Simplify Employee Transfers with Automatic Accrual Adjustments

We understand that, if your organization regularly transfers employees across countries, Workday Absence may present challenges as it lacks a fully automated solution to adjust non-front loaded accruals on employee transfers. Currently, Workday processes Transfers using business process action steps, such as the Maintain Time Off Plan Transfer Balance and Automated Accrual Adjustment within the Change Job business process.

The Maintain Time Off Plan Transfer Balance action generates a task for administrators to map the old time off balance to the new one. But the Automated Accrual Adjustment service step is automatic only for true front-loaded accruals. This can be a limitation for organizations with a substantial volume of transfers or those that do not utilize front-loaded accruals.

If your organization aligns with this, this post details a tailored solution to address the complexities associated with high-frequency employee transfers between countries. Our solution aims to streamline the process and overcome the limitations presented by Workday, ensuring a smoother transition for your workforce.

We have developed accrual logic that automatically prorates and zeros out balances in the period of the transfer to eliminate administrative overhang, as well as, an automatic adjustment for non-front loaded accruals. The proration requires a shadow plan (configuration not shown here) to calculate the percentage of time that the worker is in each country during the period of transfer. In this blog, we will demonstrate the zeroing-out accrual logic in detail.

Our logic can be applied to the following scenarios:

1. If a worker transfers in the middle of a period;
2. If a worker transfers on the first day or last day of the month;
3. If they transfer to a different period schedule, e.g., transferring from a monthly to a biweekly period schedule;
4. If the balance needs to be prorated or zeroed out upon transfer.

Configuration of a Negative Adjustment to Zero-out the Balance

Conditional Calculation: AUS Sick Time Off Transfer Calculation (Top Level)

This calculation includes the conditions required to identify when a transfer occurs. The result of each condition is another calculation – “AUS Sick Transfer Adjustment” – that we’ll explain next.

• Condition a: Checks if a worker is in a country as of the period start date, and not in the country as of the start of the next period; e.g., a worker is in a country for an entire month and then is transferred to a new country at the start of the next month
• Condition b: Checks if a worker is in the country as of the end of the previous period, and not in the country as of the start of the current period; e.g., a worker is partially in a country in the prior month and then is transferred to a new country at the start of the current month
• Condition c: Checks if a worker is in the country as of the start of the period, and not as of the end of the period. e.g., the worker transfers in the middle of the month

The Result calculation (AUS Sick Transfer Adjustment) is configured as follows:

Step 1a – Absence Balance Calc: AUS Sick Balance (as of Prior PED)

The calculation in Step 1a is used to determine the Absence Balance from the prior month (since this plan was based on a monthly period schedule)

Step 1b – Arithmetic Calc: Prorata: AUS Sick Transfer Adjustment Calculation

The calculation for Step 1b is used to determine the balance from the previous period, multiplying the Absence Balance by negative one to create a negative balance amount.

Step 2a – Absence Balance Calc: AUS Sick Time Off (Current Period)

The calculation in Step 2a is used to determine the time off taken in the current period of transfer.

Step 2b – Arithmetic Calc: AUS Sick Transfer Adjustment (Negative Adjustment PLUS Time Off in Current Period)

The calculation in Step 2b is the adjustment that takes the calculated amount from Step 1b and adds any time off taken in the period of transfer.

Step 3a – Absence Balance Calc: AUS Sick Accrued in Current Period

The calculation in Step 3a determines what was accrued in the current period (a.k.a., the period the employee transfers).

Step 3b – Arithmetic Calc: AUS Sick Transfer Adjustment

The calculation in Step 3b takes the amount from Step 2b minus the amount the worker accrues in the period in which they transfer (Step 3a). This final calculation is used in the Top Level conditional calculation.

Configuration Results

Below is a sample of the Time Off Results By Period report for a worker who transferred from Australia to the USA on November 13, 2023. Normally, the Australian plan accrues 1.66 days monthly and the USA plan accrues 4.62 hours semi-monthly. These two countries also have varying period schedules.

Below are the accruals from the shadow plans that determine the percentage of the period that the worker is in each country. You will see that there are two plans in this scenario because Australia is on a monthly period schedule, and the USA is on a semi-monthly period schedule. 

Monthly Shadow Plan

Semi-Monthly Shadow Plan

Next, the table below is the Time Off Results by Period report for the period of November 1-30, 2023. The monthly shadow plan is calculating that the employee is in Australia for 40% of the monthly period (shown above). Thus, they are accruing 0.67 in the month of transfer (the prorated amount of 1.66, their typical accrual). Their total adjustment is -10.32. This gives us the -9.65 shown in the “Accrued in Period” column, which is the negative of their “Beginning Period Balance”, making the employee end their time in Australia with zero time accrued.

If you re-run the Time Off Results by Period report for the USA semi-monthly shadow plan, you’ll see that it calculates that the employee is in the USA for approximately 43% of the semi-monthly period (shown above). Thus, they are accruing 1.98 in the semi-monthly period of transfer (the prorated amount from 4.62, their typical accrual).

It’s important to note that, while this configuration facilitates dynamic adjustments, it does not support the direct addition of the old time off plan’s balance into the new one, requiring additional configuration for such scenarios. Furthermore, if time off plans have different Accrual Frequency Methods (start of period versus end of period), additional consideration is required. Lastly, this configuration does not accommodate a payout to the employee upon transfer. However, a Custom Report can be created to report on the payout amount, if needed.

Summary

Overall, this configuration offers numerous advantages for your organization! It is particularly beneficial for managing high volumes of transfers between countries since it eliminates manual calculations. It also significantly reduces the time spent on completing a task for every worker by eliminating this step from the business process.

Moreover, for workers returning to a country after a transfer, the zero-out function minimizes the need for manual overrides on balances and potential EIB loads for balance overrides via the Put Override Balances EIB. The flexibility of this calculation extends across various period schedules, balance periods, and accrual types. It seamlessly prorates accruals, even during transitions between hourly and daily time off plans. 

Do you want a smoother process for managing accruals during transfers? Then these options are worth checking out! If you need any support with this or any other questions about absence configuration, Kognitiv is here to help!