Payment Frequency is a determination of how often employees are paid. Most often employees are paid weekly, bi-weekly, semi-monthly or monthly.
The industry that you are in may dictate the frequency of your payments. For example, construction workers most often get paid weekly where the government or medical staff are paid bi-weekly.
The number of employees in a company may also impact which payment frequency is used. For example, a company with employees numbering over 1000 tends to use the bi-weekly payment frequency but companies with less than 1000 employees tend to use weekly payment frequency.