New Absence Calendar Experience Released in Workday

08/12/2025

Workday has launched a redesigned Absence Calendar experience, bringing together key time off features into one modern, user-friendly interface.

This new experience will be released on Wednesday, Aug.  13.  

A new Manage Absence task consolidates multiple actions previously housed under multiple tasks —Request Absence, Correct My Absence, My Absence, and Absence Balance — into one streamlined location that will appear as a Request menu item in the “Absence” worklet in your Workday Menu. 

Here are some of the key updates: 

• Balances Moved to the Right — Time off balances now appear on the right side of the screen, providing better visibility and alignment with request flow. 
• Easy View of Requested Time Off — Quickly see all time off and leave requests from the past 6 months through the next 12 months, along with their statuses, on the right-hand side. This layout simplifies reviewing pending items and makes it easier to locate and edit requests. 
• Switch Worker — For approvers that spend a lot of time in multiple absence calendars, easily switch from one worker’s calendar to another’s using the “Switch Worker” button, in the top right-hand corner above the calendar. 

Additionally, a Request Absence, which allows you to request time off directly from a micro calendar without leaving your spot in Workday with a responsive pop-up, reducing clicks and simplifying entry, will also appear as a Request menu item in the “Absence” worklet in your Workday Menu. 

Who is Impacted by these Changes

Staff Exempt (Salaried) employees who report their time off in the Absence calendar currently, will now use this new calendar to record their time off. The new tasks will automatically appear in their “Absence” worklet in your Workday Menu.  

Staff Non-exempt (Hourly) employees will continue to enter their time off (i.e. sick, vacation, etc) directly into their time sheet (Enter Time) as they do today. However, if they need to correct time offs that have been approved in their time sheet, they would use Manage Absence (instead of the current Correct my Absence) to make corrections to those approved time(s).  

Managers/Supervisors that need to make changes to a direct reports time off (whether exempt employee entered in Absence or non-exempt employee entered in Timesheet) would now use Manage Absence instead of Correct Absence. These new tasks will automatically replace the old tasks in the “Team Time” worklet found in your Workday Menu. 

Updated Job Aid Available in Workday 

The job aid for “Time & Leave: Manage Your Time Off (Exempt Employees)” has been updated in the Workday Job Aid & Video Library to reflect the new Absence Calendar experience. 

Should anyone need an assistance with their absence request with the new Absence Calendar experience,  they should email payroll@slu.edu for assistance.