Welcome to Workday!

Pay dates for hourly employees will be the 15th and last day of each month instead the 8th and 23rd of each month

Applicable to: Hourly staff, hourly faculty, and student employees

Beginning in November, hourly employees will be paid on the 15^th and last day of each month. Pay days falling on a weekend or holiday will be moved to the day before the weekend or holiday.

As we complete the transition to Workday during the month of November, payroll processing completed in PeopleSoft and began in Workday on November 2, 2020. There will be three pay days in November for hourly employees to account for the transition. See table below for a summary:

Time Entry / Approval Reminders

On-time time submission and approval in Workday is critical to ensure hourly employees get paid accurately. Therefore:

• Hourly employees will receive Workday generated reminder emails to submit their time in Workday throughout the pay period.
• Managers will receive Workday generated reminder emails to approve hours waiting for approval in their inbox.
• Timekeepers will not receive email reminders.

Why the change?

• Pay days will align with typical bill payment dates (e.g., rent) 
• Time entry deadlines can be communicated in a consistent way, which reduces confusion and makes it easier for managers, supervisors and employees to remember approval and pay dates
• Employees with multiple positions will be paid for all positions on the same days each month, enabling them to better understand their total income
• There will be reduced administrative impact of running separate payrolls for hourly and salaried workers in each faculty and unit. Introduction of automated approvals and timesheets within Workday will also contribute to time saved for departments

For eligibility details to access one-time bridge funding available to accommodate the transition, contact UBC Payroll (604-822-2187).

Benefit premiums will be deducted twice per month instead of once per month

Applicable to: All employees enrolled in one or more benefit plans with an end-of month employee paid deduction

All benefit premiums will be processed twice per month on each paycheque (the 15th and end of the month). This includes Extended Health, Dental, Employee and Family Assistance Program (EFAP), Optional Life, and Optional AD&D premiums that are currently taken once a month, at the end of the month.

Since the majority of employees are eligible for employer-paid Extended Health and Dental premiums, this change primarily impacts employees’ EFAP premiums. In addition, Faculty and staff enrolled for Employee and/or Spouse Optional Life/Optional AD&D are required to pay premiums. This means the monthly premium they currently pay will be divided in half and taken each paycheque.

If you are a Sessional Lecturer with an appointment less than 50% FTE or less than 4 months and you selected Extended Health and/or Dental, you are required to pay half the premium. This means the monthly premium you currently pay will be divided in half and taken each paycheque.

This change allows for consistent frequency of premium deductions. Overall, there is no change to the benefit premium you pay.

Note: there is no change to income-based premiums and contributions as these are taken every pay period (e.g., BGL, IRP/DBP, Pensions)

EXAMPLES

Table below is an example of an employee participating in the Employee and Family Assistance plan.

Table below is an example of an employee who is between age 45-49, non-smoker and enrolled for $250,000 Employee Optional Life.

Table below is an example of a Sessional Lecturer under 50% or under 4 months and enrolled in family coverage for Extended Health (table below) and Dental (further below).

Basic Life premiums will be calculated based on coverage amount instead of salary for salaried employees

Applicable to: Salaried faculty and staff, who are enrolled in the basic group life insurance program

In HRMS, Basic Life premiums for all employees were calculated based on salary. In Workday, Basic Life premiums are calculated based on the Basic Life coverage amount (what the employee’s beneficiary will receive in the event of their death).

Example

M&P employee is age 50 and annual salary is $75,000; coverage amount is $150,000 (2 times annual salary)

Premium calculation:

In HRMS:   $75,000 / 12 * 0.236% = $14.75/month or $7.37/paycheque

In Workday:  ($75,000 * 2) * $0.0082 / 100 = $12.30/month or $6.15/paycheque

Basic Life premiums are paid by UBC, so employees will not be impacted financially by this change. However, employees who are on an unpaid leave of absence are required to pay the premium for continued coverage will pay more or less than what they currently pay depending on their age and salary.

Note, premiums for hourly workers will be continue to the calculated based on salary because we cannot correctly calculate their coverage amount (all hourly employees are entered as 1.0 FTE).

Employees with multiple positions will receive one paycheque instead of multiple paycheques

Applicable to: Any employee with multiple positions that are either ALL salary or ALL hourly in more than one union. For employees with one salary job and one hourly job, there will be no impact because they will continue to receive two cheques.

In HRMS, employees with more than one position in more than one union – either ALL salary or ALL hourly – had separate pay calculations, statements, and paycheques for each position. In Workday, their pay is calculated together and they will receive one pay statement and one paycheque.

This means that this group of employees may see a decrease in net pay due to more accurate tax calculations (i.e. based on total earnings), CPP and EI.

Please note, this change will not impact the total income tax an employee pays. While income tax, CPP and EI deductions for some employees may have been lower throughout the year, these amounts would have been payable when you submitted your income tax return.

Employees who had additional tax taken each pay to account for the underestimated tax in HRMS should update their TD1 in Workday.

Example

An M&P person also has a faculty sessional job. This person received two paycheques in HRMS but will receive only one in Workday:

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Employees in low tax brackets will have less income tax deducted from their paycheques

Applicable to: Employees in low tax brackets; primarily student employees

HRMS had a known issue of over-estimated income tax deductions for employees in low tax brackets. Employees affected by this issue typically had slightly higher taxes deducted from their pay throughout the year, and saw the amounts refunded when they submitted their income tax return.  

Workday does not have this limitation, which may result in less (more accurate) amounts of tax being deducted and consequently a smaller amount refunded when they submit their income tax return.

Please note, between payroll deductions and income tax returns, the total amount of income tax that an employee pays is not changing.

If you're internal, apply through Workday. 

If you are external please apply through our job boards for

• Staff
• Faculty
• Students 

View our Tips for Applying.

The PD Funds claims process is changing for faculty and staff. 

Professional Development Fund claims can be entered and approved in Workday beginning November 16, without the need to fill additional forms or sign any papers. Your manager or supervisor will approve your claim directly in Workday.

Viewing PD entitlements

You can view your total balance, amount used, amount requested (claims in queue to be processed), and amount remaining.

For faculty, please note that your total balance and amount remaining includes carry forward, current year and borrow ahead together. If you want to know disaggregated amounts for carry over, borrow ahead and current year, please contact the Integrated Service Centre.

The borrow ahead is going still to be managed as a credit, and by submitting claims you agreed to the terms and conditions of the borrowed ahead that are stablished in the collective agreement.

Support with PD Funds

Visit the Integrated Service Centre for Workday resources and support, including how to submit claims and view your PD Funds entitlement. (The pd.faculty@ubc.ca email is decommissioned and all queries and tickets must be submitted through the ISC.)

Visit the Professional Development Funding page for guidelines about PD Funds. For Faculty PD Funds, additional improvements and changes will be attended through Faculty Relations or the Faculty Association.

The tuition waiver system is expected to launch on December 14, 2020 at which point you will be able to submit tuition waiver requests for Term 2 (January to April) 

Please continue to hold all credit course tuition waiver requests. For non-credit courses, an interim manual process is in place - visit the Tuition Waiver page and access the information specific to your employee group for information on the manual process for non-credit courses.

Launching the new system is a top priority for the IRP team and we appreciate your patience during this transition. If you have general questions about tuition waivers, please contact UBC Benefits. If you have submitted a waiver and have questions, please contact UBC Financial Operations - Payroll.

In Workday, all employees should:

1. Review their vacation balances to confirm they have the correct number of vacation days remaining for 2020
2. Re-enter planned vacation for November 16 – December 31, 2020 into Workday

If adjustments are required, employees should work with their managers and department HR to correct.