Semi-Weekly vs Bi-Weekly: What’s the Difference?

This method is preferred by companies who pay their employees on an hourly basis and need to keep a reliable payment schedule. In a semi-weekly pay schedule, employees are typically paid twice a week, which is every two or three days depending on the organization’s payroll policies. This may not be the first choice for many organizations, since frequent payroll processing may place an administrative burden on HR and payroll teams. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 36.5 percent of employees are paid biweekly. Meanwhile, 19.8 percent of employees get paid semi-monthly. In semi-monthly frequencies, payroll is processed fewer times than biweekly, so employees’ paychecks are larger.

Biweekly vs semiweekly

I shouldn’t have purchased this furniture on credit because I have to make semi-weekly payments. Another explanation is happening once every one-half a week. No, biweekly meaning in English strictly refers to something occurring every two weeks ortwice a week. Yes, biweekly spelling variations do not change the meaning. The term bi-weekly is simply a hyphenated version of biweekly. The term bi-weekly was created by adding a hyphen to biweekly.

Bi-Weekly Pay Schedule

If cash flow is tight or you need absolute consistency in expense contribution margin planning, semi-monthly might give you an edge. If you ever get stuck on anything, you can always come back here for a quick refresher. We’ve also got a whole library of content on other confusing words and phrases you might see while learning the language. The same dictionary defines ‘semi-monthly’ as twice a month.

Final Thoughts: Using “Biweekly” and “Bi Weekly” Correctly

Many businesses prefer biweekly payments because they offer a balance between weekly and monthly pay schedules. Lattice Payroll, for example, is a comprehensive payroll software solution that can support both biweekly and semimonthly pay cycles. It’s designed to automate payroll processing, including overtime calculations and deductions. It also provides employees with clear pay statements for budgeting and planning. However, with a biweekly pay frequency, an employer will need to cover 26 different pay periods in a year.

• And it does all that seamlessly, connecting performance reviews and compensation discussions to ensure every payday is on time and error-free.
• “So if we’re looking for a solution to the problem, let’s bring fortnight and fortnightly back into use,” Adams said.
• EmpMonitor automatically logs check-ins, breaks, and logouts, reducing manual errors and providing clear attendance records for easier payroll processing.
• In addition, a biweekly publication is issued every two weeks and a bimonthly publication is issued every two months.
• It has become common practice, especially in informal writing and spoken English, to use bi-weekly in each of these situations.
• Furthermore, biweekly paychecks are smaller, but employees will receive two extra paychecks to make up the difference.

Organizations are competing for the best workers, and any pay frequency decision should consider what your competitors are doing. If your workforce is made up of mostly hourly workers, biweekly pay periods may make the most sense. With 26 paydays, employees have money coming in more frequently, and it also can benefit new employees who may need cash more quickly. When employees are paid on a fixed day of the week — such as every other Friday — calculating overtime becomes easier because the pay period typically spans two full workweeks. For HR teams, processing payroll is also simpler as it occurs on fixed days each month. For example, if payday is every other Friday, the HR team can designate every other Tuesday to run payroll.

• Others use it for biweekly meetings, which may take place twice per week.
• When businesses operate on a biweekly pay schedule, overtime pay is much simpler to calculate than when operating on a semi-monthly pay schedule.
• There are four common pay period options, including weekly, biweekly, semimonthly, and monthly.
• There is an easy way to cut through the confusion by remembering other words that use these same prefixes, and have obvious meanings.
• Easier to track with biweekly schedules since it aligns better with a 40-hour work week.
• “That’s the result of fortnight being an old English word so well established historically that people saw no reason to use biweekly to mean every two weeks,” Adams said.

She has appeared as a guest expert on the Oprah Winfrey Show and the Today Show. AI in Accounting Her popular LinkedIn Learning courses help people write better to communicate better. In a recent article from Lattice, our very own Shannon Curtis, SHRM-CP, shared her expertise on this topic.

Keep in mind that employees who volunteer to work more hours may be doing so because they need more cash flow that week. Due to their similarities in terms of vocabulary and speaking patterns across different countries, there have always been countless instances of word confusion biweekly vs semiweekly in the English language. This uncertainty has persisted for many centuries and is predicted to do so in the foreseeable future as well. Many individuals confuse bi-weekly and semiweekly since they use bi-weekly to signify twice a week when they should be using semiweekly.