Sent August 25, 2026

Dear Faculty and Staff Colleagues,

As we approach the Workday go-live date of October 1, our Workday project team has been hard at work coordinating training sessions to prepare our community for upcoming changes to how functions in Human Resources, Finance, Payroll, and Student Employment will operate. Even if you do not work in one of these areas, please be aware that Workday will change how you do things like log your time, submit expense reports, submit position descriptions, make your benefits elections, hire student workers, clock in and out, and more. We are offering training sessions throughout September and October to explain how key College operations will work in Workday, answer questions, and make the transition process as seamless as possible.

Workday Training Session Registration

You can see the full schedule of training sessions and register using the Workday Training Registration Form. I encourage you to sign up at your earliest convenience for sessions, as some may fill up quickly. These trainings will cover the most commonly-used functions that will shift to Workday, and be open to all faculty and staff members; if your office or department has specialized functions that are also moving to Workday, please reach out to the respective team to coordinate training of those functions directly. You can also view all scheduled training sessions on the campus calendar. If you have any questions about training or registration, please reach out to workdaytraining@swarthmore.edu. 

Along with signing up for training, I recommend you view the short Workday Getting Started for Employees video for an overview of the platform. We have also added more information on the training timeline, and information on common terminology changes from Banner will now be in Workday, on our newly updated Workday website.  

Important Policy and Process Changes

Because of how Workday will impact functions across the College, our transition to this platform will bring policy changes related to Human Resources, Payroll, and Finance processes, some of which will be implemented before the Oct. 1 Workday launch date. These policy and process updates will be covered in relevant training sessions, but please take a moment to read the below overview carefully. If you have any questions about these changes, please reach out to that specific office or department with the contact information provided below.

Thank you again for your flexibility as the Workday transition is underway. I know there are significant changes ahead, and appreciate all your efforts as we work together to bring these important updates to campus.

Sincerely,

Jason Parkhill
Chief Information Technology Officer

Policy and Process Changes with Workday

Finance

For questions about Finance policy changes, please reach out to Alice Turbiville, assistant vice president, finance & assistant treasurer at aturbiv1@swarthmore.edu.

Budgets Checks

• Departments will have to remain within budget to successfully complete a purchase requisition. The Workday budget check feature is turned on for grants, gift budgets, and operating budgets. However, Budget Amendments are also available for departments to transfer budgets between cost centers and spend categories.

Endowments Distributions

• Endowment distributions will now be annual instead of quarterly. The full year of endowment distribution for 2026-27 will be distributed in Workday in the month of October. 

Procurement and Suppliers

• The College’s procurement to pay process is significantly changing with the transition to Workday. Training sessions in this area will go over the steps you must take to purchase and receive goods in Workday, and to have suppliers remit invoices for payment.

• There will be a portal for suppliers called Workday Strategic Sourcing where suppliers will self register and sign up for direct ACH payment. The Procurement Office is reaching out to all College vendors in October about this change, and all new vendors will be asked to enroll in the portal. 

Human Resources

For questions about Human Resources policy changes, please contact humanresources@swarthmore.edu 

Benefits & Leave

• Leave requests must now be submitted in Workday, starting October 1.

• Open Enrollment will move to Workday, starting this fall. More information will be shared once we are closer to open enrollment dates.

• Beginning in January 2027, benefit group frequency for non-exempt, hourly employees — how often these employees are charged for benefits — will change to a 26-pay, bi-weekly cycle, from the current 24-pay, semi-monthly cycle.  

 Compensation  

• With the implementation of Workday, the College will transition away from salary grades into a fully market-based compensation model, to ensure staff pay accurately reflects real-time industry changes and supports fair, competitive pay and hiring practices. While market pricing has guided compensation decisions at the College for several years, maintaining posted job grades often shifted focus onto the grade assignment itself rather than whether pay remained competitive with the actual market. More information can be found on the Staff Compensation Administration page.

Performance Management

• The annual performance assessment process (for both the fiscal year and calendar year cycles) will now be completed in Workday. More information will be shared later this fall.

Recruitment and Onboarding

• College job postings will move to Workday’s Jobs Hub, replacing PageUp. There, you will see open positions under the Organizations tab. Employees may apply as internal candidates. 

• If you are a College employee referring someone to an open position, you will now initiate the candidate referral process (instead of having the candidate list you on their application). 

• Resignation letters will now be submitted by employees or their supervisors in Workday, and follow steps within the platform to complete before the employee’s last day. 

• Pre-hire paperwork for new employees will be completed within Workday. 

Payroll

For questions about Payroll policy changes, please reach out to payroll@swarthmore.edu 

Time-Tracking

• Starting Sept. 20, non-exempt hourly employees will clock out for lunch and will start entering time in Workday.