Entering Merit Awards

Last updated on July 13, 2026

This job aid outlines the activities for a Manager, Manager’s Manager, or Merit Partner to complete the annual merit task in Workday.

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Prerequisites

Merit has been launched for the Member.
Performance ratings have been established for employees or completed in Workday during the Annual Performance Review process, if required by the Member.

Important Information

This job aid is divided into three sections:
- Part 1: Manager Proposes Merit provides instructions for managers to complete the merit task for their direct reports for one Supervisory Organization. If a Manager supervises multiple Supervisory Organizations, they will follow the same steps for all employees.
- Part 2: Manager’s Manager Proposes Merit discusses completing the merit task from the perspective of a Manager’s Manager who is not the direct supervisor of the Employee but will be responsible for entering merit awards. The Manager’s Manager will need to understand their Supervisory Organization hierarchy to complete the task. They can view their Supervisory Organization hierarchy by navigating to their worker profile and selecting the Team icon under their photo.
- Part 3: Merit Partners Enter Merit on Behalf of Managers discusses completing the merit task from the perspective of a Merit Partner who is not the direct supervisor of the Employee but will be responsible for entering merit awards. Merit Partners will need to understand their Supervisory Organization hierarchy to complete the task. They can view their Supervisory Organization hierarchy by navigating to their worker profile and selecting the Team icon under their photo.
Individuals in the Management Chain can manually advance the merit task to complete on behalf of managers they supervise. Merit Partners can manually advance the merit task to complete on behalf of others. Managers should follow directions provided by their Member. Refer to Part 2 of this job aid for instructions on how the Manager’s Manager will manually advance the merit task to complete on behalf of others.
Supervisory Organizations below another Supervisory Organization are called Sub Organizations or sub orgs for short.

Getting Started

You can find more information on Understanding Errors and Understanding Status in the Merit Grid on the Additional Resources tab of this job aid.

Part 1: Manager Proposes Merit

Select the Merit Process inbox task in Workday. A merit grid displays a row for each Employee you supervise. If you supervise multiple Supervisory Organizations, your merit task will list each Supervisory Organization. You will need to select each one to enter merit awards for your direct reports.

If Performance Reviews were not completed in Workday prior to launching Merit, begin with the Performance Ratings Not Populated in Workday section below.

If Performance Reviews were completed in Workday prior to launching Merit, skip to the Performance Ratings Already Populated in Workday section.

Performance Ratings Not Populated in Workday

If you completed Performance Reviews in Workday prior to the launching of Merit, skip to the next section, Performance Ratings Already Populated in Workday.

For managers who did not complete Performance Reviews for their direct reports in Workday, ratings may need to be populated for employees depending on your member’s instructions. Be sure you are aware of the expectations of your member and how to complete the merit task. To apply performance ratings in the merit grid, follow the below instructions.

Select the Performance tab in the merit grid and select the appropriate rating in the Performance Rating field as shown below.

Note: Ratings appear under the Performance Rating column and in the merit grid.

Select the Summary tab to return to the merit grid.
You are now ready to complete the merit task for these employees. Follow the steps beginning at Step 1 outlined in the next section Performance Ratings Already Populated in Workday.

Performance Ratings Already Populated in Workday

This section is from the perspective of a Manager who completed Performance Reviews for their employees in Workday prior to the launching of Merit.

Important: Do not select Submit on any page until you have completed the merit grid task. Doing so will submit the merit task for your direct reports and all Supervisory Organizations in your hierarchy.

Verify the Performance Rating for each employee.
Select the individual in the merit grid for whom you want to propose merit, award an additional adjustment, award a one-time merit, or promote.
Enter Merit, Additional Adjustment and/or One-Time Merit as either a percentage or dollar amount, as appropriate (the corresponding field will update accordingly). The Employee’s new monthly or hourly total displays.

Note. Ratings will already be visible in the merit grid for the Employee. However, they can be adjusted. To change a performance rating, see the section Performance Ratings Not Populated in Workday above.

Select the Promotion tab at the top of the Merit Grid to award a promotion.
Under the Promote column, select Yes.
The following fields will auto-populate: Promotion Reason, Position, Grade, and Job Profile.
Select the Summary tab to return to the merit grid.
Repeat Steps 1–5 for each of your direct reports.
Select Submit.
Enter comments that will continue up the approval chain. These comments can be used to justify awards.

Note: You will only select Submit once. This will submit merit for all Supervisory Organizations you supervise.

Important: Do not select Submit until you are sure you are ready to do so. This action cannot be undone.

Select OK.
Select Done.

This completes the process for managers to complete the merit task. The task will now show in the Manager’s archive within their inbox. Your supervisor will see Submitted in their merit grid for the Supervisory Organizations you manage once you have selected Submit.

Your Manager can now submit their merit task, including the Supervisory Organizations in your hierarchy.

This completes Part 1: Manager Proposes Merit of the Entering Merit Awards process for Managers.

