Payroll Processing Frequently Asked Questions

Payroll Contact Changes

Payroll staff are aligned to better serve the TAMU, TAMUG & TAMHSC HUBs plus our shared services with TAMUCC, TAMUCT, TAMUS, TAMUSA, TAMUT, TARL and TDEM.  Please email payroll@tamu.edu or call the Payroll Administrator associated with your HUB, College, Agency or concern:

Payroll Shared Email: payroll@tamu.edu (all Payroll staff have access)

Edit Payment Elections

From Paycheck to Payment Elections (Direct Deposit)

Managing Your Bank Accounts

Payment Election Enrollment Event (Onboarding)

• Entering payment election information is an employee self-service function in Workday.
• Employees are 100% responsible for the accuracy of data entered during initial set-up and/or if they make any subsequent updates or changes at a later date.
• Employees agree to not hold their employer responsible for any delay or loss of funds due to incorrect or incomplete information the employee supplied or due to an error on the part of the employee’s financial institution in depositing funds into the employees account(s).

• Payment elections can be edited at any time; be mindful of deadlines noted in the next FAQ question.
• If an update is made after payroll deadlines for the current pay period, the change will not become effective until the next pay period and could result in rejection by the banking entity. Our office will be notified, and we will start the process to prepare a replacement paper check which is mailed to the employee’s current home address listed in Workday, thus delaying receipt.

Updates to active employee’s payment elections of any nature (i.e., adding a new account, updating existing account and/or routing number, percentage reallocation among accounts, etc.) are an employee self-service function in Workday. Please be aware of the following deadlines. Pay Schedules are available on our website, so you can be certain of your upcoming payday deadline. 

Biweekly Paid Employees: Payment election changes or updates must be completed by 5:00pm on the day listed as Current Time Sheets Due. This date is found in the fifth column of the current Fiscal Year Biweekly Pay Schedule. For example, if the biweekly pay date is March 7, 2025, you should have your updates completed no later than 5:00pm on March 3, 2025.

Monthly Paid Employees: Payment election changes or updates must be completed on the day listed as BP’s Due. This date is found in the next to last column of the current Fiscal Year Monthly Pay schedule. For example, if the monthly PAYDATE is February 3, 2025, you should have your updates completed in Workday by 5:00pm on January 23, 2025. 

If you are unable to complete your changes or updates by the deadline, your existing elections will be applied to the current pay result; any changes or updated made after deadline will be effective for future pay results. If you have questions regarding timing, please discuss with your HR Professional. 

Employees who have not set-up Payment Elections in Workday default to paper payroll and expense checks. 

Paper payroll checks are mailed by Payroll via United States Postal Service (USPS) to the employee’s home address in Workday. Checks are mailed one business day prior to payday; in the event payday falls on a Monday, checks are mailed that day. 

It is critical that employees enter a valid address in Workday.  A valid and complete home mailing address includes the Apartment # or Unit # if applicable AND Zip Code; do not include the name of the Apartment Complex. This will ensure employees receive their pay checks timely.  

Here are some examples: 

USPS Can successfully deliver:  
8085 Atlas Pear Drive Apt. #1213 
College Station TX 77845 
United States of America 

USPS CANNOT deliver:
The Enclave Student Housing 
1800 Holleman Drive 
College Station TX 77840 
United States of America  

NOTE: In the event your paycheck prints without an address, you will be notified via email and asked to update the information in Workday. 

Paper expense (reimbursement) checks (if applicable) are mailed by Financial Management Operations (FMO) when they generate. 

The error must be overcome to allow the direct deposit set-up to occur. The error could be happening for one of several reasons: 

1. The Direct Deposit Declaration Workday Inbox item was skipped during the pre-hire/onboarding process.  Use the Payment Election Enrollment Event (Onboarding) Job Aid in Workday Help for instructions. 
2. The original Declaration question was answered as “Yes” during onboarding.  In this case, the declaration question will need to be resent, so the employee can answer the question differently.  To have the question resent, please notify your HR Professional. 

NOTE: As a U.S. entity, the Texas A&M University System is obligated to comply with the requirements of the United States Department of Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), which oversees payments sent outside the territorial jurisdiction of the United States.  This includes automated clearinghouse (ACH) payments, such as direct deposits.  Texas A&M University Systems does not permit direct deposit to banks outside the United States.  Failure to answer the question or answer as “Yes” will prevent the payment election process from completing and the employee will receive paper checks. 

In some cases, after following all the steps to set-up your payment elections, the Status shows as “In Progress" rather than “Successfully Completed”. To remove this error, the employee should follow these steps:

1. From your Workday Home Page, in the Your Top Apps box, click the Pay button (you may need to select View All Apps to access this).
2. In the Actions block, click Payment Elections.
3. Scroll down to the Payment Elections section of the page.
4. Click Edit but DO NOT CHANGE ANYTHING.
5. Click OK.
6. Status should now read Successfully Completed.

If the status is still “In Progress” email payroll@tamu.edu for assistance.

