FAQ on transition from 39- to 40-hour standard work week Q: What is the impact on exempt employees? For all exempt employees (those whose jobs reflect an FLSA exempt status), the transition to a 40-hour FTE basis should have no direct impact. The designation of Scheduled Weekly Hours for these employees is strictly for the university s calculation of workforce FTE values. This means that: Faculty positions will see no change the current 40-hour basis will continue in Workday just as it has been in PeopleSoft. Exempt full-time positions will continue to be calculated at a full 1.0 FTE, as they were in PeopleSoft, by setting the numerator (Scheduled Weekly Hours) and the denominator (Default Weekly Hours) to 40 in Workday. Exempt staff effort is never planned or tracked in terms of hours worked, nor does FTE in Workday drive compensation, so the change in the setting for Scheduled Weekly Hours will have no meaningful impact on the employee as long as it remains at 40. In situations where exempt employees work less than 100% FTE, the worker Scheduled Weekly Hours value must be adjusted to properly reflect the intended FTE setting that is consistent from PeopleSoft to Workday. This value can be calculated simply by multiplying the target FTE value by 40 (e.g.,.85 FTE * 40 = 34 Scheduled Weekly Hours). For employees with less then 100% FTE, the Worker Scheduled Weekly Hours data is managed locally by colleges and units and should be set to properly reflect the percent FTE worked. Note: Workday displays a calculated FTE value in the Job Details, both under Job and Position. It is calculated as Scheduled Weekly Hours /Default Weekly Hours. In selected custom reporting, Cornell will replace Default Weekly Hours with Location Weekly Hours to derive location FTE metrics. Q: What is the impact on non-exempt positions? The transition of non-exempt positions and incumbent staff to an actual 40-hour schedule with commensurate pay for hours worked will be implemented by colleges and units over time as each area sees fit to adapt work scheduling and is able to incur the financial adjustment, with the understanding that: Most union positions (e.g., UAW) are already set to the 40 hour basis. In order to satisfy specific workload or scheduling requirements, some units have opted to move selected positions to a 40-hour basis. Units can elect to maintain non-exempt positions at 39 scheduled hours for the time being. Workday displays a calculated FTE value (Scheduled Weekly Hours / Default Weekly Hours) in Job Details field, which is viewable via employee self-service. This will initially show.975 FTE for non-exempt positions where the value of Standard Hours in PeopleSoft had been set at 39 hours. The table below shows the percent FTE calculation for a variety of worker Scheduled Weekly Hours:
FTE Calculation examples for Non-exempt employees Worker Scheduled Weekly Hours (Numerator) Default Weekly Hours (Denominator) % FTE 40 40 1.0000 39 40 0.9750 32 40 0.8000 31.2 40 0.7800 30 40 0.7500 25 40 0.6250 24 40 0.6000 23.4 40 0.5850 20.512 40 0.5128 20 40 0.5000 Q: What data elements or fields will be used to measure this transition to 40 hours? The following three data fields will be used to measure workforce effort, will begin to reflect the transition to 40 hours and, for a time, will also indicate the changing nature of our scheduled hours. Note: These three data fields can be accessed in Workday by clicking on the Position field of the Job Details menu of each employee s job profile. Location Weekly Hours This is a system-wide setting that will be set to 40 as the standard for the Ithaca campus for all employees and, in certain calculations (yet to be determined), will be used as the denominator for determining FTE. This field value will also be used to calculate some university-wide workforce FTE metrics, as different locations have different standard hours such as ILR NYC, whose Location Weekly Hours will be set at 35. Note: This is a configured value and cannot be changed by the units. Default Weekly Hours This will be used as the denominator for the basic FTE calculation. This should normally align with the Location Weekly Hours. It should be set to 40 for all positions at the Ithaca Campus, both exempt and non-exempt. While this is a data point that can be changed by the local colleges and units, we must ensure that FTE calculations are consistently calculated across colleges and units by maintaining this value at 40. Scheduled Weekly Hours Formerly Standard Hours in PeopleSoft, this is the numerator for the FTE calculations as described below: For non-exempt positions, it indicates what a worker is normally expected to work, as follows:
