Payroll Standardization

The transition from a monthly pay cycle to a biweekly pay cycle for professional staff, faculty, and exempt staff goes into effect Jan. 1, 2019.

As part of the transition, you will receive your final monthly check on Dec. 31, 2018, and receive your first biweekly check on Jan. 4, 2019. After that timeframe, you will be paid biweekly.

Going from a monthly to a biweekly pay cycle will initially look and feel different; however, it gives you the opportunity to access your money sooner, ahead of a monthly schedule.

Not at this time, once the transition from monthly to biweekly occurs, People and Culture Services and Payroll Operations are committed to testing and eventually offering a deferred payment option. The soonest this could happen would be August 2019.

All monthly paid employees (Faculty, Professional, and Exempt staff) will be transitioned to biweekly payroll starting in January 2019, there is not an option to opt out.

Prior to January, you will need to review your personal elections on deposits, auto payments, and billing cycles such as the setup on the following items: 

• Review your Personal Budgets - Being paid biweekly will look and feel different as first.  Learn how to transition your budget from a monthly basis to a biweekly basis.
• Direct Deposit Allocation – If you currently deposit $1,000 to a saving account monthly, you may want to consider changing it to $460 biweekly ($1,000 per pay x 12 monthly pays per year = $12,000 / 26 biweekly pays = $461.54).  You can update your direct deposit information on Self Service Banner.
• Automatic Payments – If you currently have any automatic payments scheduled, do any of the dates need to be changed?
• Utility Billing Cycles – If you are concerned that all your bills are due at the same time of the month (like the first of the month), you can call to see if you can request a different billing cycle.
• Federal Income Tax Form aka Form W-4 - If you are an employee who elects to have additional withholding per pay taken out, do you need to adjust the additional amount withheld?  If you are unsure of your federal withholding, you can check your withholdings on Self Service Banner.  If you wish to change your Form W-4 information, please complete a new form and drop it by the Office of Payroll Operations and Employee Benefits room G29.

On December 31, 2018 (and going forward) you will begin submitting your Kronos leave reports on a biweekly basis.  Currently, you report your leave on the 21^st of the month for a portion of the current month and a portion of the previous month.  Following the transition,  you will submit your leave (time off) report every Monday immediately following the pay period during which the time off was taken.  In departments where the Kronos Manager enters your time, please make sure you provide your time off on a biweekly basis. 

There will be employee as well as Kronos Manager training and additional information provided closer to the implementation date.

During the annual Open Enrollment session, you will elect your benefits and be given biweekly rates. The elections you make during open enrollment will move over to Self-Service Banner. Your other voluntary deductions like parking, recreation services, athletics, etc. will be recalculated automatically to biweekly rates.

The Office of People and Culture Services in conjunction with the Office of Payroll Operations and Employee Benefits will be offering Open Forums to address your questions on the following dates:

• April 4, 2018 – 2 p.m. – Student Center, Room 310
• April 17, 2018 – 9 a.m. – Student Center, Room 301-2
• April 19, 2018 – 9 a.m. – Bracken Library, Room L82A-B
• April 24, 2018 – 10:30 a.m. – Alumni Center, Assembly Hall A
• April 24, 2018 – 2 p.m. – Student Center, Room 301-2

There is also an Employee Assistance Program that offers a free, 30-minute financial health consultation and several online resources via Lifeworks.