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Administrator Guide
Last Updated: 2025-09-19
Setup Considerations: Payslips

Setup Considerations: Payslips

You can use this topic to help make decisions when planning your configuration and use of payslips functionality. It explains:
  • Why to set it up.
  • How it fits 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

The payslips feature enables you to generate hard copy or printable PDF payslips that you can view in Workday.
You can configure payslips to display:
  • Pay components, such as earnings, benefits, taxes, deductions, and absence plans.
  • Company logo.
  • Section labels.
  • Signatures.
Workday delivers reports and business form layouts that you can use to create payslips.
For Payroll for Canada, Ireland, the UK, and the U.S., you can use 1 of these options:
  • Report Designer layout, also known as Business Intelligence and Reporting Tools (BIRT). You can modify or customize payslip layouts in Workday Studio Report Designer.
  • XSLT layouts, which you can use but not customize.
For Payroll for Australia and France, you can only use the Report Designer layout.

Business Benefits

Workday delivers country-specific configuration, making it easier for you to set up and print payslips.
You can also:
  • Break down Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) earning by work week and display year to date (YTD) hours by earning, for ease of reviewing your data (USA).
  • Enable overflow on Report Designer payslips so workers can view complete details of their pay components (CAN, IRL, UK, USA).
  • Schedule a time to generate PDFs of Report Designer payslips for current or terminated workers.
  • Translate payslips based on worker's preferred language.
  • Combine payslips to simplify gross-to-net amounts for workers with multiple jobs at related companies (USA).
  • View payslips conveniently on mobile devices.

Use Cases

You can use the payslips feature to:
  • Add and modify messages to display on the payslips (AUS, FRA, IRL, UK).
  • Display or hide payslips from certain workers or for certain pay periods.
  • Import and display external payslips.
  • Set up options for how and when workers can view and print their payslips.

Questions to Consider

Question
Considerations
Do you want to add a company logo or signatures to your payslips?
You can use the
Configure Business Form Layout
 task to upload images for your logo and signatures.
What are the margins and size of the payslips?
Page size: 8.5 in x 11 in.
Page margins:
  • Top: 0.10 in
  • Right: 0.50 in
  • Bottom: 0.12 in
  • Left: 0.50 in
How do you create a custom payslip layout? (CAN, UK, USA)
You can copy the latest delivered payslip layout and customize it using Workday Studio Report Designer. You can find the latest layouts on Community.
Do you need to hide or display payslips?
You can:
  • Use the
    Hide or Display Payslips for Group of Workers
     task or the
    Hide Payslip from Worker
     task.
  • Select
    Disable Payslip Viewing (Online Version) in Self-Service
     on the
    Edit Tenant Setup - Payroll
     task to hide all online payslips.
Do you need to control the time when payslips are visible to workers? (USA)
You can override the default time in the worker's time zone that determines when a payslip is visible.
  • Use the
    Create Payroll Action Reason
     task or the
    Edit Payroll Action Reason
     task.
  • Select the
    Payroll Visibility Time Override
     field to enter the desired time in the worker's time zone to make off-cycle payslips visible.
How do you want your workers to receive their payslips?
You can use the
Company Payroll Printing Options
 task to:
  • Always print payslips for terminated workers.
  • Enable workers to print their own payslips.
  • Enable workers to select either electronic PDF or paper copy for their payslips.
You can override printing options or set the delivery method of printed payslips for individual workers using the
Payslip Delivery
 task.
Do you have a large number of workers who view PDF payslips? (AUS, CAN, IRL, UK, USA)
You can use the
Schedule BIRT Payslip Pre-Print
 task to generate PDFs of Report Designer payslips during quiet hours. It reduces the processing load on your tenant during peak hours. To minimize processing time, select the
Smart Print Payslips
 option to generate PDFs only for workers who are historically more likely to view them in that format.
After you implement Workday Payroll or add a new pay group, it takes 2 months to establish worker viewing trends. During that time, the
Smart Print Payslips
 option generates PDFs for all workers.
What pay components do you need to include on your payslip?
You can use the
Maintain Payroll Payslip Configuration
 task to configure pay components, absence plans, and additional options.
You can add new earnings, deductions, and field name overrides on these tasks:
  • Create Earnings
  • Create Deduction
Do you have a large amount of absence data to process?
You can calculate and save absence data when you complete payroll to improve performance when printing and viewing payslips. Otherwise, Workday must recalculate the absence balance each time you or a worker prints or views a payslip.
Does your organization belong to a company relationship or employ workers with multiple jobs at related companies? (USA)
You can use the
Maintain Payroll Payslip Configuration
 task to combine payslips. Combining payslips simplifies how workers with multiple jobs at related companies view their gross-to-net amounts by aggregating their earnings onto a single payslip.
Is your organization located in Oregon or the District of Columbia? (USA)
Specify your EIN or FEIN in the
Edit Company State and Local US Tax Reporting
 task. If a payroll result has an associated Oregon or District of Columbia worktag, Workday displays the EIN or FEIN on the payslip for that result.