Email the following information to payroll@tamu.edu:

• Employee Name
• Employee UIN
• Position Number and Title (Annual Work Period of position must cover period requested)
• Blocked Country
• Begin Date
• End Date
• Reason
• HR Professional Contact information (if we have any questions)

Partial Month Salary Calculation
A recent clarification from Workday Services explained how partial month salary is calculated.

Annual Work Periods that begin on the 1 (example – Jan. 1 – May 31):
Employees with an effective date after the 1 receive partial salary based on a daily rate.

Annual Work Periods that begin on the 16 (example – Jan. 16 – May 31):
Employees with an effective date on the 16 will receive ½ of their monthly salary. If the effective date is the 17 or later, the employee will be paid partial salary using the daily rate.

Annual Work Period decisions and these partial month salary calculations should be kept in mind as you review recruiting and hiring needs, budgetary funding and offer letters. Payroll maintains a Partial Month Payment Worksheet for the current fiscal year under Forms on the website; this can be used to generate a gross estimate of an employee’s first paycheck.

• Employee signs an affidavit acknowledging the lost or destroyed paper check (email payroll@tamu.edu to request affidavit form).
• During form completion, employee indicates if they want to pick up the replacement check at the Payroll office in the General Services Building (GSC) (picture ID required) or if they want Payroll to mail the replacement check to the mailing address they list on the form.
• Payroll prepares replacement paper check
• Payroll either mails the check or contacts the employee to pick-up as requested

To avoid financial hardship for the employee, the Timekeeper will need to take control of the timesheet from the Manager for the Review button to become available. This will allow the Timekeeper to make corrections (if needed) and approve the current timesheet on behalf of the Manager.

Resources:

1. Time Summary Review Report
   1. Run the report in Workday and export the file to Excel.
   2. Filter the report by Manager (column AA) and then review Hours to Approve (column I).
   3. Pull up the employee in Workday; review if they are dual employed to identify the appropriate position reporting to the Manager.
   4. Open the current timesheet.
   5. Make note of the number of hours entered and if dual employed, make sure you are reviewing the correct position.
   6. Delete one time block then re-enter the exact same data on the same date.
   7. You now have control of the timesheet and the Review button will appear allowing new or correcting entries (if necessary) and submission on behalf of the Manager.
   8. Repeat steps for other affected employees.
2. HROE SharePoint
   1. An email template is available (Payroll Processing > Biweekly Payroll Process > Manage Deadline > Biweekly Timesheet Approved Email Template) to notify the Manager that timesheets have been approved on their behalf.
3. Manager Resource available on Workday Help
   1. To ensure a delegate is setup for future timesheet approvals, share the Manage Delegations job aid (member version TAMU) with the Manager.

Payslips are available to view and/or print in Workday per this timetable:

DO NOT contact Payroll. Your first contact should be your direct supervisor; they can work directly with the HR Professionals who support your department. The HR Professionals can contact Payroll staff if they need additional assistance regarding your inquiry.

Time Off, paid or unpaid, can be requested or corrected at any time by the Employee. Follow the instructions included in the Managing Your Time Off job aid available in Workday Help.

Effect on Your Payslip
If you submit or correct time off for previous dates and the time off is paid, Workday will review the entry, but there should be no difference calculated on your pay results. You will see an extra Base Pay line for the period with the prior dates, but the amount will reflect zero (0.00).

If you submit unpaid time off, Workday will review the entry and attempt full recoupment of the prior period overpayment from your current salary. You will see an extra Base Pay line for the period with the correction and a negative amount (for example, -522.79) will appear. In the event you do not have enough base salary to cover an overpayment, an HR Professional from your HROE Customer Support Hub, College, Institution, or Agency will contact you with repayment information.

See the current Pay Dates located on the Pay Dates, Pay Schedules, and Calendars webpage. Biweekly employees are paid for a prior two-week period on the following Friday (example - work for period #25-05 covers the dates October 13, 2024 through October 26, 2024; pay date is the following Friday, November 1, 2024). If a bank holiday occurs on a scheduled Friday pay date, the actual pay date will move. Recurring allowances are paid to eligible employees on the first biweekly pay date of each month.

The current fiscal year Biweekly Pay Schedule located on the same webpage lists each biweekly pay period number, the "from" and "thru" dates the period covers, the day timesheets are due, and the upcoming pay date. The schedule also shows which biweekly period includes longevity or hazardous duty pay.

The FY25-at-a-Glance is another resource for employees and their managers to assist in meeting timesheet deadlines.

Payslips are available to view and/or print in Workday per this timetable:

DO NOT contact Payroll. Your first contact should be your direct supervisor; they can work directly with the HR Professionals who support your department. The HR Professionals can contact payroll staff if they need additional assistance regarding your inquiry.

Timesheets lock the day before a biweekly payroll finalizes. At this point, neither an employee or manager can enter hours or make corrections. They must work with an HR Professional who has the Timekeeper role for their supervisory organization; they can assist with entering hours, making corrections, and approving timesheets on behalf of a manager. Note that managers can continue to approve timesheets not needing corrections that were submitted to them before the lock period. Do not contact Payroll as we will just refer you back to your Timekeeper. 

