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Getting paid salary by cheque

ldy4mxonucwsq6

Just discovered my new employer pays all staff by cheque.

I've worked in many places over the past 25 years and never once been paid by cheque, always EFT.

Means I now have to find time to get to the bank every week to lodge a cheque and then wait for it to clear.

How in this day and age is this a thing? Worried that this is just the tip of the iceberg now. Surely it's more expensive and hassle to use cheques for such regular payments?

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meeeeh

It's probably family owned business and they just do payments as they always did. There is also possibility the person processing wages isn't actually authorized to access bank or to do bank payments.

Anyway I always found chqs stupid, risky and annoying but it wouldn't be unusual for our customers to still pay us by chq.

tvjunki

Some companies do not like paying by electronic transfer. Fear or lodging in the wrong bank account. Handing a cheque means you cannot say you did not get the payment.
Most banks have atms outside the branch where you can cash your cheque during your break or on your way home. You don't need an hour to lodge a cheque anymore. Payment is instant if you have the same bank as your company if there are cleared funds in the account. Many construction companies still pay by cheque.
Don't see the issue. Used to work for a company that paid by cheque monthly and it was an international finance company.

tvjunki

meeeeh wrote: »

It's probably family owned business and they just do payments as they always did. There is also possibility the person processing wages isn't actually authorized to access bank or to do bank payments.

Anyway I always found chqs stupid, risky and annoying but it wouldn't be unusual for our customers to still pay us by chq.

Agreed about accessing accounts separating duties from processing payments and accessing accounts.
If a cheque is crossed then it is not risky as it is only lodged into the employees account. More risk paying the wrong account and not able to get the funds back. Person does not have to return money if lodged into the wrong account.

emeldc

OMM 0000 wrote: »

Japanese bank.

EUR 20 each.

ctrl +alt + 4 = €

OMM 0000

emeldc wrote: »

ctrl +alt + 4 = €

Mac!

Option + 2 = €

Not sure why I type EUR. Habit I suppose...

Seve OB

Mini850 wrote: »

Isn't there a rule that if you get paid by check, your employer should give you an hour or half hour during work time to lodge it?

Could be talking out of my bum, but I did work in one job about 12 years ago that paid us by check and we took an extra half hour for our lunch each month to go lodge the check.

That could have been company policy, but I remember being told that it was law.

eh no. it is not law

Seve OB

L1011 wrote: »

Most banks have lodgement ATMs that can scan cheques, doesn't increase the processing speed however. Being paid weekly is also quite archaic.

I'd be concerned they aren't going to be providing up to date data to Revenue under the PAYE Modernisation requirements if every other bit of payroll is this antique.

no it is not. all depends on the company, role, position, industry. there is nothing archaic about being paid weekly

dotsman

emeldc wrote: »

ctrl +alt + 4 = €

OMM 0000 wrote: »

Mac!

Option + 2 = €

Not sure why I type EUR. Habit I suppose...

Windows!

AltGr + 4 = €

daheff

OMM 0000 wrote: »

Small Japanese bank. Not an option.

are they paying you from a EUR account or a JPY account? If all your EUR expenditure is going through a JPY account then the company is losing more in FX costs than FX'ing larger amounts to EUR.

If its coming out of an EUR account I'd be stunned if SEPA payments are not available.

dotsman

Del2005 wrote: »

Very few people switch accounts, or utilities provider, it's why banks give loads of free stuff to students. If people don't switch to save themselves money why would you assume that people running businesses switch?

Which is down to laziness. It only takes a few clicks of a mouse to change utilities.

And changing banks for a person is extremely simple these days as well. For a business, it's slightly harder, but the rewards are more profound.

OMM 0000 wrote: »

It's the same bank our owner uses. He has a relationship with them.

OMM 0000 wrote: »

Japanese bank.

EUR 20 each.

Well, you can certainly impress the owner by doing a little research and showing them how much money they will save by dealing with a (relatively) modern Irish bank. It simply doesn't make sense to use a Japanese bank for an Irish company/subsidiary. It's not just the saving on fees, it's the saving on all the hassle and administration.