o The value of employee Standard Hours in PeopleSoft will populate Workday s Scheduled Weekly Hours. o If this value is equal to 39, the Workday calculated FTE value will be.975 as displayed in the Job Details section of Workday. For exempt positions, it should be set to the correct value that derives an FTE calculation representing the full-time equivalent for that employee. For example, if an employee is 1 FTE, then this should be set to 40. See table, below. Note: This data is managed by the local colleges and units. FTE Calculation examples for Exempt employees Worker Scheduled Weekly Hours (Numerator) Default Weekly Hours (Denominator) % FTE 1.000 40 40 0.800 32 40 0.750 30 40 0.600 24 40 0.500 20 40 In practical terms, this means that: o Those exempt employees with standard hours of 39 or greater in PeopleSoft are being loaded to Workday s Scheduled Weekly Hours as 40, with a result that staff who are currently at 1.0 FTE will see their Job Detail data as 40/40 with an FTE that remains at 1.0. o Those exempt employees with standard hours of less than 39 in PeopleSoft the Scheduled Weekly Hours value will be recalculated to maintain the accuracy of FTE based on the 40-hour standard. Q: How will this change affect Leaves? The following rules govern leaves: When exempt employees are placed on short term disability, the system will automatically adjust them to 50% of regular pay. The employee can always choose to supplement their pay using their available leave bank in order to make their pay whole. For those employees who are currently on short-term disability and have been set to.5128 effort and pay, the system will convert their pay to 50%, but a temporary allowance will be set up to keep their pay whole.
Any half-time leave set up after the transition to Workday will automatically use the half pay rule, and no allowance should be processed. In a situation where a non-exempt employee is placed on a half-pay leave, half of their scheduled hours would be entered into Kronos (3.9 per day for a 39 hour schedule) using the appropriate leave type. They may also supplement their pay by entering vacation or sick hours. This practice is in compliance with policy. The employee will remain benefits eligible. Q: How will this change affect part-time employment? For Non-exempt, enter the actual scheduled hours planned to be worked into the Workday field Scheduled Weekly Hours. That value along with the 40-hour denominator will derive the FTE. For example, a Scheduled Weekly Hours of 30 will result in an FTE of.75. For Exempt, determine the percent of effort (FTE) that is expected of the employee. Multiply that value times 40, the Position Default Weekly Hours value. The result is the value that should be entered into worker Scheduled Weekly Hours. Note: If a non-exempt employee s hours are reduced below 20, or an exempt employee s effort is reduced below 50%, they may become benefits ineligible. The existence of multiple jobs or the 1000-hour rule are factors in these situations. Q: How will this change affect changes in percent of effort for exempt employees? When altering an exempt employee s FTE value, a corresponding compensation adjustment must be processed to align pay with effort. Workday does not automatically adjust compensation when percent of effort changes. For example, if an employee is moving from 1 FTE to.75 FTE and their salary is $50,000, their 75% effort would equate to $37,500. Adjust the employee s Scheduled Weekly Hours to create the correct percent effort worked, but be aware that FTE has no direct impact on compensation, which must be adjusted as well. Q: How will this change affect leave balance accrual? For Non-exempt: leave balance accrual is based upon hours worked and therefore there is no impact. Non-exempt employees utilize paid time off by the hour. For Exempt: leave balance accrual is based upon the FTE of the employee. Full-time exempt employees will convert to Workday as 1.0 FTE and therefore should have no change in accruals. If percent of effort is reduced, meaning that the Scheduled Weekly Hours value would be correspondingly reduced, the number of days in the employee s accrual bank will increase. New policy provisions prescribe that the unit will buy back days in excess of the maximum accumulation value.
Q: Where can I find the policy on this? The policy will be updated on March 21 st and can be found at https://www.hr.cornell.edu/policies/nonacademic/workweek.html.