The calendar you cannot move
Pay frequency, the deadlines that do not negotiate, bank holidays and the month with an extra date.
Written downif the person who does this is away
The Date You Chose Once
The pay date was picked in week one and never revisited. It silently sets five other deadlines, and some choices of date are much worse than others.
Weekly, Fortnightly, Monthly
Pay frequency multiplies everything: the runs, the chasing, the filings, the chances to get it wrong. It is also not entirely yours to choose.
The Deadlines That Are Not Yours
Some payroll dates you set and can move. Others are set elsewhere and cannot be moved at all. Telling them apart is the first thing to get right.
Bank Holidays and the Shortened Week
A public holiday near a pay date removes working days from a schedule that had none spare. The fix is a calendar, done once, a year ahead.
The Month With an Extra Run
Weekly and fortnightly payrolls produce months with one more run than usual. It is knowable a year ahead and is nearly always discovered in the week.
Year End
Once a year payroll stops being a monthly routine and becomes a set of obligations with their own dates. It is the least rehearsed thing a small employer does.
Putting the Year on One Page
An hour once a year putting every payroll date on one visible calendar removes most of what goes wrong in a small payroll.