Paying employees and staying on top of local employment regulations is already a full-time job for HR and payroll pros, but complying with global pay frequencies takes the challenge to a whole new level.
Why? Because every country has its own employment rules and regulations to contend with. And if you get it wrong and the regulators step in, the financial hit can be severe.
Some countries have biweekly pay, while others have semi-monthly pay cycles. Miscalculating pay dates can lead to hefty fines and tax issues, not to mention tarnishing your company’s reputation. Meanwhile, consistent, on-time pay helps build customer trust, boost morale, and retain top talent.
So, how do you avoid fines, keep your people happy, and protect your company’s reputation while juggling payroll across borders?
This guide simplifies global pay frequency laws, no matter where your employees or contractors are located. Learn how to align pay dates and stay compliant with valuable insights and practical tips from:
- Menaka Karthikeyarayan, Global Payroll Director at Multiplier
- Sagar Khatri, CEO & Co-Founder at Multiplier
- Michael Nierstedt, Payroll Product Director at Multiplier
- Adam Ilowite, CEO of Axero Solutions
The cost of non-compliance
If you’ve ever had these thoughts, you’re not alone:
- “Other companies seem to work out pay frequencies OK, so why should we be any different?”
- “We’ve never had an issue before, so why worry about it now?”
- “Compliance sounds expensive; can’t we just take the risk and handle it if something happens?”
It’s tempting to brush compliance aside until it’s too late. The problem is that if you don’t tackle these issues proactively, you could face hefty fines and legal trouble. As Sagar Khatri says, “The cost of non-compliance is heavy. Even if you’re delayed by just a day paying social contributions, you’ll pay a large fine.”
What’s more, staying on top of compliance isn’t just about avoiding legal problems. It’s about building trust. When you handle pay frequency periods properly, your customers feel confident.
Following the right pay frequency regulations creates a culture where employees feel valued, safe, and supported. With 90% of employees unhappy at work, getting global pay periods right can make a big difference.
What are the different types of pay frequency?
Understanding the different payroll intervals is key to managing global payroll, but each country has its own set of expectations and regulations.
Common pay period examples include:
- Weekly: Employees get paid once a week. This is common in industries like retail, manufacturing or hospitality.
- Biweekly: Employees are paid every two weeks, which gives them 26 wages a year.
- Semi-monthly: Employees are paid twice monthly, usually on set dates (the 1st and 18th). This gives them 24 payslips a year.
- Monthly: Employees are paid once a month, typically at the end or start of the month.
- Daily or on-demand: Some workers, like freelancers or laborers on a building site, might get paid daily or whenever they finish a task or particular job.
Companies also need to meet local cultural expectations. For instance, in many Latin American countries, while legal requirements dictate minimum pay frequencies, people often favor expect more frequent payment.
It’s all about balancing the legal requirements with what makes sense for your team. Aligning pay period cycles with local financial habits helps keep employees satisfied and operations smooth.
Pay frequency laws across regions
Given that there are potentially 195 countries to contend with, figuring out pay frequency laws for global teams is no mean feat.
Let’s break global pay frequency down in a way that makes it a little easier to navigate with updated requirements from 2025.
Pay frequency requirements in the USA
- Capital: Washington D.C
- Currency: USD (United States Dollar)
- Payroll Frequency: For the USA, weekly, bi-weekly, semi-monthly, and monthly. While bi-weekly is the most common pay cycle, some states mandate specific frequencies, especially for hourly workers. Find out more about US state rules next.
Pay frequency requirements by state
There are slight variations in the frequency of payments when you move across states.
1. California
- State capital: Sacramento
- Population: 39.5 million
- Pay frequency: California pay periods occur at least once per month. However, private sector salaries are usually paid twice per month. Fines may apply for failure to pay on time.
2. New York
- State capital: Albany
- Population: 20 million
- Pay frequency: With New Yorkers, weekly or biweekly pay is standard for manual workers, such as construction workers, while semi-monthly or monthly pay periods are acceptable for other employees.
3. Texas
- State capital: Austin
- Population: 29 million
- Pay frequency: Payroll intervals are at least once a month. Texas doesn’t impose any further restrictions on frequency.
4. Florida
- Capital: Tallahassee
- Population: 21.5 million
- Pay frequency: No state laws require a specific pay frequency in Florida, so it is up to the employer’s discretion. However, most employers choose biweekly or semi-monthly pay cycles.
5. Illinois
- Capital: Springfield
- Population: 12.8 million
- Pay frequency: In Illinois, employees in “administrative or professional” roles must be paid at least once monthly. All other employees must be paid at least twice monthly. The employer must specify the payroll interval in writing and stick to it.
6. Nevada
- Capital: Carson City
- Population: 3.1 million
- Pay frequency: Employers in Nevada must pay semi-monthly or monthly. As long as paydays are outlined upfront and followed through, you’re good to go.
7. Washington
- Capital: Olympia
- Population: 7.7 million
- Pay frequency: For Washington, pay periods are at least monthly. Biweekly is also a solid choice, especially in bigger companies where it’s easier to keep track of.
8. Massachusetts
- Capital: Boston
- Population: 7 million
- Pay frequency: Weekly or biweekly is required for Massachusetts employees.
