Workday Analyst, Payroll

Workday Analyst - Payroll

THE·TEAM operates at the epicenter of sports, music and entertainment, serving talent, brands and properties on a global scale. Headquartered in Los Angeles, THE·TEAM's presence spans 28 countries and more than 70 cities.

The Workday Analyst - Payroll is a technical individual contributor responsible for supporting, maintaining, and improving the Workday Payroll module in a high-volume U.S. and Canada payroll environment. This role is primarily focused on Workday Payroll systems analysis, technical support, configuration support, reporting, testing, integrations, controls, data integrity, and process improvement.

This is not an entry-level payroll role and is not intended to be a transactional payroll analyst position. The position requires hands-on Workday Payroll module experience and the ability to analyze, diagnose, and resolve payroll system issues quickly, including issues that arise in real time during payroll processing cycles.

While the role is primarily Workday-focused, the individual will also act as a payroll analyst when needed. This includes supporting payroll audits, reconciliations, variance review, gross-to-net validation, exception reporting, payroll issue research, and correction of payroll-impacting issues across exempt and non-exempt employee populations.

What You'll Do:

• Serve as a payroll-side functional and technical subject matter expert for the Workday Payroll module.
• Support Workday Payroll configuration related to earnings, deductions, pay components, pay groups, payroll inputs, payroll calculations, retro pay, tax setup, garnishments, direct deposit, and payroll business processes.
• Analyze complex Workday Payroll issues and identify root causes related to configuration, data, integrations, business processes, upstream HR data, time inputs, absence data, benefit deductions, tax elections, or payroll calculations.
• Diagnose and help correct payroll-impacting issues in real time during active payroll processing cycles, including urgent issues that could affect payroll accuracy, timeliness, or compliance.
• Partner with HRIS, IT, Payroll, Benefits, HR Operations, Finance, Accounting, and external vendors to design, test, and implement payroll system solutions.
• Build, maintain, and validate Workday payroll reports, audit reports, dashboards, exception reports, calculated fields, and ad hoc payroll data outputs.
• Support Workday EIBs, payroll data loads, mass updates, and related validation activities.
• Support payroll-related integrations, vendor files, interface monitoring, error resolution, and data reconciliation.
• Participate in Workday release management, including impact assessment, regression testing, UAT, configuration testing, and post-release validation.
• Support adjacent Workday modules that impact payroll, including Time Tracking, Absence, Benefits, Core HCM, Compensation, and Finance/Accounting integrations.
• Translate payroll requirements into system requirements, test scripts, reporting needs, control points, and process documentation.
• Identify opportunities to improve automation, reduce manual payroll intervention, strengthen controls, improve reporting, and increase payroll accuracy.
• Maintain documentation for payroll configuration, system processes, testing results, issue resolution, controls, and standard operating procedures.
• Support payroll-related projects, including acquisitions, new entity setup, new state/province setup, pay group changes, policy updates, payroll process redesign, and Workday enhancements.

Payroll Analyst Support

As needed, this role may also provide payroll analyst support. This is intended to support issue resolution, payroll accuracy, and control review; it is not intended to be the primary function of the role or a routine payroll processing specialist responsibility.

• Support payroll cycles through analysis, validation, audit review, variance research, exception reporting, and issue resolution.
• Review payroll results and identify discrepancies related to earnings, deductions, taxes, retro pay, garnishments, benefits, time entries, absence entries, employee master data, and payroll configuration.
• Perform gross-to-net validation, payroll balancing, reconciliation support, variance analysis, and pre-payroll/post-payroll audit review.
• Research and help correct payroll issues affecting U.S. and Canada payroll, including exempt and non-exempt employee populations in a high-volume environment.
• Support multi-state, multi-entity, multi-pay group, and multi-jurisdiction payroll environments.
• Assist with analysis related to off-cycle payrolls, adjustment payrolls, retroactive corrections, bonus payrolls, commission payrolls, and termination pay.
• Support payroll reconciliations, GL-related payroll reporting, labor costing validation, payroll funding review, benefit deduction audits, garnishment audits, and year-end payroll validation.
• Help ensure payroll data and payroll results are accurate, timely, compliant, and audit-ready.

What We're Looking For:

• 3-5 years of combined payroll, HRIS, payroll systems, or Workday Payroll experience.
• Hands-on Workday Payroll module experience is required.
• Experience supporting Workday Payroll in a functional, analytical, or technical capacity.
• Experience with U.S. and Canada payroll environments, or direct U.S. payroll experience with strong ability to support Canada payroll requirements.
• Experience supporting payroll for exempt and non-exempt employee populations.
• Experience working in a high-volume payroll environment.
• Experience with multi-state payroll and multi-entity or complex organizational structures.
• Strong understanding of payroll concepts, including earnings, deductions, taxes, garnishments, retro pay, benefit deductions, direct deposits, off-cycle payrolls, and termination pay.
• Ability to diagnose and correct payroll-impacting issues in real time during payroll processing cycles.
• Experience analyzing payroll results, researching payroll discrepancies, validating gross-to-net calculations, and supporting payroll audits.
• Experience creating, running, validating, or maintaining Workday payroll reports or payroll audit reports.
• Strong Excel skills, including pivot tables, lookups, formulas, reconciliations, and large data analysis.
• Ability to troubleshoot payroll system issues and distinguish between configuration issues, data issues, integration issues, upstream HR data issues, and processing issues.
• Strong analytical, documentation, communication, and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to work independently as a technical individual contributor while partnering cross-functionally with Payroll, HRIS, HR, Benefits, Finance, Accounting, IT, and vendors.
• High attention to detail and ability to maintain confidentiality with sensitive employee and payroll data.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Workday Time Tracking and Absence experience.
• Experience with Workday EIBs, calculated fields, custom reports, advanced reports, dashboards, or payroll audit reports.
• Experience with Workday Payroll configuration support.
• Experience with Workday release testing, regression testing, UAT, and post-release validation.
• Experience supporting payroll integrations, vendor files, or interface troubleshooting.
• Experience with payroll tax vendors or systems such as ADP SmartCompliance, OSV, or similar platforms.
• Experience with GL payroll reporting, labor costing, payroll accounting, payroll funding, or payroll reconciliations.
• Experience supporting acquisitions, new entity setup, new state/province setup, payroll conversions, payroll standardization, or Workday enhancement projects.
• Workday training or certification related to Payroll, Reporting, Time Tracking, Absence, or HCM.

Base salary range: $100-125K, plus bonus potential if applicable for role. Actual base salary is dependent on several factors including but not limited to; market dynamics, location and region, experience, specialized skills/training (education), level of responsibility, budgetary considerations, tenure at the company (for current employees), etc. The salary range listed is just one component of the total compensation package for employees. Compensation decisions are dependent on circumstances of each role.

What We Offer:

• Professional Development: Take advantage of our learning and development programs, mentorship opportunities, and career advancement support.
• Generous Time Off: Enjoy generous paid time off and holiday allowances to recharge and spend time with loved ones.
• Parental Leave: We provide paid parental leave to support your family during important life events.
• Retirement Plan: 401k plan including contribution matching.
• Healthcare: Medical, dental, vision, FSA/HSA, life and disability coverage options.
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