Beginning Nov. 1, thousands of UC Berkeley student employees will be transitioned from a monthly to biweekly pay cycle.
The pay transition is part of CalTime, the campus’s new electronic system, which aims to standardize payroll policies and practices. The transition, which falls under Operational Excellence, a cost-cutting initiative to streamline campus operations, will affect about 6,000 students who are paid on an hourly basis and are eligible for overtime, said Melanie Hurley, spokesperson for Operational Excellence.
“When you have people on different pay cycles where people get paid on certain days or have different amounts of time, it prevents that from happening,” Hurley said of the standardization efforts.
According to Hurley, UC Berkeley is the last campus in the UC system to make the transition from a monthly to biweekly pay cycle. The new pay system was originally slated to go live with CalTime on Aug. 31, but it was pushed back two months to ensure that the campus was adequately prepared for the transition, Hurley said.
CalTime paves the way for the larger UCPath Project, a systemwide plan to institute a single payroll system across all 10 campuses and five medical centers. It is designed to improve the quality and efficiency of the university’s business processes.
Adam Mayorca, a UC Berkeley senior who works at the Moffitt Library information desk, said he was happy about the transition, particularly for the summertime, when there is less availability for financial aid.
“It just makes funds more accessible instead of having to wait for the whole month,” Mayorca said. “People can have issues in the summer because there’s no steady financial aid, so you’re more dependent on what you make.”
But Robin Lam, a UC Berkeley sophomore who works at the Bancroft Library information desk, said the monthly paycheck helped her budget enough money for rent, groceries and laundry.
“Monthly makes me a little more responsible, and I’m actually a little scared about the biweekly,” Lam said.