Employee Workday Help

Workday for Managers

Last updated Tuesday, November 7, 2023

In the context of this page, the term Workday Manager refers to both an individual who leads a team as well as the Manager role in Workday.

On This Page:


Find Your Sup Org(s)

In Workday, employees who report to you will be grouped into one or more Supervisory Organization(s), which are arranged hierarchically in order to map the University’s full organizational structure.

You can find your Supervisory Organizations (also called “Sup Orgs”) in Workday by searching for your name using the search bar in the upper left corner of your screen. Alternately, you can navigate to your worker profile by selecting “View Profile” from the menu found by selecting the cloud icon in the top right corner of your screen. Once you’re on your profile page, select “Overview” and then select the “Organizations” tab to review a list of organizations you belong to and Sup Orgs you lead.

As a Manager, you are responsible for approving your employee’s time sheets, time off requests, and work schedule requests. Medical Centers Managers complete these approvals in Kronos. Campus Managers who hold the Time and Absence Approver role as well as the Manger security role will complete these approvals in Workday. Learn more below in the Manager Responsibility section; Managers at the Medical Centers can also review our Manager Self Service videos.

Manager Responsibilities

Workday Process Monitoring

All Managers should ensure employees on their team complete essential tasks in Workday, such as:

  • Completing their Form I-9 (your unit’s I-9 coordinator will help employees through the process)
  • Entering and updating home address and emergency contacts

Managers in the Medical Centers will also facilitate the completion of Performance Evaluations in Workday. Managers on Campus will complete evaluations outside of Workday according to your unit’s specific procedures.

Time and Absence Approvals

Campus Managers who also serve as Time and Absence Approvers need to monitor and complete time and absence related tasks in Workday in order to ensure employees are paid accurately and on time. Medical Centers Managers will manage and approve these processes in Kronos.

Time and Absence Approvers are responsible for the following:

  • Approving Time Sheets: Timely approval of hours worked is critical for ensuring employees are paid correctly and on time. Hourly employees will not be paid for hours that are not approved! Furthermore, if timesheets are not approved for salaried employees who enter time, they will receive their base salary but no exception time such as overtime or premiums due! Campus employees will approve time sheets in Workday, while Medical Centers employees approve in Kronos. 
  • Approving Time Off Requests: Managers should pay attention to their employees’ absence records and ensure they are entering sick days and time off, including Holiday Taken Time Off, which is required for salaried staff. Campus employees will make these entries in Workday, while Medical Centers employees enter time off in Kronos.
  • Approving employee work schedule requests: Employees can request work schedule changes using the procedure described in the Request Schedule Change (PDF) Quick Guide. Time and Absence Approvers are then responsible for reviewing and approving those requests.

Tips for Managing your Workday Approvals

In order to avoid delays and hardships to your staff, please make sure you stay on top of your approvals by doing the following (not applicable to Medical Centers Managers who approve these processes in Kronos):

  • Monitor your “My Tasks” inbox: All tasks and actions you must complete will come to your Workday “My Tasks” inbox, which will automatically generate a message to your UW email account when you have required steps to take in Workday. If you are receiving notifications for employees you don’t manage, please make sure to work with your unit administrator to identify and coordinate any Workday changes that are needed.
  • Delegate your Workday responsibility when you are out: If you will be out of the office for an extended amount of time, please submit a Delegation Request. This will re-route processes you normally approve to the person you designate so your responsibilities will be covered while you are out.
  •  Run Time and Absence Reports: (Not applicable to Medical Centers employees who track and report hours worked and time off in Kronos.) For Managers on Campus, Workday reports can help you ensure your teams’ time and absence are entered correctly in Workday. For a complete list with descriptions, please visit the Payroll Impacting Reports page. Some of the most commonly used reports are listed below (reports can be found by entering the report codes into the search box in Workday):
    • R0408 Zero Hour Timesheet: Use this report to identify employees that have zero hours entered on their timesheet for the date range specified.
    • R0521 Time Entry Summary by Date Range: Use these reports to audit potentially unsubmitted and unapproved time blocks, overtime, time block overrides, and conflicting time off/time entered.
    • R0207 Weekly Unsubmitted & Unapproved Hours Audit: Used to verify that the hours entered by an employee match their assigned work schedule. We recommend running this report on a weekly basis to help prevent payroll errors.

Tools and Resources for Managers

Apps (formerly “Worklets”)

Apps are icons on your Workday homepage that provide you easy access to relevant reports and information. To personalize your apps, log into Workday and select the gear icon to the right of your name. To add new apps, select Menu the + sign under Optional Worklets, then scroll through the “Worklet” menu. Some apps you may find particularly helpful include:

  • My Team: The My Team app provides you an easy way to access information about employees who report directly and indirectly to you. From the app you can access quick links to employee profiles for your direct reports, or you can select “My Org Chart,” which will provide you an interactive organizational chart you can use to navigate to the profiles of all your direct and indirect reports.  This app also features the “Compare Team” report, which provides a summarized comparison of team members in an organization, including length of service, base pay amounts, and salary increases that can be used to examine internal equity.
  •  Team Time Off: (Not applicable to Medical Centers employees who track and report time off in Kronos.) Use this app to view useful absence data such as Approved Time Offs and who is On Leave; the Time Off and Leave Calendar is especially convenient for tracking the Time Offs for all of your direct reports.
  • Favorites: The Favorites app allows you to curate the reports and objects you use or view most frequently in Workday into one single place. You can manage your favorites by opening the Favorites app, selecting the gear icon in the upper right of the screen, and selecting Manage Favorites from the drop-down menu. You will have the option to choose your favorite reports (which will link to that report’s page) or business objects, which can include your supervisory organizations, cost centers, or other items you frequently view in the system. We suggest favoriting the suggested reports listed on this page for easy access. Note: Use “Favorite Custom Reports” to find any report customized for the UW, which all have an R followed by a number in the title (example: R0314: Employee Detail by Organization).

Reports for Managers

In addition to the Time and Absence reports listed above, a number of other reports can help you manage your organization. We especially recommend:

  • Onboarding Status Summary: This report provides a summary for workers in various stages of the onboarding process. The report lists remaining and completed steps, as well as those not started, and includes an overall completion percentage. It is recommended that employees complete all onboarding tasks within the first three days of employment, as the information submitted through these tasks impacts employee pay and benefits. For example:
    • Employee benefits options are dependent on the entry of a home address. Not completing this information in Workday may cause delays in enrollment, and the employee may be defaulted into a benefits plan they would not have chosen.
    • Per federal law, Form I-9 must be completed within 3 days of starting work (the start date listed in Workday). Employees may not report to work if their form is not completed by the deadline.
    • Employees who do not provide direct deposit information will have a paper check mailed to their home address. If their address is not available, this can result in delays to their pay.
  • R0321 Upcoming End Employment Dates: Used to identify all fixed term and hourly employees who are approaching their end employment date. Review this report frequently so you can work with your unit administrators to take appropriate action on these employees.
  • R0524 My Organization and Team: This report is intended to help Managers (and Manager’s Managers) view the workers in their organization (direct and indirect). A pie chart visually represents the number of employees in each organization, and Managers can use the search menu on the left side of the page to help filter results.  To see the workers in an organizations, select the organization’s segment on the pie chart, then select “View Details.”
  • R0090 Headcount Analysis for My Organizations:This report provides a configurable bar graph of headcount in one or more organizations.

For an introduction to Workday Reporting, as well as details about other reports available to units, please visit the Workday Reports pages.