9. Ohio
- Capital: Columbus
- Population: 11.8 million
- Pay frequency: Organisations hiring in Ohio must pay employees at least twice a month. Pay schedules must be fully transparent and shared.
10. Michigan
- Capital: Lansing
- Population: 10 million
- Pay frequency: In Michigan, the pay cycle typically depends on the occupation. Weekly or biweekly pay is standard, but employees in certain industries, like agriculture, may be paid on a different schedule.
Pay frequency requirements across the rest of the world
Here we explore payment frequency in some major markets across the world. Check our employment guides for more.
1. United Kingdom
- Capital: London
- Population: 68 million
- Pay frequency: Weekly or Monthly (within 25th-30th of the month). The payday is usually outlined in the employment contract. For UK employees on zero-hour contracts, it’s common for pay to be weekly, depending on the agreement.
2. Italy
- Capital: Rome
- Population: 60 million
- Pay frequency: Payroll intervals for Italian employees are every month, usually on the 27th.
3. Israel
- Capital: Jerusalem
- Population: 9.5 million
- Pay frequency: Hiring in Israel means employees need to be paid monthly. This pay cycle is standard across most industries.
4. Japan
- Capital: Tokyo
- Population: 124 million
- Pay frequency: In Japan, payroll intervals are monthly. Note: Employers often provide the 13th month’s pay as a winter bonus, typically in December. Most companies offer this additional pay as an incentive to employees.
5. Mexico
- Capital: Mexico City
- Population: 131.5 million
- Pay frequency: Mexican employees can be paid bi-weekly or monthly, depending on the employment contract.
How to pay a global team more efficiently
Many companies struggle to pay international employees smoothly while staying compliant with local laws. It’s a problem Ilowite knows well. He says, “We have a global team and doing things in a locally compliant manner — from payroll, contracts, taxes and more – is tough.”
Seamless global payroll is all about simplifying processes, ensuring accuracy, and staying compliant with local laws. While all this might sound tricky, with the right international software provider, it doesn’t have to be overwhelming.
Let’s take a closer look at how a global payroll platform can help.
Automating compliance
Can you imagine juggling five alarm clocks, each set to different time zones, with different snooze buttons and ring tones? That’s what managing separate compliance for distributed employees can feel like. Not only do you have to make sure you’re paying them the right amount and taking off the right amount of tax, but you have to make sure they’re all being paid at the right times.
As Karthikeyarayan puts it, “It’s challenging for companies to stay compliant with different state regulations, let alone country regulations. From understanding employee benefits to minimum wage standards to tax obligations, when we go to the minutest detail it becomes very difficult.”
Without a standardized process, things can quickly get out of hand. And though payroll teams might create their own workarounds or use local vendors, this can lead to huge amounts of admin, distributed data, and even delayed payments.
Multiplier’s global payroll platform uses local experts and automation to stay on top of pay frequency requirements, calculating compensation compliantly so you don’t have to. In a single dashboard, you can see what and when you need to pay employees across countries.
Making payments
To pay global employees, you have three main options: You can take on the challenges of staying compliant using your own staff and payroll software. You can use local vendors which often leads to even more admin as you navigate between different solutions and communicate with different points of contact. Or you can use a global payroll platform. This is like switching to one smart alarm that adjusts for time zones, without the chaos.
With Multiplier, paying employees is easy. We automate calculations for your approval and pay employees in the correct currency at the right frequency. You can also make payments directly in the same platform with methods like direct debit in the US, wire transfers, and ACH, which handles secure bank-to-bank transfers. This ensures a consistently great experience for your employees without administrative burden for your team.
“If you’re hiring in more than one country, you should seriously consider choosing a solution that can support payroll across regions,” Nierstedt says, “You’ll want to give employees the same HR and payment experience no matter which country they’re in.”
A self-service portal for employees and contractors
Self-service portals have become the backbone of successful organizations, especially when dealing with global pay frequencies. With employees like Jane in England, Niamh in Ireland, and Amit in India, each on a different pay cycle, answering payroll questions can quickly become a full-time job.
Give global customers more control over their personal information, streamlining payroll management across different regions and handling pay frequencies with ease.
By offering a self-service portal like Multiplier, your customers can access pay information, review pay stubs, and check payment history at a time that suits them. This reduces the need for HR to handle frequent queries, especially when employees are on different pay cycles or time zones.
Integrating with key data
By choosing an integration-first global payroll platform like Multiplier, you can ensure that information seamlessly flows between your HR systems. So whether you’re paying an employee on an hourly rate, tracking time off, or issuing a bonus, you’re working with real-time information and not outdated data.
As Nierstedt describes, “Some payroll solutions come with lock periods that mean you can’t integrate the data you need, but Multiplier allows you to sync with time-tracking software, HRIS, and more.”
Simplify pay frequency across borders with Multiplier
Managing different payroll cycles doesn’t have to be a strain. Whether you’re paying weekly in one country or semi-monthly in another, we believe businesses should have the tools to streamline global pay frequencies with ease.
That’s why Multiplier makes managing international payroll intervals in one platform seamless–it simplifies global payroll, ensures compliance, and keeps HR operations running smoothly.
Ready to take control of global payroll frequency? Book a demo with one of our friendly experts.