You could always look at a hybrid option, whereby the Irish bank is used for day-to-day banking (including payroll) and a single transfer to/from the Japanese bank on a monthly/quarterly/annual basis.

IITYWYBMAD

OMM 0000 wrote: »

I pay my staff by cheque.

Our company's online banking is crap, and they charge EUR 20 for each transaction.

So cheque it is...

We're a software company.

Are the cheques from a Japanese bank?

KevRossi

pjdarcy wrote: »

Could the billionaire not cover the cost of the 20 euro per transaction?

That's why he's a billionaire. Look after the small stuff and the rest sorts itself out.

BhoyRayzor

One previous employer who operated like this, was basically so he could look at the money in the company account for that bit longer, would leave it until the end of the day too so earliest it could be lodged would be the next day. It felt like he thought he was actually doing you a favour by paying you your wage and doing so by cheque, having to call up to his office to get it, made it even more cringe worthy.

kenmm

KevRossi wrote: »

That's why he's a billionaire. Look after the small stuff and the rest sorts itself out.

Its a very simplistic view tho.

They haven't made their money through scrimping on bank fees.

Also - some have indicated that being paid this way could be a deal breaker, so its a bit short sighted to do business this way. I don't even see what the 'saving' is really - 20 quid boils down to about 8 EUR profit, assuming the employee doesn't take a long lunch to go to the bank (Software professionals are more than likely on many times more that [20 EUR * by time to go to bank]).

Its a bit of a bizarre situation.

AlmightyCushion

kenmm wrote: »

Its a very simplistic view tho.

They haven't made their money through scrimping on bank fees.

Also - some have indicated that being paid this way could be a deal breaker, so its a bit short sighted to do business this way. I don't even see what the 'saving' is really - 20 quid boils down to about 8 EUR profit, assuming the employee doesn't take a long lunch to go to the bank (Software professionals are more than likely on many times more that [20 EUR * by time to go to bank]).

Its a bit of a bizarre situation.

It's per transaction though so multiply that by 12 (for every month in the year) and by every employee and it adds up. Really the company should just have an Irish bank account for handling this type of thing.

kenmm

Mini850 wrote: »

Isn't there a rule that if you get paid by check, your employer should give you an hour or half hour during work time to lodge it?

Could be talking out of my bum, but I did work in one job about 12 years ago that paid us by check and we took an extra half hour for our lunch each month to go lodge the check.

That could have been company policy, but I remember being told that it was law.

The civil service had some scam where they were able to get "banking time" but it was abolished a while ago. There was a cross over period where the staff were paid EFT but still got to claim the extra time each week for banking time.

Funny how the unions didn't push to give that time back when EFT came in, you know under fairness for all etc

kenmm

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

It's per transaction though so multiply that by 12 (for every month in the year) and by every employee and it adds up. Really the company should just have an Irish bank account for handling this type of thing.

Thanks, I got that.

Its still very little cost when running a business. 8 quid a month - loose change when you look at what else has to be paid. Offset against the disadvantages, then its actually causing issues. This decision was not made based on money.

OMM 0000

dotsman wrote: »

Well, you can certainly impress the owner by doing a little research and showing them how much money they will save by dealing with a (relatively) modern Irish bank. It simply doesn't make sense to use a Japanese bank for an Irish company/subsidiary. It's not just the saving on fees, it's the saving on all the hassle and administration.

I'm in Japan working for a Japanese company.

daheff

OMM 0000 wrote: »

I'm in Japan working for a Japanese company.

Ok

So that's a whole different ball game to the OP posting on an Irish forum.

loyatemu

OMM 0000 wrote: »

I'm in Japan working for a Japanese company.

it's hardly relevant to this discussion then. The OP is in Ireland working for an Irish company where getting paid be cheque is unusual. I've been working full time for over 20 years and have never been paid by cheque.

ldy4mxonucwsq6

loyatemu wrote: »

it's hardly relevant to this discussion then. The OP is in Ireland working for an Irish company where getting paid be cheque is unusual. I've been working full time for over 20 years and have never been paid by cheque.

