Date & Time
Biweekly and semimonthly pay schedule formulas (with weekend adjustment)
Generate 26-period biweekly pay dates (+14 days) and 24-period semimonthly 15th/month-end pay dates that step back onto Friday.
Biweekly (26 paydays) vs Semimonthly (24 paydays)
Biweekly payroll runs every 14 calendar days from an anchor Friday: FirstPayFri + (PeriodNum - 1) * 14, producing 26 (occasionally 27) paychecks per year.
Semimonthly payroll pays twice per calendar month—typically the 15th and the last day of the month (24 paychecks). Whenever the 15th or month-end lands on Saturday or Sunday, WORKDAY(TargetDate + 1, -1) shifts payday backward onto the preceding Friday.
| Schedule Type | Anchor / Period | Raw Calendar Date | Weekend-Adjusted Payday |
|---|---|---|---|
| Biweekly Period 3 | 2026-01-09 + 2*14 | 2026-02-06 (Fri) | 2026-02-06 |
| Semimonthly Feb 15 | 2026-02-15 | 2026-02-15 (Sun) | 2026-02-13 (Fri) |
| Semimonthly May End | 2026-05-31 | 2026-05-31 (Sun) | 2026-05-29 (Fri) |
Biweekly and weekend-safe semimonthly formulas
Pass company bank holidays as WORKDAY's 3rd argument so Friday holidays step back to Thursday.
=TEXT(A2 + (B2 - 1) * 14, "yyyy-mm-dd")Semimonthly 15th-of-month payday (Friday rollback)
February 15, 2026 is a Sunday, so WORKDAY(DATE(C2, 2, 15) + 1, -1) pays on Friday 2026-02-13.
=TEXT(WORKDAY(DATE(C2, 2, 15) + 1, -1), "yyyy-mm-dd")Inputs and interpretation
This is an illustrative schedule policy; actual payroll timing depends on the employer and applicable rules. Use a positive integer period number. TEXT returns display strings; omit it for numeric dates. The biweekly formula does not shift holidays: its period 26 is December 25 in this example. WORKDAY only excludes listed holidays when a holiday range is supplied; there is no automatic national holiday calendar.
Try the example
Use the original values or change them to test your understanding.