Beginning June 1, 2025, employees of Auburn and AUM who are currently paid monthly will switch to a biweekly pay schedule, meaning they will be paid every two weeks. This change will mostly affect A&P (Administrative & Professional) employees, 12-month Faculty, and students in a graduate assistantship. 

Why are we doing this?

This transition is about operating more effectively and efficiently, and continuously improving our institutional processes and systems. Change does not come easily, but is necessary to ensure that we are able to aim our focus and resources on our ability to meet the mission of the university.

Simplifying our processes and eliminating administrative burden allows employees campus wide to focus on more value added services to our students and campus. Listed below are some of the ways this transition will increase efficiency and streamline processes:

  • The monthly payroll was originally required because of differences in the way employees with exempt and non-exempt positions accrued leave and in their benefit premiums. Those differences no longer exist.  Reducing and streamlining sets of system configurations is smart business and should always be the goal of any effective organization.

  • Reducing the number of payrolls that are run every month frees up valuable time and resources that will provide much needed, value added services in other areas such as:

    • Helping employees resolve payroll/benefits related issues

    • Providing resources regarding managing overtime

    • Overseeing adherence policies around hours worked

    • Ensuring leave is processed and managed in a timely manner and having time to provide reporting related to payroll processes and activities in support of a data informed campus

  • Monthly payrolls pose challenges for accuracy, because this payroll is processed prior to the payroll end date. If someone takes leave after payroll has been processed, this must be addressed via historical correction and all timekeeping information maintained must be synced across all platforms. Paying biweekly, in arrears, would eliminate these corrections and ensure more accurate and timely access to updated leave balances. 

  • Aligning these pay frequencies allows campus to better prepare for onboarding and offboarding of employees moving between pay frequencies or employment classifications, enabling and disabling system accesses on dates that coincide, and providing workflows that enable needed business processes around these movements. 

  • A majority of employers nationwide pay using a biweekly pay frequency. When Auburn is attempting to recruit top talent to our university, the transition from biweekly to monthly is often negatively received. Currently new employees joining Auburn have to wait a full month for a paycheck which is difficult.  

  • As of today, Auburn has employees working at Auburn worksites in states outside of the state of Alabama, including Georgia, Washington, D.C., and various military bases (the numbers of these are expected to grow), among others. And we often compensate practitioners in other states who teach and mentor students through internships, preceptorships, clinical rotations, etc. Some states require compensation to be paid more frequently than monthly, Transitioning monthly paid employees to biweekly will enable our ability to ensure legal compliance as we pay employees in other approved states.

  • The FLSA salary threshold is currently scheduled to increase every three years, pending court action that could prevent such. Regardless of court action related to this current deadline for compliance, it is fully expected that the FLSA threshold changes will continue to be introduced and will be a topic we will have to address in the future. Aligning our pay schedules now will minimize disruption for employees who will be impacted by FLSA changes down the road.

  • For the last 2 years, Auburn has averaged over 1,000 employees transitioning between biweekly and monthly pay frequencies each year, not including those who have been impacted by the FLSA changes. Moving all monthly paid employees to biweekly will minimize disruptions in the future for those who already transition between pay frequencies year over year for many different employment related reasons.  

We know this transition will be disruptive initially to some of our monthly employees. We do understand this and are working on ways to minimize the impact where we can. 

Please take a moment to review these FAQs. It includes valuable information designed to support employees with this transition.

FAQs

If you are impacted by this change, your annual salary will not change but will be divided by 26 biweekly pay periods, rather than 12 monthly pay periods. While you will be paid less each pay period, you will also be paid more frequently.

The following will not be impacted because of the transition from monthly to biweekly: 

  • Your position’s FLSA (Fair Labor Standards Act) exemption status (exempt or nonexempt). IMPORTANT: Employees whose positions are designated as exempt will not be required to clock in, regardless of how often they are paid.  

  • Your annual salary will not change but will be distributed over more pay periods. (26 vs. 12)

  • Your annual leave accruals (They will be adjusted over 26 pay periods to ensure the same annual accruals.)  

  • Your elected benefits. (Premiums will be calculated over 26 pay periods rather than 12 pay periods.) 

  • The change will occur on June 1, 2025.

This delay will give employees an extra six months to prepare for the change. During this time, additional training and resources will be developed and offered to assist employees.

These employees will still move to a biweekly pay cycle on Dec. 1 unless regulations change before that date. As a reminder, the FLSA change is mandated by the U.S. Department of Labor.

Auburn’s semimonthly pay frequency is utilized for our 9-month faculty and pays employees for 9 months of the academic year. A separate summer pay frequency then pays a smaller group of employees who work over the summer during those months. 

Conversion to semimonthly does not provide any of the efficiencies or effectiveness that converting to biweekly does. The largest volume of movement between pay frequencies occurs between biweekly and monthly, so aligning those into one pay frequency is the only way to achieve those improvements.

Overtime calculations are confusing when payroll is processed semimonthly, as the 40-hour week on which overtime is calculated will most often be divided between two different payperiods. This makes it harder for employees to track their overtime for both work planning purposes and for pay accuracy. It also makes it more difficult for supervisors to stay on top of when someone is approaching overtime for workforce planning purposes. 

No efficiencies are achieved if we still have no alignment between the frequencies where the largest numbers of movement occurs (between monthly and biweekly). To achieve those efficiencies, our current biweekly-paid employees would also need to be converted to semimonthly to ensure effective dates align. There is no business reason to disrupt our current biweekly-paid employees by transitioning them to semi-monthly. 