Part 2: Manager's Manager Proposes Merit

This section covers how a Manager’s Manager — an individual who has managers (not just individual contributors) reporting to them — navigates and completes the merit task in Workday. The process mirrors the Merit Partner workflow and allows the Manager’s Manager to monitor Sub Organization status, propose awards, and complete tasks on behalf of managers in their hierarchy.

Important: Do not select Submit on any page until you have completed the process for all of your Sub Organizations.

Proposing Merit for Your Direct Reports

Select the Compensation Review Merit Process inbox task.
Select the Actions menu and then Propose Awards.
You will now see the Summary Merit grid. Complete the following fields as needed:
- Merit Increase %.
- Merit Amount – Monthly / Hourly.
- Additional Adjustment %.
- Additional Adjustment Amount – Monthly / Hourly.
To enter a Promotion, select the Promotion tab.
Complete the following fields as needed:
- Promotion %.
- Promotion Amount.
Select Continue when you have entered all Merit awards.
Select the Actions menu and then Submit.
Select Submit again on the Confirmation Review Submit page. Leave a comment if needed.
Select Done.

Proposing Merit for Your Manager’s Direct Reports

Select the Compensation Review Merit Process inbox task, which includes a summary of all the Supervisory Organizations below them also known as Sub Organizations or sub orgs for short.
Select the View Sub Orgs button at the bottom of the page.
You will now see the Sub Organizations (sub orgs) that you manage. Find the Sub Organization you wish to propose merit for and select the Actions menu and then Propose Awards.
You will now see the Summary Merit grid. Complete the following fields as needed:
- Merit Increase %.
- Merit Amount – Monthly / Hourly.
- Additional Adjustment %.
- Additional Adjustment Amount – Monthly / Hourly.
To enter a Promotion, select the Promotion tab. Complete the following fields as needed:
- Promotion %.
- Promotion Amount.
Select Continue when you have entered all Merit awards. You will now return to the Sub Organization Summary.
Select Submit once all sub orgs except yours are in a status of Submitted or Manually Advanced. Yours can be listed as Awaiting Action.
Select Submit again on the Compensation Review Submit page. Enter a Comment if needed.
And finally, select Done on the Compensation Review Submit page.

This completes the Entering Merit Awards process for the Manager’s Manager.

Searching for Employees to Review Merit Entries

To look for employees, you can select Search Employees to look for individual employees, a group of employees, enter awards, or make corrections.
You will then have options to filter based on Employee name, Manager, Supervisory Organization, and more.

Part 3: Merit Partners Enter Merit on Behalf of Managers

This section covers how a Merit Partner navigates and completes the merit task in Workday. The Merit Partner is not the direct supervisor of the employees receiving merit but is instead responsible for entering merit awards across a Supervisory Organization hierarchy. This workflow allows the Merit Partner to monitor sub-org status, propose awards, and complete tasks on behalf of managers within the hierarchy.

Important: Do not select Submit on any page until you have completed the process.

Proposing Merit on Behalf of Managers

Select the Merit Dashboard from the Home menu.
In the Merit Dashboard, select the Compensation Review Process View Organization task.
Complete the following fields:
- Compensation Review Process. Select the current Merit Review Process.
- Planner. Select the Manager or Merit Partner you will be entering merit awards for.
- Top Level Organization. Select the top level Supervisory Organization for which you will be entering merit awards.
Select OK.
The Merit Partner can now enter Merit on behalf of the Planner (Manager or Merit Partner) they selected as long as Merit has not already been submitted.
Complete the following fields as needed:
- Merit Increase %.
- Merit Amount – Monthly / Hourly.
- Additional Adjustment %.
- Additional Adjustment Amount – Monthly / Hourly.
To enter a Promotion, select the Promotion Tab. Complete the following fields as needed.
- Promotion %.
- Promotion Amount.
Once awards have been entered, the Manager or the Manager’s Manager will submit them.

Note. The Merit Partner can submit awards, but they must be entering on behalf of a Manager from a Manager’s Manager position.

This completes the Entering Merit Awards process for Merit Partners.

Additional Resources

Understanding Errors

Soft warnings will display a yellow triangle in the Error or Warning column.
- If a merit increase is awarded that is above historical norms, a warning error will caution you but not prevent you from moving forward.
  - To see the error explanation, select the number below the yellow triangle. A pop up error will display.
Critical errors that require immediate remediation display a red diamond.
- If a merit increase is awarded to an Employee who has a performance rating of Does Not Meet Expectations, an error will prevent the process from moving forward.
  - To see the error explanation, select the number below the red diamond. A pop up error will display.

Understanding Status

Submitted will not appear in your merit grid for Supervisory Organizations that were completed by you on behalf of a Manager. Instead, Manually Advanced will appear.
Submitted will appear in your merit grid for Supervisory Organizations you supervise if someone else other than you completed the merit task for that Supervisory Organization.
You will not be able to submit your task until all Supervisory Organizations below your Supervisory Organization appear as Submitted or Manually Advanced. This means you cannot submit your merit task if any Supervisory Organizations appear as Awaiting Action.
You can select Send Back to send a submitted task back to the Manager for edits.
The charts at the top of your merit grid task will always display the pools for all of your Supervisory Organizations, even if you are looking at a single, sub-organization.