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Workday Calibration FAQ

Workday Calibration FAQ

What is calibration?

Performance Calibration, or rating distribution, is sometimes referred to as Forced Distribution. It uses one axis.

Talent Calibration, or 9box, often uses potential and past performance ratings to plot workers. It uses two axes.

How does the calibration process work?

Calibration is used to view the rating or talent assessments at the top level of an organization. During performance, the ratings are viewed as a distribution so the company can use these ratings for compensation purposes. For talent assessments, this process is used to identify top talent to then place employees in development plans or succession plans.

Does the employee see the calibrated rating?

No, this information is inherently hidden from employees by Workday.

Who is involved in calibration?

This is most commonly assigned to the manager role so all managers would receive the task representing their direct employees, however, sometimes we also see the need for a custom role we call Calibrator which can be leaders, HR, Talent, etc. Once the manager submits their grid, it will roll up the management chain, then will roll up to the top supervisory organization for the Company and be submitted by an administrative security group. There is also functionality called Facilitation which is commonly given to HR, to facilitate the calibration sessions on behalf of leaders.

What happens when an employee’s manager changes during calibration?

In an administrative task called Manage Calibration, the employee will show under “Move Workers” to be available to move to the new manager. However, if no action is taken, the employee will remain in the previous manager’s calibration task. NOTE: We strongly recommend as few organizational changes as possible during calibration.

What if an employee does not have data to plot in the grid?

The employee will be placed in an unplotted area in the calibration grid. Then they can be moved to the grid by clicking on their icon and then dragging to the applicable box.

Can we submit calibration with unplotted workers?

This is allowed, however, we can configure a warning or critical error if there are unplotted workers. Our guidance is to make this a warning vs. a critical error otherwise the manager will not be able to submit their grid up to the next level.

Can the calibrated rating be used in compensation processes?

Yes, this is accomplished by pulling in either the Overall Rating – Manager or Calibrated Rating fields into the compensation grid.  

How does the performance review get updated after calibration?

Either manually by the manager or loaded via EIB. 

What are the steps to setting up calibration in Workday?

  1. Create nBox reports
  2. Complete the Set Up nBox Report task
  3. Set Up a Calibration Program

In our next blog entry, we will explore the complexities of running calibration while handling organization, manager, and employee changes!

Authors

  • Christina Tran is currently a Principal Consultant at Kognitiv. As of October 2024, she has been with Kognitiv for a little over 7 years and has worked on numerous Open Enrollment and ACA processes as well as implementing multiple US and international benefit projects. In addition to benefits, Christina also supports her clients with other functional areas in Workday such as Performance & Talent, BIRT, Reporting, and Core HCM.

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