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Pay Frequencies

Pay frequencies define the period of work for which employees are paid, i.e. on what day and how often, e.g. weekly or monthly. Payment dates (set per pay frequency), should reflect the exact date when your employees receive payment for the period worked. You will need to add at least one pay frequency during the initial setup. You can also add/edit pay frequencies at any stage by going to Settings > Pay Frequencies.

Add a Pay Frequency

  • Click Add.
  • Select the relevant frequency from the first drop-down menu.
  • Select the last day of the period.*
  • Select the end date for your first payroll period, i.e. the period for which you will process your first set of payslips on SimplePay.
  • Specify the pay date by ticking the Pay date is different to the period end date? box. See the below heading for more details.
  • You will also be able to choose a name for this pay frequency in the field next to Custom name.
  • Click Save.

*The last day of the period is the last day for which the employees will be paid and is not necessarily the same as the day on which they receive payment; for example, if your employees are paid for working until the last day of the month, but are paid early, on the 25th, you would select the 31st and not the 25th.

Pay date is different to the period end date?

This is the date that you will physically make the payment to employees and it will be displayed on the payslip.

The options for specifying the payment date will depend on the type of pay frequency as follows:

  • Monthly pay frequency:

    You can choose from two options by selecting the dropdown next to Pay date type.

    • A “Fixed date” that employees get paid, and whether employees are paid in the current, previous, or next payslip period.
    • A “Fixed weekday” that employees get paid, whether it is paid in the current, previous, or next payslip period, and on what day of the month.
  • Weekly pay frequency: You can specify the number of days before or after the payslip end date that the employee gets paid.
  • Every two weeks: You can specify the number of days before or after the payslip end date that the employee gets paid.
  • Every four weeks: You can specify the number of days before or after the payslip end date that the employee gets paid.

The payment date set here will be applied to all employees that are assigned to this pay frequency. However, they can be changed on an individual basis from the employee’s profile. For more information on this, refer to the following help article:

This can also be changed in bulk. Refer to the following help article:

Custom Name

You can also specify custom names for your pay frequencies to better identify them. Once the feature is enabled, a new field called “Custom Name” will be added to your pay frequencies. To enable this:

  • Go to Settings.
  • Click Advanced, and select "General" from the dropdown.
  • Tick the Custom name field for pay frequencies box.
  • Click Save.

Edit a Pay Frequency

You can also edit a pay frequency from the Pay Frequencies screen by clicking on the relevant pay frequency. You are able to change the Last day of period as well as the First payroll period end date.

Changing the Last day of period

You will be able to change the Last day of the period only if you do not have any finalised payslips for this pay frequency. This option should be used only if you initially chose the incorrect period end date, e.g. if you chose the 25th instead of the 30th when creating a monthly frequency. If the employees were historically paid on one date and will now be paid on another date going forward, you should create a separate pay frequency as explained above.

Changing the First payroll period end date

This change could have the following potential effects:

  • New employees added to the system will have their first payslip generated for the new period, if it is after their appointment date.
  • Existing employees with finalised payslips will not be affected.
  • Existing employees with no finalised payslips will have all of their payslips, from before this new period, deleted.

Please note: You have to finalise the payslips of all employees who should not be affected by this change; otherwise, their draft payslips from before the new first payroll period end date will be deleted.