekly paycheck.
Who is "we"?
most of europe i assumed, but now that i've said it i realise i have no data.
We get paid daily
Honestly I get paid once a month but I know some of my friends have 2 paydays a month so it's still out there in the wild
i have only ever heard of one place that paid biweekly, and that was a completely analog firm run by some religious nut. they stopped doing it in like 2002 and everyone who worked there complained.
Conversely, I have never worked anywhere that paid bimonthly and only ever at places that paid biweekly, although a friend of mine did some years ago so… looks like there’s different payment schedules in different places—astounding.
I will say every single place i’ve worked has not paid enough to live in the modern era so at least that seems to be a consistent through-line.