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Last Updated: 2023-06-23
Setup Considerations: Probation Periods

Setup Considerations: Probation Periods

You can use this topic to help make decisions when planning your configuration and use of probation periods. It explains:
  • Why to set them up.
  • How they fit into the rest of Workday.
  • Downstream impacts and cross-product interactions.
  • Security requirements and business process configurations.
  • Questions and limitations to consider before implementation.
Refer to detailed task instructions for full configuration details.

What It Is

Probation periods in Workday are a highly configurable way of managing employee probation.

Business Benefits

You can easily track, report, and adjust probation periods to support varying needs, such as compliance with local regulatory requirements. You can also configure the feature to increase efficiency and reduce manual effort by:
  • Populating probation period durations for employees.
  • Automatically sending notifications for reviewing probation periods.
  • Tracking the outcomes of probation periods.

Use Cases

You can use probation period functionality to:
  • Extend probation periods for employees who don't meet the criteria for completing probation.
  • Create rules to differentiate employee probation periods based on various factors.
  • Efficiently evaluate probation reviews and manage outcomes.
  • Record the evaluation of the probation reviews using attachments and questionnaires.
  • Perform any necessary actions on the outcome of the probation period.

Questions to Consider

Questions
Considerations
Do you need to set up probation period rules?
You can create probation period rules for each country that requires probation periods but you don't need to enable rules for every country.
Workday doesn't require you to set up probation period rules to manage probation periods.
Why should you set up probation period rules?
For increased efficiency and accuracy, you can use probation period rules to populate the duration and review date when you add probation periods for employees.
Example: In France, you create a probation period rule to populate a duration of 6 months for fixed-term employees. You then create another probation period rule to populate a duration of 3 months for permanent employees.
You can also use probation period rules to set a maximum probation period. If you configure a maximum probation period, a warning displays when you add a probation duration that exceeds the maximum length of the rule.
How do you manage probation period reviews for employees?
To review an employee's probation period, you can schedule a probation review date at a specific point during the probation period.
Workday doesn't require you to set up probation period reviews to manage probation periods.
What outcomes can you configure for a probation period review?
You can configure different outcomes to indicate the evaluation of the probation period according to your requirements.
How do you take actions on the outcomes of probation reviews?
You can link review outcomes to particular actions in Workday. The action you select initiates the relevant task. Example: If the outcome of the probation review is unsuccessful, you can select whether to extend the probation period or terminate the employee.
How do you gather information from a questionnaire on the review?
You can configure questionnaires on the
Review Probation Period
 business process to track information on the evaluation of the probation review.

Recommendations

Workday recommends that you:
  • Configure the
    Add Probation Period
     step on available business processes to streamline probation updates.
  • Configure country-specific localized fields in the Staffing area of the
    Maintain Localization Settings
     task to enable probation period fields and components.
  • Hide or require fields by role on the
    Manage Probation Period
     and
    Review Probation Period
     business processes to streamline data entry.

Requirements

  • To enable probation period rules, you must configure the
    Probation Periods
     localized field.
  • To enable probation reviews, you must configure the
    Probation Period: Review
     localized field.

Limitations

  • You can only schedule 1 probation review for employees using a probation period rule. However, you can manually initiate multiple reviews if no other probation reviews are in progress.
  • You can't edit an extended probation period. Instead, you can either correct the probation period or extend it again.

Tenant Setup

No impact.

Security

Domains
Considerations
Employment Agreement: Probation Period
 in the Pre-Hire Process functional area
Users secured to this domain can view and modify probation period data for pre-hires during the
Employment Agreement
 business process.
Set Up: Staffing
 in the Staffing functional area.
Users secured to this domain can configure probation period reasons and types.
Set Up: Probation Period Rules
 in the Staffing functional area
Users secured to this domain can configure probation period rules.
Worker Data: Probation Periods
 in the Staffing functional area
Users secured to this domain can view and modify probation period data for employees.

Business Processes

Business Processes
Considerations
Manage Probation Period
Enables you to add, edit, and extend probation periods. You can configure these initiating actions on the business process policy.
Review Probation Period
Enables you to schedule probation reviews.
Change Job
Enables you to use the
Change Job for Review Probation Period
 action during the
Review Probation Period
 business process.
Termination
You can configure the
Terminate for Review Probation Period
 initiating action to use the
Terminate for Review Probation Period
 action in probation reviews.

Reporting

Reports
Considerations
Test Probation Period Eligibility Rules
Enables you to verify the eligibility rules that you create for probation period rules.
Workers with Probation Periods
Displays probation period details for employees with an active probation period on a specified date.
View Document Template Details
Displays document templates for probation letters created with Workday Docs.

Integrations

You can build inbound EIB integrations based on these web services to upload probation periods, rules, and outcomes in bulk:
  • Manage Employee Probation Periods Event
  • Put Maintain Probation Periods For Country
  • Put Probation Period Eligibility Rule
  • Put Probation Period Outcomes
You can retrieve probation period data and probation period configuration with these web services:
  • Get Probation Periods For Workers
  • Get Probation Period Eligibility Rules
  • Get Probation Period Eligibility Rules Without Dependencies
  • Get Maintain Probation Periods For Country
  • Get Probation Period Outcomes

Connections and Touchpoints

Probation periods interact with these other features in Workday:
Features
Considerations
Adding Additional Jobs
Job Changes
Hiring
You can configure Workday to streamline probation updates during a hire, job change, or additional job.
If you configure the
Add Probation Period
 step and probation rules, Workday populates the employee's probation length and review date on these business processes:
  • Add Additional Job
  • Change Job
  • Hire
Employment Agreements
You can configure Workday to streamline probation updates for a pre-hire's employment agreement. If you configure the
Initiate Pre Hire Probation Period Details
 step and probation rules, Workday populates these details for the pre-hire on the
Employment Agreement
 business process:
  • Probation length.
  • Review date.
Workday Docs
You can configure Workday Docs to create document templates for probation letters.
Workday offers a Touchpoints Kit with resources to help you understand configuration relationships in your tenant. Learn more about the Workday Touchpoints Kit on Workday Community.