Recommendations

When you're customizing payslips, you can use the latest layouts on Community.
When you use delivered payslip layouts or new features, create a new effective-dated payslip configuration to ensure that previous payslip layouts are unchanged.
For optimized performance, check to see if Workday-delivered business form layouts work for your Report Designer payslips before creating custom designs.
For Payroll for France, print hard copy payslips and disable self-service payslip viewing for all workers.
For Payroll for the U.S., to ensure workers see their payslips, leave payslip printing or viewing enabled if you also enable
Smart Print Payslip
 on the
Schedule BIRT Payslip Pre-Print
 task.

Requirements

If you’re using Report Designer (BIRT), select
Print Payslips Using Report Designer Layout in Self-Service
 on the
Edit Tenant Setup - Payroll
 task.

Limitations

  • You can add only 1 company logo on the delivered payslips layout (AUS, CAN, IRL, UK, USA).
  • You can only print multiple payslips for 1 worker at a time.
  • Workday only supports overflow on Report Designer payslips.
  • You can no longer customize XSLT payslip layouts in Workday (CAN, FRA, IRL, UK, USA).

Tenant Setup

You can select tenant-wide configurations on the
Edit Tenant Setup - Payroll
 task to:
  • Hide
    Print
     or
    View
     payslip buttons for all workers on their payslips report.
  • Enable Report Designer (BIRT).
  • Select a business form layout for payslips.
  • Enable administrators or workers to print multiple payslips.
  • Save absence balances when payroll completes to avoid calculating them each time someone views or prints a payslip.
  • Save absence balances only for workers who receive pay by check or who print their payslips instead of for all workers.
You can use the
Edit Tenant Setup – System
 task to select
.rptdesign
 as an allowed file type for uploading Report Designer files to Workday.

Security

Domains
Considerations
Process: Payslip Bulk Print
 in the Core Payroll functional area.
Users secured to this domain can access the preprinting functionality for payslips.
Process: Run Batch Calculations (Pay Calculation)
 in the Core Payroll functional area
Users secured to this domain can access the
Persist Absence Data for Payslips
 task to calculate and save absence values.
  • Reports: Pay Calculation Results for Worker (Payslips)
     in Core Payroll functional area.
  • Reports: Results for Worker (Pay Calculation) - CAN
     in the CAN Payroll functional area.
  • Reports: Results for Worker (Pay Calculation) - IRL
     in the IRL functional area.
  • Reports: Results for Worker (Pay Calculation) - USA
     in the USA Payroll functional area.
  • Reports: Results for Worker (Pay Calculation) - AUS
     in the AUS Payroll functional area.
Users secured to these domains can view or print all payslip details and display or hide payslips.
  • Self-Service: Payroll (My Payslips)
     in the Core Payroll functional area.
  • Self-Service: Payroll Interface
     in the Payroll Interface functional area.
Users secured to these domains can:
  • View their current and past payslips.
  • Change their payslip printing election.
You can provide terminated workers access to their payslips by configuring the
Self-Service: Payroll (My Payslips)
 domain security policy to include these security groups:
  • Terminee As Self
  • Terminee Self-Service
Set Up: Payroll (Reporting)
 in the Core Payroll functional area.
Users secured to this domain can configure payroll payslips.
  • Set Up: Payroll - FRA
     in the FRA Payroll functional area.
  • Set Up: Payroll (Reporting)
     in the Core Payroll functional area.
  • Worker Data Payroll (Company Specific) - FRA
     in the FRA Payroll functional area.
Users secured to these domains can add, edit, and delete payslip messages for Payroll for France.
  • Set Up: Payroll IRL
     in the IRL Payroll functional area.
  • Set Up: Payroll (Reporting)
     in the Core Payroll functional area.
  • Worker Data: Payroll - IRL
     in the IRL Payroll functional area.
Users secured to these domains can add, edit, and delete payslip messages for Payroll for Ireland.
  • Set Up: Payroll - UK
     in the UK Payroll functional area.
  • Set Up: Payroll (Reporting)
     in the Core Payroll functional area.
  • Worker Data Payroll (Company Specific) - UK
     in the UK Payroll functional area.
Users secured to these domains can add, edit, and delete payslip messages for Payroll for the UK.
  • Set Up: Payroll - AUS
     in the AUS Payroll functional area.
  • Set Up: Payroll (Reporting)
     in the Core Payroll functional area.
  • Worker Data Payroll (Company Specific) - AUS
     in the AUS Payroll functional area.
Users secured to these domains can add, edit, and delete payslip messages for Payroll for Australia.
  • Set Up: Payroll (Reporting)
     in the Core Payroll functional area.
  • Set Up: Settlement
     in the Banking and Settlement functional area.
Users secured to these domains can configure the
Company Payroll Printing Options
 task.
Set Up: Tenant Setup - Payroll
 and
Set Up: Tenant Setup - System
 in the System functional area.
Users secured to this domain can access the tenant setup for payroll and system.
View: Maintain Payroll Interface
 in the Payroll Interface functional area.
Users secured to this domain can view the
Payslips for Worker
 report.
You're responsible for testing and validating that security domain settings meet your business needs.

