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Administrator Guide
Last Updated: 2026-03-13
Steps: Transfer Time Off Balances

Steps: Transfer Time Off Balances

Review setup considerations for absence balances. See Setup Considerations: Absence Balances.
Transfer balances from a time off plan to another, pay out time off balances, or both, when a worker loses eligibility for a time off plan.
You can only transfer balances for time off plans that:
  • Allow overrides.
  • Aren't position-based.
  • Don't have expiring accruals configured.
  • Track balances.
Example: Kristin relocates from New York to Paris. As a result, she loses eligibility for the
USA Paid Time Off
plan and gains eligibility for the
FRA Paid Vacation
 plan. You must transfer her current balance of 80 hours to her new time off plan.
You can't transfer negative time off balances.
  1. Add these action steps to the
    Change Job
     business process:
    • Maintain Time Off Plan Transfer Balance
      : This step triggers a review of the HR change and determines if there are any effects on time off eligibility. Example: If a job change is a location change and plan eligibility is based on country, Workday sends a
      My Tasks
       notification to the configured security groups. The notification includes the previous time off plan and balance as well as the new plan the worker is eligible for. If there are no effects on time off plans eligibility, Workday doesn't send a notification
    • Update Time Off Requests
      : This step triggers a review of the HR change and determines the impact on any existing time off requests. If a user has submitted a time off request after the effective date of the HR change, Workday notifies the configured security groups. The notification includes a list of the time off requests so that you can update the requests accordingly. If the HR change doesn't affect any time off requests, Workday doesn't send a time off notification.
    You can add these steps in any order to the business process as long as they occur after the completion step. See Edit Business Processes.
  2. (Optional) Access the
    Maintain Time Off Unit of Time Conversion Calculations
     task if your organization uses time off plans with different units of time.
    Configure unit conversions when you transfer balances to a time off plan that uses a different unit of time. Example: Convert 8 hours to 1 day.
    Security:
    Set Up: Time Off (Calculations - Absence Specific)
     domain in Time Off and Leave functional area.
  3. (Optional) Map default time off plans for balance transfers and time offs for balance transfer adjustments.
    1. Access the
      Create Time Off Plan
       task.
    2. On the
      Balance
       tab, from the
      Balance Transfer Default(s)
       prompt, select time off plans that you want the balance transfers to default to.
      Values default if there's a 1 to 1 relationship between the previous time off plan and that plan that you select here. If the previous time off plan has a current balance and carryover balance, the combined balance defaults into the current balance of the balance transfer default plan. It's important to consider how your organization configures the eligibility of time off plans. Example: Your organization might configure eligibility by location. Eligibility rules on the time off plan determine which plan acts as the default for the transfer.
    3. On the
      Time Off
       tab, from the
      Time Off for Balance Transfer Adjustment
       prompt, select time offs that Payroll can pay out to the worker, if needed, when the worker isn't eligible for any other time off plan.
  4. (Optional) Update eligibility to allow workers to gain eligibility for a time off plan, based on the effective date of their balance transfer, and not the period start and end dates of the plan.
    1. Access the
      Edit Time Off Plan
       task.
    2. On the
      Eligibility
       tab, use the
      Time Off Eligibility Impacted Mid Period
       logic calculation in an eligibility rule.
      Workday recommends that you use this calculation only for eligibility rules in time off plans and not for calculations in accruals or scheduling rules.
      To prevent errors and resolve the calculation for null values when transferring balances, Workday uses default values of
      1/3/0001
       and
      1/2/0002
       for the transfer balance effective date.
      See:
  5. (Optional) Access the
    Time Off Balance
     report for a worker to view their time off plan balances:
    1. Review each time off plan that they're eligible for. On the
      Balance
       tab of each time off plan, note whether there are any time off plans listed in the
      Balance Transfer Defaults
       column. Any balance transfers from the plan can default to 1 of these plans, depending on eligibility. Select the
      Eligibility
       tab to review the rules.
    2. On the
      Time Offs
       tab, note whether there are any time offs in the
      Time Off for Balance Transfer Adjustment
       column. If you decide to pay out this plan during a transfer, Workday uses this time off to zero-out the plans balance in the case of a job change. If there's a time off in the
      Time Off for Termination Adjustment
       column, Workday uses this plan to pay out in the case of a termination.
  6. Transfer a worker's current balance to their newly eligible plans, pay out their balances, or both.
    You can review tasks for the
    Maintain Time Off Plan Transfer Balance
     action step in
    My Tasks
     when a worker loses eligibility for a time off plan. If their time off plan has balance transfer defaults, they automatically populate in the
    Maintain Time Off Plan Transfer Balances
     task. Workday displays the worker's plans in the left panel and the details for the plan that you highlight on the right. In the:
    • Transfer From
       section, note the previous time off plan and the units.
    • Transfer To
       section, note the new time off plan default and whether Workday converted the time off units.
    • Payout Adjustment
       section, note the plan for paying out any balance when the worker isn't eligible for any balance transfer default plan.
    You can change any details. If necessary, you can also split the balance between a transfer and a payout or payout the entire balance.
    When you manually override the transfer amount to an amount that's higher than the upper limit on the time off plan, Workday displays an error message and you'll need to review the upper limit on the time off plan and adjust the transfer amount before you submit.
  7. Change the time offs in a worker's time off requests to time offs that are compatible with their newly eligible plans.
    You can review tasks for the
    Update Time Off Requests
    action step in
    My Tasks
    . If a worker has time off requests that occur after the effective date of the time off plan eligibility change, the task prompts you to update future time off requests.
When a worker loses eligibility for a time off plan, Workday automatically displays events in
My Tasks
 prompting you to:
  • Transfer the worker's time off plan balances.
  • Update any time off requests.
Workday sends a
Review Transfer Balance
 notification to
My Tasks
 for the configured security groups for approval. When the balance transfer successfully completes, you can view the updated balance on any task or report that displays the balance.
This example illustrates how you can use the
Time Off Eligibility Impacted Mid Period
 logic calculation in an eligibility rule on these tasks:
  • Create Time Off Plan
  • Edit Time Off Plan
Workers at Global Modern Services in San Francisco or Boston are eligible for either of these time off plans, based on their job location, or whether they become eligible midperiod due to a job change:
  • Semi-Monthly (Worker-Based Time Off Plan CA)
  • Semi-Monthly (Worker-Based Time Off Plan MA)
You set the
Country / Country Region
 values on the
Eligibility
 tab of the time off plans to
California
 and
Massachusetts
, respectively. On the
Semi-Monthly (Worker-Based Time Off Plan MA)
 time off plan, you add a logic calculation to the
Worker Eligibility
 grid with:
Operator
Calculation
OR
Time Off Eligibility Impacted Mid Period
Alex Jones changes job location from San Francisco to Boston on 2015-12-29. You can enter a time off request against
Monthly (Worker-Based Time Off Plan MA)
 for Alex for 2015-12-25 and 2016-01-02 because they changed job midperiod, but not for 2015-12-10.
Optionally, you can use the
Maintain Time Off Override Balances
 task to view or edit the worker's balance in previous and new time off plans. You can also use the
Maintain Accrual and Time Off Adjustments/Overrides
 task to view or edit payout adjustments, if any. Any edits you make on these tasks override the edits on the
Maintain Time Off Plan Transfer Balances
 task.