  • If you are paid biweekly, you receive 26 paychecks per year. This means you get paid every two weeks. 
  • In most months, you will receive two paychecks. However, there are months where there are three biweekly pay dates. In 2025, this will occur in August for employees currently on the monthly payroll. 

Here are two ways to determine your gross salary for each paycheck:  

Way 

Example 

Divide your annual salary by 26 

Tyrone makes $60,000 per year, or $5,000 per month. His gross paycheck will be $2,307.69 for each pay period. ($60,000 / 26) 

Multiply your monthly salary by 12, and then divide it by 26 

 

Carrie makes $7,000 per month, or $84,000 per year. Her gross paycheck will be $3,230.77 for each pay period. ($7,000 x 12 / 26) 

Salary paycheck calculators, such as this calculator from ADP, can then help you determine approximate gross-to-net calculations. (Please double check all deductions on this calculator to ensure they reflect biweekly costs rather than the monthly costs. Otherwise, the amount calculated for your net pay will be inaccurate.)

The payroll schedule is currently being developed and will be shared once approved. Payroll calendars are listed on the UHR (University HR) website. Biweekly pay dates occur every other Friday. 

No, voluntary retirement plan contributions are based on percentage. The employee does not have to change anything for this transition. Additionally, there may be the opportunity for your retirement plan to earn money more quickly since you are paid earlier.

We encourage employees to think about how the new pay schedule may affect their finances. This includes reviewing payroll deductions and personal monthly expenses. For example, some organizations, like mortgage lenders, may automatically withdraw payments from personal bank accounts on a predetermined date. 

IMPORTANT: If you have a monthly payroll deduction with the Auburn University Credit Union, it could affect your payroll deductions in place. Please review and/or make any necessary changes to your deductions to ensure that they are accurate. Otherwise, more money may be taken out over time since deductions will occur every two weeks rather than monthly. You can call AUCU at 844-4120 for more information. 

Much of the information below is taken from the ElevatED course HR514E, “FLSA Basics: Best Practices for a Smooth Transition.” 

Deductions, Tax Withholdings, and Benefits 

  • Benefit deductions (insurance plans) will be taken from each biweekly paycheck. The annual cost is the same. You will not need to make any changes to your benefit deductions, though you can update your Health Savings Account and voluntary retirement contributions as needed. 

  • IMPORTANT: If you choose to take an additional flat amount out for taxes, you will want to adjust the amount to deduct over biweekly paychecks. This will require a new Form W-4. Otherwise, the amount that is deducted over time may be much higher since it will be deducted 26 times rather than 12 times.   

  • Garnishments, child support, and tax levies will be automatically adjusted for the biweekly payroll. Agencies will be informed of the pay frequency change. This is not determined by Auburn University or AUM. We recommend that employees follow up with their creditors directly. 

  • Biweekly benefit premium rates (health insurance, vision and dental insurance, etc.) can be found online, including the Benefits at a Glance document. 

Please email our dedicated Monthly to Biweekly transition email account, mn2bw@auburn.edu, with any questions.

Faculty/Staff Giving

  • If you have a payroll deduction currently set for giving to Auburn University, you will be contacted via email by Monica Cain in Advancement Finance regarding what changes you would like to make to your payroll deduction schedule.

  • Employees affected by the Dec. 1 change will be contacted this fall, with the remainder of employees contacted next spring.

  • Questions regarding payroll deductions can be sent to augifts@auburn.edu with “Payroll” in the subject line.   

Voluntary Retirement Plan Contributions 

Beginning in 2025, this adjustment may impact your year-end goals for payroll deductions, such as contributions to your 403(b), 457(b), RSA-1, and Health Savings Account. 

If you have set specific year-end goals for any of these types of payroll deductions, you may want to review and adjust your contributions accordingly to meet your targeted amount.  

Other Suggestions 

  • Monthly Expenses: Listing monthly expenses can be a good first step in determining how to allocate biweekly pay to cover costs. Since some bills are monthly (e.g., rent/mortgage, utilities, loans), a portion of each biweekly paycheck can be allocated to cover these expenses. 

  • Variable Expenses: Monitoring and adjusting variable expenses (groceries, entertainment, etc.) can help in maintaining a personal budget. 

  • Debt Management: Making loan or credit card payments more frequently (with each paycheck) can ensure that monthly loan or credit card payment obligations are met and may even reduce interest costs. 

  • Automatic Payments: Employees may wish to update automatic payments so they coincide with the new biweekly pay schedule. This may include adjusting due dates, if allowed by the vendor.  

  • Subscriptions: Some employees may wish to reassess subscriptions and memberships to determine if they are necessary and if they fit within the new pay schedule. 

  • Short-term and Long-term Financial Goals: Employees may wish to align their short-term and long-term financial goals. This could include consulting with a financial advisor to help navigate the transition and maintain progress towards financial goals. 

Parking Permit deductions will be collected each pay cycle, or 26 times per year. The employee does not need to do anything. 

No, you will continue to accrue the same amount of leave each year (160 hours of annual leave and 96 hours of sick leave), though the amount you accrue on each paycheck will be smaller.  

Your leave balance posted on AU Access may also be more current because leave accruals going forward will accrue with the pay period. However, it is important to report leave when it is used to ensure the balance that appears on AU Access is as accurate as possible. 

Employees have multiple resources that are provided to them:

  • Every employee is entitled to one free financial consulting appointment with Johnson Sterling, our Auburn University and AUM retirement plan consultants. Appointments are first come first served and based on availability.  
  • Employees can also reach out to their Auburn University or AUM voluntary retirement plan vendor (TIAA, Fidelity, Corebridge, and/or Lincoln) at any time for a consultation. 

Email mn2bw@auburn.edu If you have any questions. 

Last updated: 09/04/2024