As mentioned before in a discussion of Retro Nightmares, there are times when Workday can accommodate retroactive changes easily and times when retroactive changes are difficult. While payroll completion significantly impacts Workday's ability to accommodate retroactive changes, this is especially true when it involves employees with multiple jobs. As you know, Workday requires employees with multiple jobs to have one designated as their primary job. Payroll relies on knowing the primary job to ensure proper processing.
As a result, once payroll completes for a given pay period, the designated primary job cannot be changed. This limitation can seriously impact retroactive changes that fall within a completed pay period. Here are some examples:
- An employee’s primary job needs to end before the additional job ends. Typically, you would process a Switch Primary Job (SPJ) to enable you to end the primary job. But if the end date of the primary job falls within a completed pay period, you will be unable to Switch Primary Job. When payroll completes, it locks in the primary job for that pay period.
- You hire a student into a job on 9/1, but later, you learn that the student needs a second job to begin BEFORE 9/1. Typically, you would rescind the hire on 9/1 and then redo the hiring in the correct order. However, if payroll has been completed for the period covering 9/1, you cannot rescind the hire.
- A student is hired into two jobs effective 9/1. The student reports for work for her additional job but decides not to accept the primary job. Typically, you would rescind both jobs and redo the single job. However, if payroll has been completed for the period covering 9/1, you cannot rescind the hire.
While askUS Operational Support can take manual steps to mitigate the impacts to payroll/benefits in these cases, the job that was not worked will remain as part of the worker history for the employee.
The best way to fix these situations is to prevent them from occurring. Working with others to create processes within your College, School, or Unit (CSU) to keep you informed of employees who resign, no show, or require other changes to their employment as early as possible can go a long way towards preventing a difficult retro situation from occurring.
For cyclical hiring, make plans to follow up on new hires on key dates. For example, if you have several new employees starting on 9/1, check with their managers by 9/5 to see if they have started work. If you find that some employees have not started or will not be starting, you can begin taking steps to prevent a difficult retro situation before any upcoming payroll deadlines.
Related Resources
- Payroll Calendar
- Rescind Request Matrix
- No Call-Never Worked Workday Instructional Guide (WIG)
- Primary Job Guidance Workday Process Overview (WPO)
- Student Business Process Matrix
If you require assistance, contact askUS@austin.utexas.edu.