Payroll periods

Payroll periods define the payment schedule for your organization—when payroll runs are processed and what dates each period covers. Setting up periods correctly ensures employees are paid on time and payroll records accurately reflect the work period.

Before you start

• You must have HR admin or payroll admin permissions
• You should know your organization's pay frequency (monthly, bi-weekly, weekly, twice monthly, etc.)
• Have the calendar dates for the current and upcoming pay periods
• Confirm any local or regulatory pay-period requirements (e.g., fiscal year boundaries, statutory holidays)

Steps

1. Navigate to HR → Payroll Settings or HR → Payroll Periods (the exact path depends on your Usystems version). Open in Usystems

2. Look for the Payroll Periods or Manage Periods section.

3. Click Add Period or Create New Period to define a new pay cycle.

4. Enter the Period Name (e.g., "January 2026", "Week 1, July", "July 1-15" to match your convention).

5. Set the Start Date — the first day of the period for which this payroll applies.

6. Set the End Date — the last day of the period.

7. Set the Payment Date — the date on which employees will be paid for this period (this may be after the end date if payday is not on the last working day).

8. Select the Pay Frequency if not already set (monthly, bi-weekly, weekly, etc.). This determines how often payroll is typically run in your organization.

9. If applicable, note any Special Remarks or Notes (e.g., "includes statutory holiday X", "reduced hours due to Y").

10. Click Save to create the period.

11. Repeat steps 3–10 for additional periods, or use the Auto-generate Periods feature (if available) to create multiple periods at once based on your frequency.

Using periods in payroll runs

Once periods are defined:

• When you process payroll, the system will prompt you to select the period you are running payroll for
• The start and end dates help the system calculate which days, overtime, and leave fall within the period
• Payroll records are linked to the period, so you can easily review historical payroll by date range

Tips & common mistakes

• Create periods in advance. Define periods for the next 3–6 months so payroll can be processed without interruption. Most organizations create them quarterly or annually.
• Keep period names consistent. Use a naming scheme that matches your pay frequency (e.g., "Jan 1–15" and "Jan 16–31" for semi-monthly, or "Week of Jan 1" for weekly) so team members quickly recognize which period is active.
• Align periods with your calendar and statutory requirements. Some jurisdictions require payroll periods to align with the fiscal year or fiscal month; confirm this before setting up periods.
• Set payment date separately from period end date. The payment date may be several days after the period ends (e.g., period ends Friday but salary is paid the following Wednesday).
• Review period dates after setup. Double-check that there are no gaps or overlaps between consecutive periods, and that all periods cover the full calendar year.

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