Your first paycheck from Workday: Understanding Changes

Over the last year, Modernization and the WSU Payroll Services Department worked together to run multiple comprehensive comparisons of payroll in both the Workday and legacy systems, and have identified several key changes that employees should be aware of before they receive their first check. Here’s what you need to know before your first paycheck in Workday arrives on January 11, 2021:

Things that will remain the same:

  • Paydays will remain the same.
    • The State of Washington determines the pay schedule for Washington State University. Therefore, you can expect no change to the dates you’re paid.
    • The first payday processed in Workday will be paid on January 11, 2021.
  • Your Payment Elections (Direct Deposit, paper check) and Withholding Election (IRS W4 Form) will remain the same and be converted to Workday.
  • It is recommended that employees verify their payment and W4 election information in Workday prior to Jan 4, 2021.
  • Employees may make changes to their Payment and Tax Elections at any time in Workday starting on December 16, 2020 when the system launches.

Things that will change:

  • Different check stock for those receiving paper checks.
  • Payslip View:
    • Payslips (Earning Statement) will only be available in Workday.
    • Payslips will be viewable 3 days before payday compared to 5 days in old systems.
  • Rounding Difference:
    • Workday always rounds partial pennies up, whereas old systems round up or down based on the value of the partial penny.
  • Additional Responsibilities (ADR):
    • Legacy ADRs are all fixed amounts. Workday ADRs can be assigned by the department as either fixed amounts or a percentage of gross pay. This difference may cause differences in the ADR amount paid.
  • Tax Differences:
    • New 2021 Federal Income Tax Brackets will be implemented for the first pay period in Workday.
    • In 2020, the IRS made a major revision to the W4 form and this is calculated differently in old systems compared to Workday. Employees may notice slight differences when comparing taxes between the two systems.
    • Medical Aid is taxed on 160 hours a month and old systems use when it is earned, compared to Workday, which uses when it is paid.
    • Anyone that has reached the Social Security Max for 2020 will start having social security again for the new tax year (6.2%).
    • Additional Medicare (for those that reached taxable wage threshold in 2020) will stop until threshold is met in 2021 (0.9%).

If employees notice a difference in their pay not explained above, please contact your department payroll personnel. For questions that cannot be answered by the department payroll personnel, please submit a Workday Service Desk ticket at support.workday.wsu.edu.

For more updates and articles about payroll and Workday, visit modernization.wsu.edu/tag/payroll.