Beware the December pay trap!

Takmon

clairebeth wrote: »

I work for the NHS and agree that this is not a helpful way to pay people. It's a 24/7 service, and I'm fairly sure the payroll people are in the office on the 27th of Dec, so why can't they pay people nearer the end of the month. Or just set up the electric payment to do it for them as they always do? We are not in the dark ages.

Their thinking behind making January an earlier pay date is that February is a short month, so this year it will be:
Dec 19th (the day before our Christmas party...)
Jan 23rd
Feb 27th
(pay day always the last Thursday of the month, except in Dec and Jan when it's the second last Thursday).

It doesn't affect me because I've always done as you suggested and don't look at the December pay until the end of Dec. But there are a lot of people I work with who can't wait to be paid for Christmas and then make posts on Facebook about how they are skint on the 12th of January.

This paying early in January only encourages that, I think, like that's what they expect to happen because people can't manage their money.

Payroll needs to get their priorities sorted!

But its not the payrolls job to nanny the companies employees and make sure they pay them on the right days so they don't spend all their money.

All the employees are adults so they should be treated like adults and if they want to blow a months pay in one week that's up to them and not anybody else's fault.

Like I said earlier in this thread if you manage your money properly then it doesn't matter how early you get paid because it makes no difference to your budget.

If people keep making the same mistake every year and never learn then they have no one to blame but themselves.

sourcrates

Takmon wrote: »

But its not the payrolls job to nanny the companies employees and make sure they pay them on the right days so they don't spend all their money.

All the employees are adults so they should be treated like adults and if they want to blow a months pay in one week that's up to them and not anybody else's fault.

Like I said earlier in this thread if you manage your money properly then it doesn't matter how early you get paid because it makes no difference to your budget.

If people keep making the same mistake every year and never learn then they have no one to blame but themselves.

This advice is aimed at those who perhaps know they should budget better, but find it really difficult at this time of year to balance the books.
There is so much pressure from all directions to spend what we can’t afford, advertising everywhere, kids nagging for the latest tech, it is very difficult to say no, many do give in to temptation.

This is a regular seasonal post aimed at helping those who may benefit from more effective budgeting over the Christmas period.

Takmon

sourcrates wrote: »

This advice is aimed at those who perhaps know they should budget better, but find it really difficult at this time of year to balance the books.
There is so much pressure from all directions to spend what we can’t afford, advertising everywhere, kids nagging for the latest tech, it is very difficult to say no, many do give in to temptation.

This is a regular seasonal post aimed at helping those who may benefit from more effective budgeting over the Christmas period.

Yes I understand that and agree that's it's a good discussion to have at this time of year so people can start thinking about it and planning how they will manage their money.

The point I was making in my post is that it is in no ways the payrolls fault if they are unable to manage it and if you blame payroll your just deflecting the problem and it makes people less likely to take action; which is what this thread is all about getting people to do.

Andyjflet

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

Good reminder and advice. Strangely I don't think pensions get paid early (ours isn't anyway) so why salaries need to be done 10 days early is a mystery to me. Most companies shut off their payroll by about 7th or 8th anyway for salaries paid around end of the month so why in December they need to pay on 18th instead of 28th or 30th I don't know. Maybe some one who works in payroll could elaborate?

I think its to do with any errors, if there are any then there is nobody around to sort it out, undisturbed holiday lol

Davy_Jones_II

clairebeth wrote: »

I work for the NHS and agree that this is not a helpful way to pay people. It's a 24/7 service, and I'm fairly sure the payroll people are in the office on the 27th of Dec, so why can't they pay people nearer the end of the month. Or just set up the electric payment to do it for them as they always do? We are not in the dark ages.

I literally cannot understand the mindset of people who manage to turn an early pay day into a financial problem.

Do people actually see the money hit their account, think it’s free money, and so spend more than they normally would that month?

When it arrives everyone will still have the money from the previous month that they were planning to use, is it this that they decide to blow?

What’s the actual thinking here? Are people budgeting based on their bank balance at any one moment in time? Surely no-one is that silly, are they?

sourcrates

Davy_Jones_II wrote: »

When it arrives everyone will still have the money from the previous month that they were planning to use, is it this that they decide to blow?

Money from the previous month ?

I don`t think many people these days have much money left in the run up to payday, they tend to live payday to payday, for low income famillies especially, the idea of budgeting correctly is all well and good, but for a lot of people it remains a far off dream.
Not many agree a budget, then stick to it, which is why borrowing on credit before month end is so common.

If you can pull it off, fair play to you, but the struggles of everyday life make it exceptionally hard for a lot to achieve, the wealth divide in this country is unbeleivable, and getting wider.

EssexHebridean

B3C wrote: »

Our company has always paid early in December to "allow people to do Christmas shopping"!! We are paid on 25th of each month, but in December have been known to get paid as early as 12th December.

This is a truly appalling message to put over to people unless you are going to back it uip with a "but remember, you won't be paid again until X date, so make sure that your budget balances" type message as well for balance.

Takmon wrote: »

But its not the payrolls job to nanny the companies employees and make sure they pay them on the right days so they don't spend all their money.

It's also not payroll's job to encourage people to use early pay "for Christmas shopping" as in the post quoted above when that should already have been budgeted for.

EssexHebridean

Davy_Jones_II wrote: »

I literally cannot understand the mindset of people who manage to turn an early pay day into a financial problem.

Do people actually see the money hit their account, think it’s free money, and so spend more than they normally would that month?

When it arrives everyone will still have the money from the previous month that they were planning to use, is it this that they decide to blow?

What’s the actual thinking here? Are people budgeting based on their bank balance at any one moment in time? Surely no-one is that silly, are they?

Money from the previous month? If you're budgeting correctly any surplus at the end of the previous month should have been diverted to either clearing debts, or savings, surely?

It's not about people being "silly" - it's about a time of year when the pressure to spend is high, and people are perhaps not thinking as clearly as they otherwise might. And if one thread can make a different to a few of those people - and the earlier replies to this AND previous threads on the subject tell me that this is the case, then all the thread-spoiling attempts in the world are just wasting their time, thankfully!

username901

Expect to see most of these people on the debt free wannabe board come January, blaming those nasty Tories and bankers for their inability to not spend what they don't have.

monetxchange

My work tend to do our usual pay dates in December and January, but also try to do a mid December part wage that would be deducted from your January wage. Last year I told them I didn't want the mid-Dec pay and they were fine with it. Worth asking them to hold off if your work does something similar!