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Administrator Guide
Last Updated: 2026-04-03
Steps: Set Up Referral Payment Processes

Steps: Set Up Referral Payment Processes

Referral payment processes offer an easier and more convenient way to reward workers for successful referrals. Set up the
One-Time Payment for Referral
 business process so you can:
  • Manage your referral payment processes.
  • Generate referral payments to workers if you hire a candidate they referred.
  1. (Optional) Access the
    Create One-Time Payment Plan Schedule
     task.
    Create a plan schedule for referral payments. After a successful hire, you can delay paying the referring worker by a number of days, months, or years from the
    Date of Hire
    .
    Security:
    Set Up: Base and Plan
     domain in the Core Compensation functional area.
  2. Configure rules to determine which workers are eligible to receive the one-time payment for the referral.
    Example: The referring worker is in Paris and is in the Engineering organization.
  3. Create an amount-based plan for referral payments. Select:
    • Referral
       on the
      Category
       prompt.
    • (Optional) A referral
      Payment Schedule
      . This section displays after you select a
      Category
      .
  4. Select the payment plan that you want to associate with the job profile from the
    Referral Payment Plan
     prompt.
  5. When you create a job requisition from a job profile, Workday automatically associates the payment plan of the job profile with the job requisition.
    You can also select a payment plan from the
    Referral Payment Plan
     prompt in the
    Recruiting Information
     section.
  6. Access the
    Create Business Process Definition (Default Definition)
     task.
    Create the default definition for the
    One-Time Payment for Referral
     business process if it doesn't exist in your tenant.
  7. Configure the security policy for the
    One-Time Payment for Referral
     business process.
  8. Add the
    One-Time Payment for Referral
     subprocess to the
    Hire
     business process.
  9. (Optional) Access the
    Edit Tenant Setup - HCM
     task.
    Select the
    Route Business Processes Based on Costing Overrides
     option in the
    Compensation
     section. If you use worktags on the
    One-Time Payment for Referral
     business process, Workday routes steps to the managers associated with the worktags.
  10. If you don't want to use referral payment plans, you can hide the
    Referral Payment Plan
     field on job requisitions.
    1. Select the Pre-Hire Process functional area.
    2. Select an option:
      • Job Requisition
      • Job Requisition Change
      • Job Requisition Details for Composite View
Workday creates a one-time payment to a referring worker if you hire their referral. The candidate owner receives the one-time referral payment for any candidate job application that reaches the
One-Time Payment for Referral
 subprocess on the
Hire
 business process. When you enable the
Referral Ownership Level
 on the
Edit Tenant Setup - Recruiting
 task, the worker named on the
Referred By
 field receives the one-time referral payment.
If you terminate a referred worker, Workday removes any future dated referral payments to the referring worker.
Changes made to referral payment plans don't impact in-progress and historical job requisitions.
Manually review and approve payments before Workday processes them.