Modernizing Payday/Biweekly Pay

Goals And Essentials

The CSPS Project is an initiative to modernize the current Uniform State Payroll System by implementing a new HR and payroll technology. Part of this initiative includes transitioning all employees to biweekly pay.

What is biweekly pay?

As the State of California transitions to a new HR and payroll system, all pay periods will convert to a biweekly pay schedule. This means, instead of receiving one check each month as most California State employees currently do, employees will be paid every two weeks resulting in 26 pay checks per year. It is important to note that an employee’s gross annual salary will not change.

Why is it necessary to switch?

The transition to biweekly pay aligns the civil service and California State University employees into a single, uniform pay cycle.

Due to the size and complexity of the system, the State will need to acquire a standard HR and Payroll platform. Most software in the marketplace is not designed to accommodate our current pay schedules and would require significant customization, drastically increasing the time and cost of the CSPS Project.

What are the benefits?

Switching to biweekly pay will provide many much-needed improvements which will simplify and standardize current payroll processes and align state civil service and California State University employees into a single, uniform pay cycle. Most importantly, the transition to biweekly pay will help ensure the successful implementation of the new HR and Payroll system.

Although all state employees will eventually be paid biweekly, the timing of the change will vary for each department. The transition to biweekly pay will coincide with the date a department transitions to the new HR and Payroll system. More information on timing will be communicated as the project progresses. One thing is certain, there is plenty of time to prepare for the transition to biweekly pay and the CSPS Project team aims to provide consistent updates, helpful tools, and resources to ensure you are prepared for the change.

Some of the resources and tools you can expect to see on this page in the future include a biweekly pay video series, a biweekly pay calculator, training schedules, and more.