If you do not know your Timekeepers, you can obtain this information in Workday. From your Workday homepage, click the people icon or your picture in the upper right corner and select View Profile.  Click the Actions button on the blue bar on the left side of your screen, scroll down to Security Profile and select View Support Roles.  Under Assignable Role look for Timekeeper. To the right is listed who to contact for assistance. 

All employees are encouraged to submit their timesheets before deadline to avoid missed pay. 

This error appears because full-time Employees are required to have 40 hours per work week (80 hours per pay period) represented on their timesheet, except for the pay period when an Employee is first hired or terminated. In cases where the employee underwent a Change Job business process in the middle of a pay period, the validation will still trigger. 

To remove the error, enter Unpaid Time Off for the number of hours needed to bring the total hours on the timesheet to 40 per week and submit the timesheet. IMPORTANT: The Unpaid Time Off MUST be cancelled after the biweekly payroll finalizes or it may have a negative impact on the Employee’s next payroll that calculates. 

It is recommended to set the Effective Date of the Change Job business process to be the start of a next biweekly pay period (start Sunday not Monday) to avoid this situation and give the employee the chance to submit their final timesheet without having to enter unpaid time off. 

• If hours on an employee’s timesheet have already been paid and then are later removed in error from the timesheet, the hours should be re-entered and submitted back to the manager.  The Manager or HR Professional/Timekeeper should inform payroll, so they can take action to prevent double-payment to the employee.

• If a supervisory organization does not want the hours worked in an additional biweekly position to be included in the overtime calculation, the job classification “Exclude from Overtime” needs to be added to those positions.  Payroll suggests contacting HROE Classification and Compensation staff first at hrcomp@tamu.edu to discuss the particulars before initiating any business processes in Workday.   

   

There are several ways to review and approve time. 

Primary Method 
Run the Review Time report. Using this report allows a manager to monitor all their employees and approve both hours worked and time off entered on a timesheet in one place. When you approve from the report the corresponding Workday inbox item automatically disappears. 

Secondary Method 
Access Workday Inbox and review and approve each individual current item. 

NOTE: Time Off requested outside a timesheet only appears in your Workday inbox and must be approved from this location to be included with pay results.

Workday has a very robust retro process that will pick up missed salary or hours and pay the employee as part of their first on-cycle pay date.   

Monthly example how retro salary is paid
(resources - January 2025 Payroll Processing Calendar & Fiscal Year 2025 Monthly Pay Schedule)

Hire Date: January 22, 2025
Current Business Process Deadline: January 23, 2025
Current Month Payroll Finalized: January 27, 2025
Business Process Fully Completed in Workday: January 29, 2025

When the hire business process isn't completed by payroll deadlines, the new employee will not receive partial January salary on the February 3, 2025 monthly pay date. Their partial January salary will get picked up by the retro process during February monthly processing and pay to the employee on the March 3, 2025 pay date.

Biweekly example how retro hours worked are paid
(resources - January 2025 Payroll Processing Calendar & Fiscal Year 2025 Biweekly Pay Schedule)

Hiring Period is #25-11 covering January 5, 2025 through January 18, 2025
Hire Date: January 15, 2025
Current Business Process Deadline: January 17, 2025
Current Biweekly Payroll Finalized: January 22, 2025
Business Process Fully Completed in Workday: January 23, 2025

When the hire business process isn’t completed by payroll deadlines, timesheet hours cannot be submitted or approved, and the employee would not receive a partial paycheck on the January 24, 2025 pay date.

The employee, manager or Timekeeper should ensure the retro hours are submitted and approved by the next retro deadline noted in the referenced resources. This would be January 30, 2025. If this retro deadline is met, the missed hours would get picked up and pay to the employee on the February 7, 2025 pay date.

The Workday retro timesheet process can go back three prior pay periods from the current period and pick up additional & correction entries to be processed on an upcoming biweekly pay period.

Hires Effective Outside Common Hire Dates

Common hire dates are set by HROE Talent Management. If a Hiring Manager is granted an exception, they and/or the HR Professional assisting them should be mindful of upcoming payroll deadlines, monitor the Workday business process fully completes, and ensure new hires appear on Pay Calculation Results and/or Timesheet Reports. Unrealistic pay expectations should not be given if hiring staff are aware business processes do not have adequate time to be fully completed. In these cases, the retro process will pick up missed salary or hours.

Yes. Warnings have been added on timesheets to alert employees (and others) when the employee has not been assigned to a pay group or when certain Onboarding steps have not been completed. These warnings will not prevent the employee from entering or submitting time, nor will it prevent managers from approving time. However, if an employee has not been assigned to a pay group, they will not be paid with the pay calculation. Please monitor the employees' business processes to ensure expected pay results will occur.

Workday Help has established Learning Hubs on a number of different topics including Time Tracking. These HUBs can be accessed through your SSO Menu by clicking the Workday Help link.  On their home page see Visit our learning hubs!  Workday Learning Hubs bring content from across their site into one central location – subject matter may be found under FAQs, Job Aids, News, Webinars, Release Notes and Reports.