Business Processes

For Payroll for Canada, Ireland, the UK, and the U.S.:
Business Process
Considerations
On Demand Event
You can create a separate payslip or payroll check for workers using this business process.
Termination
You can give terminated workers their final pay and payslip on the day of termination or any other day. When you add the
On Demand Event
 business process to the
Termination
 business process, you enable other Workday administrators such as HR partners to:
  • Generate on-demand pay calculations.
  • Review final payslips for terminated workers.

Reporting

Reports or Dashboards
Detail
Payslips for Worker
For Payroll for Australia, Canada, Ireland, the UK, and the U.S., you can use this report to view all payslips for a specific worker.
View Payroll Payslip Aggregations
You can view a detailed report on each of these items and how they interrelate:
  • Country.
  • Payslip group.
  • Reports under pay components.
  • Pay components to aggregate.
Payslip to Print - GBR
For Payroll for the UK, you can copy this standard report to a custom report, enabling you to customize your own Report Designer payslips layout.
Payslip to Print - AUS
For Payroll for Australia, you can copy this standard report to a custom report, enabling you to customize your own Report Designer payslips layout.
Payslip to Print - Report Design
For Payroll for Canada and the U.S., you can copy this standard report to a custom report, enabling you to customize your own Report Designer payslips layout.
Payslip to Print - FRA
For Payroll for France, you can copy this standard report to a custom report, enabling you to customize your own Report Designer payslips layout.
Payslip to Print - IRL
For Payroll for Ireland, you can copy this standard report to a custom report, enabling you to customize your own Report Designer payslips layout.
FRA Pay Calculation Results - Payslip View
For Payroll for France, you can use this report to view the pay calculation results on payslips
Pay dashboard
You can use the
Compare Periods
 worklet on this dashboard to compare 2 payslips from any pay periods.

Integrations

  • You can enable workers or administrators to access payslips in an external payroll system directly from Workday through the
    Create External Payroll Vendor
     task or the
    Import External Payslips
     integration.
  • You can use the
    Get Payroll Payslips
     web service to export worker payslip data based on payment group, date, or printing options.
  • For Payroll for the U.S., you can override the time and choose the time of the day payslips are visible to workers when you use the
    Payslip Visibility Time Override Reference
     field on the
    Put Payroll Action Reason
     and the
    Get Payroll Action Reason
     web services.

Connections and Touchpoints

Customize Report Designer payslips using Workday Studio Report Designer.
Workday offers a Touchpoints Kit with resources to help you understand configuration relationships across your tenant. Learn more about the Workday Touchpoints Kit on Workday Community.