Pay schedules

A pay schedule says how often you pay a group of employees, such as every two weeks or once a month, and which dates each pay period covers. Each employee is assigned to a pay schedule, and each regular pay run is created for one schedule. The frequency also decides how a salary is split across the year and how many standard hours an hourly employee is paid when no regular hours are logged.

You need at least one active pay schedule before Bokapsys can calculate payroll. It is one of the three blocking steps in the Get started with Payroll checklist.

Before you start

Your role can change payroll settings (by default Super admin, Admin and CFO).
Decide how often you will pay, the last day of your first pay period on this schedule, and how many days after the end of a period you pay.

Choose a frequency

Frequency	Pay periods a year	Hours paid to an hourly employee on a 40-hour week, when no regular hours are logged	Notes
Weekly	52	40
Every two weeks	26	80	The most common US schedule.
Twice a month	24	86.67	Periods end on the 15th and on the last day of each month.
Monthly	12	173.33

A salaried employee’s pay for each period is their annual salary divided by the pay periods a year. A $52,000 salary is $2,000.00 a period on an every-two-weeks schedule and $4,333.33 on a monthly schedule.

The number of pay periods a year also matters for federal withholding: Bokapsys annualises each payment using it, so the frequency must match how often you really pay the person.

Create a pay schedule

In the sidebar, open Payroll → Payroll Settings. The Pay Schedules tab opens.
Click New schedule. The New pay schedule window opens.
Fill in the fields below. As you type, Next four paydays shows the paydays the schedule will produce and the period each one covers.
Click Save schedule. You see Pay schedule added, and the schedule appears in the list with status Active.

Field	Required	What it means	Example
Name	Yes	A name you will recognise when assigning employees and creating runs.	Every other Friday
How often you pay	Yes (defaults to every two weeks)	See the table above.	Every two weeks
Last day of the first pay period	Yes	The last day of the first work period on this schedule. Every later period is counted from it. For Twice a month, it must be the 15th or the last day of a month.	01/04/2026
Days from period end to payday	No (defaults to 0)	How many days after the end of a work period people are paid, from 0 to 30. 0 pays on the last day of the period.	5

Paydays move off weekends and bank holidays. A payday that falls on a Saturday, Sunday or federal bank holiday moves to the business day before. For example, a payday on Veterans Day (11 November) moves to 10 November. The preview shows the paydays after this has been applied.

The currency and timezone come from your company settings.

Worked example

You pay hourly bakery staff every two weeks, on the Friday after each two-week period ends on a Sunday.

Name: Every other Friday
How often you pay: Every two weeks
Last day of the first pay period: Sunday 01/04/2026
Days from period end to payday: 5 (Sunday to Friday)

The first payday is Friday 01/09/2026, for the period 12/22/2025 to 01/04/2026, and every payday after that is two Fridays later. Next four paydays shows the next four from today.

Assign employees to a schedule

Open Payroll → People → Employees and click the employee’s Employee #.
In the Compensation section, choose the schedule in Pay schedule.
Click Save.

A pay run created for a schedule includes the employees on that schedule and anyone left on Default (run schedule). Someone assigned to a different schedule is left out. If you pay on more than one schedule, assign everyone. See Employees.

Pay runs and your schedule

When you create a pay run under Payroll → Run Payroll → New pay run and choose a schedule in Pay schedule, Bokapsys fills in the Period start, Period end and Pay date of the next period that does not have a regular run yet. You can change them before you create the run. See Run payroll.

Bokapsys may also create a draft pay run for an active schedule on its own as a payday approaches. A draft has not been calculated and moves no money. Always check the period and pay date at the top of any draft run before you calculate it.

The list of schedules shows each one’s Name, How often, Next period, Next payday and Status.

Change or turn off a schedule

Change it: click the edit icon on the schedule’s row, change the fields and click Save schedule. The preview shows the new paydays. If someone else changed the schedule while you had it open, you see Someone else changed this schedule; reload and make your change again.
Turn it off: click the turn-off icon and confirm Turn off. No new pay runs are started on it, and runs already made on it are kept. You can turn it back on later. A schedule that still has employees on it can’t be turned off; move them to another schedule first.

Holidays

Your company holidays are kept under Payroll → Time & Leave → Holidays. They are a record of the days you observe; they don’t change pay. See Time and leave.

How to check it worked

The schedule appears in Payroll → Payroll Settings with status Active and the next payday you expect.
On the Payroll Dashboard, Create a pay schedule is ticked.
When you create a pay run for the schedule and calculate it, the Employees count matches the people you assigned.

Common problems

Message or symptom	What it means and how to fix it
For twice-a-month pay, the first period must end on the 15th or the last day of the month.	Change Last day of the first pay period.
“1 employee is paid on this schedule. Move them to another schedule before turning it off.”	Assign those employees to another schedule first.
A pay run has 0 employees	Nobody is on that schedule or on Default (run schedule), or they have no pay rate.
The New schedule button is missing	Your role cannot change payroll settings.