The importance of employment statuses in Workday

To get the most out of Workday, the data we put in needs to be accurate.

Payroll, budgeting, benefits, and a true accounting of who is working in each department — for these (and many other processes) to run smoothly we rely on accurate employment status data in Workday. That is why, for every individual who works at UBC, we need accurate employment statuses in Workday; employment status data is key to many of our business processes. 

More than a year in, we have found that incorrect employment status data in Workday causes a number of problems.  

Inaccurate data 

Did you know that employee profiles that don’t get terminated properly in Workday will remain active and in some instances that employee can continue to access benefits? This is just one example of inaccurate data, and it has cost implications for departments and makes planning more difficult. 

Employment statuses govern many of our processes and when this data isn’t up to date and free of errors there are a number of knock-on effects. Employment status is everything from a new hire to termination, rehires, extensions, transfers, reappointments, promotions, and secondments. 

Given Workday is relatively new, we know that this task of keeping employment status data up to date is part of the learning curve. That is why we wanted to share some of the most common inaccurate data issues with employment statuses—with the hope that we can reduce the extra work and cost implications.  

The big (data) issues 

What are some of the inaccurate data problems that are causing headaches across the HR community? Here are a few of the most common: 

Updated in a timely manner 

Accurate employment status is important, and so is making those updates in a timely manner. 

Specifically, individuals responsible for maintaining this will need to update the employment status in the same pay period as the employee's last day to ensure other business processes won’t be triggered and cause more work for Payroll and Benefits teams.  

And it’s not just a matter of keeping costs under control, updating employee statuses accurately and on time in Workday is the way we automatically generate Records of Employment (ROE). Generating ROEs is not only a legal obligation (something we must send to Service Canada), but it is an important document for the outgoing employee, who may need it to apply for additional services including Employment Insurance.  

Reconciling expected end date and actual end date 

Workday treats these as two different values, and a failure to update the actual end date when it is different from the expected end date is a big problem. If the actual end date isn’t updated, a terminated employee can still access extended benefits and dental, and this will incur costs for your department. 

A note on end dates for employees on a work permit: The end date of the job must match the end date of the work permit even if the offer end date extends beyond that. For more information, take a look at HR Workday report and required updates: Foreign workers on the HR website. 

Terminations vs Transfers 

If the employee is leaving the university for a new role outside of UBC or their employment is ending, this is a termination. If the employee is moving to a new role within UBC this is a transfer. There have been instances where an employee has been terminated then a rehire process is started the day after, this causes a number of coverage issues and additional work to process this change to an employee’s status. 

It is important that we are using the right processes to action these changes to the employment status of any individual in our departments, faculties, and units. If you are unsure, seek assistance from colleagues, the Workday Knowledge Base, or from the Integrated Service Centre, which provides Workday support. 

Keeping employment statuses up to date 

If you are responsible for maintaining accurate employment statuses in Workday, here are some helpful Workday Knowledge Base articles on how to maintain accurate employment status data. 

In addition to the Workday Knowledge Base articles above, here are just a few helpful reports to help you find and update this information: 

• ‘Employees with Upcoming Term End Dates’ to identify employees and assist with planning to end or extend jobs 
• ‘Employees Who have Passed the Term End Date’ to identify employees whose term end date has passed, but an ‘End Additional Job’ business process has not been processed. 

Further assistance

If you have questions about how to complete the tasks and processes in the Workday Knowledge Base articles or how to run these reports in Workday, please submit a Workday support request through the UBC Self Service Portal. If you have questions about specific employee statuses in your department, contact your HR Associate or Faculty Relations Manager or Assistant Manager for assistance.