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      Best Practices when Changing Pay Periods

      Things to think about when planning on changing employee pay periods

      Questions to Answer

      There are some essential items to consider when planning to change employee pay periods.

      Here is a list of questions you will want to think about before finalizing changes like this:

      • When is this change taking place? Please provide Fuse with as much lead time as possible to help make these changes.
      • Are your overtime weeks changing? How will overtime be calculated for the week where the change takes place?
      • Will this change how time off accruals are calculated?
      • Will this change anything for exempt employees?
      • How should the transition period be processed? Will we add days to create a long pay period to make up the missing days, or process a shortened period?
      • After this change takes place, will you have multiple active pay cycles, or is everyone moving to this new period? If you continue to have more than one cycle, will the payrolls be processed separately, or should check dates be grouped together?

      Other Best Practices

      • Paying Current/Before the pay period is over
        • Paying before the pay period ends can be a risk if you pay employees before they work the hours you are paying them for.
        • The Fuse system has different options for paying current or estimating the hours for the rest of the pay period before it is over.
        • If you are in the process of changing your pay periods, consider changing your payroll periods to allow Payroll Lead Times.
      • Payroll Lead Times
        • Always ensure you have enough time between period end dates, payroll submission dates, and check dates. 
        • Sometimes there may be weekends or holidays that shorten the period of time you will have to submit your payrolls.
      • Syncing Pay Cycles
        • Our system can handle separate pay cycles for all types of employees, but keep in mind that you sometimes will need to move employees between those cycles. For example, if you do not want to change an employee's pay cycle when they change from hourly to salary, you may want to consider having the same pay cycle for both groups of people.
        • If possible, we recommend having the same pay cycle to make transitions or promotions easier for you and your team.
      • Making the Changes