Even when I was a teenage lounge girl I got paid by EFT.

Just struck me as unusual in this day and age when it's much easier and cheaper to do payroll electronically.

As another poster mentioned given this I will certainly be making sure all information is updated and deductions are correct on Revenue as all of this needs to be done online now so want to make sure its all above board.

OMM 0000

loyatemu wrote: »

it's hardly relevant to this discussion then. The OP is in Ireland working for an Irish company where getting paid be cheque is unusual. I've been working full time for over 20 years and have never been paid by cheque.

Getting paid by cheque in Japan is also unusual.

If you go back and read my original comment, my point was just because a company pays you by cheque doesn't mean you should be overly worried. We pay by cheque but we have unlimited holidays, you don't have to come to the office, and there are no set hours. We're basically the dream company to work for.

So the OP should wait and see. Maybe her employers are lovely.

But sure, have a moan, I know that's the reason half the people post here.

[Deleted User]

OMM 0000 wrote: »

We're basically the dream company to work for.

Unless you have issues with waiting an extra week for your wages to appear in your account, obviously

GhostyMcGhost

IITYWYBMAD wrote: »

Are the cheques from a Japanese bank?

Be great to say I’m on a million a year.... in YEN

Irishphotodesk

loyatemu wrote: »

it's hardly relevant to this discussion then. The OP is in Ireland working for an Irish company where getting paid be cheque is unusual. I've been working full time for over 20 years and have never been paid by cheque.

I have been working for the past 20years and have been paid by Cheque every month, I work as a contractor and haven’t had a raise in the last 10years, actually took a 10% cut back in 2010, which was supposed to be a temporary issue but was never rectified and I just accepted it.

In Ireland .... for an Irish company, pretty sure everyone gets paid by cheque, got given out to for cashing my cheque instead of lodging them, apparently the company gets charged extra for it.

Gonna give my boss a shout and see if I can get the 10% reduction removed and try get an increase in pay.... might try meet him for lunch later in the week.

[Deleted User]

dotsman wrote: »

And, yet, you continue to bank with them?

If you have a business bank account, changing banks could well bankrupt you. Gives customers the excuse of not being able to pay because they "still have the old details" even though you gave them the new ones 100 times.

seamus

OMM 0000 wrote: »

If you go back and read my original comment, my point was just because a company pays you by cheque doesn't mean you should be overly worried

In Ireland it's more than unusual. Cheques cost money. Every cheque issued costs money. Every year it gets more and more difficult to issue and lodge cheques. In accounting terms issuing cheques is a nightmare as every cheque is a liability on your current account that has to be reconciled every month to make sure it doesn't get out of hand. If a company has thousands of euro in outstanding cheques, then securing business credit will be troublesome.

There are banking rules in the eurozone which make electronic transfers not only considerably easier than cheques, but safer and more predictable.

I've given several explanations above as to why a small business wouldn't use EFT, but basically it comes down to inertia. Whoever is paying the money is either unaware that a better system exists, or is too stubborn to go to the effort of changing.

That should be a warning flag to any new employee that they may find the company very resistant to change and modernisation, no matter how much it may improve the business.

Either that or the owner is a bit of a skinflint who likes having the cash for a few extra days or refuses to spend a penny on improvements that aren't absolutely critical.

bmc58

Armando Plain Meatloaf wrote: »

Just discovered my new employer pays all staff by cheque.

I've worked in many places over the past 25 years and never once been paid by cheque, always EFT.

Means I now have to find time to get to the bank every week to lodge a cheque and then wait for it to clear.

How in this day and age is this a thing? Worried that this is just the tip of the iceberg now. Surely it's more expensive and hassle to use cheques for such regular payments?

A cheque takes five days to clear also.Have you thought of this?

OMM 0000

Deleted User wrote: »

Unless you have issues with waiting an extra week for your wages to appear in your account, obviously

No, the money is available the following day.

Are cheques in Ireland still taking 5 days?

pinkypinky

OMM 0000 wrote: »

Are cheques in Ireland still taking 5 days?

Yes.