The payroll cycle is the full loop from the end of one pay period to payday and back again: cutoff, approvals, corrections, processing and payment.
| Term | What it means | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Pay frequency | How often employees are paid. | Biweekly: 26 paydays in most years. |
| Pay period | The dates of work that one paycheck covers. | Sunday, November 1 to Saturday, November 14, 2026. |
| Payroll cycle | The steps and deadlines between the end of the period and payday. | Close Saturday, approve by Monday noon, submit Tuesday, payday Friday, November 20. |
Most payroll problems happen inside the cycle, not because of the frequency. The days between the end of the period and payday are where late approvals, missing punches and last-minute schedule changes collide.
To total hours with breaks and overtime, use our time card calculator.
The period runs from Sunday, November 1 to Saturday, November 14, 2026. Managers must approve timesheets by Monday, November 16 at noon. Payroll submits on Tuesday, November 17. Employees are paid on Friday, November 20. That leaves one working day of slack, which disappears the first time a manager is out sick on Monday.
Now look further ahead. An employer that pays every other Friday with a payday on Friday, January 1, 2027 will have 27 paydays in 2027, not 26, because the last one falls on Friday, December 31. Salaried employees whose annual pay is divided by 26 would be overpaid by one check. Plan for it in the budget, or divide salaries by 27 that year if your payroll provider and state rules allow it.
An off-cycle payroll is a pay run outside the regular schedule, for a final paycheck, a correction or a bonus. Keep them rare and planned. Each one costs time and sometimes provider fees, and corrections in particular usually trace back to a step in the regular cycle that was skipped.
Decide in advance which corrections get an off-cycle payment and which wait for the next regular payday. Many employers pay any missing wages right away rather than waiting, and some states require final pay faster than the next payday.
After a biweekly payday, a warehouse associate points out that 6 overtime hours from the first week of the period were paid at straight time. Payroll had looked at the 84-hour period total instead of each workweek.
The company pays the missing half-time premium, 6 x $9.50 = $57 at a $19 rate, on an off-cycle check that week. It then adds a weekly overtime check to its cycle before payroll is calculated, so the same error cannot repeat.
Weekly has 52 (sometimes 53), biweekly 26 (sometimes 27), semi-monthly 24 and monthly 12. The extra run in some years comes from how the calendar falls.
Biweekly is common in the US, especially for hourly teams. Many states set a minimum pay frequency, so check your state before choosing.
The deadline after which changes are not included in the current run. It usually applies to timesheet approval and to new hire or pay-rate changes.
A payroll run outside the normal schedule, often for a final paycheck, a correction or a bonus.
From the end of the period to payday, many employers allow 3 to 6 days, depending on the provider’s submission deadline and how quickly time is approved.
Late timesheet approvals, missing punches found at the last minute, and changes such as new hires or rate changes submitted after the cutoff.
Approved hours, breaks and missed-punch corrections come together in signed reports, ready to export to PDF or Excel.