Workday HRIS Integration

Last updated: October 27, 2026

Span connects to Workday through Kombo, Span's HR integration partner, to sync your employee directory and org hierarchy. This keeps people, reporting lines, and optionally teams current in Span.

Why it matters

Workday is often the most complete record of who works where. Connecting it means new hires, leavers, and manager changes reach Span as directory syncs, without manual roster edits.

How it works

Which Workday integration should I use?

Option

Best for

Workday (HRIS)

Most customers. Uses Workday's standard API through an Integration Security User (ISU) account.

Workday Custom Report (HRIS)

Customers who can't grant direct API access and prefer to expose employee data through a Workday RaaS (Reporting as a Service) custom report.

Both options support the same data, including absences, and follow the same setup process.

Employee fields

Field

Notes

First name, last name

Work email

Span's unique identifier for each person

Manager

Builds the reporting hierarchy

Job title

Job level

From Workday custom fields

Start date

Required for every synced person

Termination date

Marks leavers as terminated in Span

Department or team membership

GitHub or GitLab username

From Workday custom fields. Links code activity to the person

Team and org unit fields (when team sync is on)

Field

Notes

Team name

Parent team

Preserves the hierarchy

Manager name

Team lead name

Absences (optional)

If enabled, Span also syncs absence records: start and end dates, absence type (for example PTO, sick leave, or parental leave), approval status, and duration. Only new or changed records are fetched on each sync. To use these for out-of-office days in metrics, choose your HR system as the out-of-office source under Settings → Org Calendar.

When changes reach Span

Changes in Workday become staged directory syncs in Span. You review and apply each one under Settings → Directory Sync, or they apply on their own if Span has turned on auto-apply for your organization.

Setup

Prerequisites for Workday (HRIS)

  • A Workday Integration Security User (ISU) with read access to Workers or Employees, Organizations or Cost Centers, and Management Hierarchies.

  • Your Workday tenant name and environment URL.

Prerequisites for Workday Custom Report

  • A Workday RaaS custom report that exposes the employee fields listed above.

  • The report URL and credentials, to complete the connection.

In Span you need the Manage Integrations permission. Owners, Admins, and Integration Admins have it.

Step 1: Start the connection

  1. In Span, go to Settings → Integrations.

  2. In the HRIS category, choose Workday (HRIS) or Workday Custom Report (HRIS).

  3. Click Connect.

Step 2: Authenticate with Workday

A secure Kombo connection window opens. Enter your Workday tenant URL, then your ISU credentials (or the custom report URL), and authorize the connection. You enter Workday credentials in Kombo's window, not in Span.

Step 3: Wait for the first data load

Loading takes about 10 minutes. You can leave the page and come back.

Step 4: Choose what to sync

  1. Under Departments, select the departments or org units to include. You must pick at least one. Only people in the selected units, and their sub-units, sync into Span. Selecting a parent unit includes everything beneath it.

  2. People data is always included.

  3. Click Save.

  4. If you want your Workday org hierarchy to become Span teams, ask your Span team to turn on team sync.

Step 5: Validate the data with Span

Before syncs start changing your roster, review the first staged sync with your Span team. Check that:

  • The headcount matches what you expect for the departments you chose.

  • Everyone has a start date and a work email.

  • Managers resolve, including managers who sit outside the selected departments.

  • Git usernames and job levels came through for engineers.

Things to know

  • One HR system per organization: to switch from Workday to another HR system, contact your Span team. People carry over when their emails match.

  • Scope: you can change your department selection later under Settings → Integrations. People who fall out of scope are terminated on the next applied sync, and keep their history.

  • Contractors: Span doesn't use Workday's employment type. To keep contractors out of team metrics, mark them Observer or Non-contributor in Span, or leave them out of the departments you sync.

  • Synced fields are read-only in Span: change them in Workday.

  • Worked example: you select the Engineering org unit, which contains Platform (30 people) and Mobile (20 people). Span syncs all 50, because selecting a parent includes its sub-units. Three Mobile engineers have no start date in Workday, so the first sync can't be applied. You add their start dates in Workday, and the next sync applies with 50 people.

Troubleshooting

Symptom

What to check

Employees are missing from Span

Confirm they belong to a selected org unit and that their work email is populated in Workday.

Sync won't apply: missing start date

Add start dates in Workday for the people named in the error, then wait for the next sync.

Sync won't apply: manager not found

The manager sits outside your selected org units. Add that unit, or ask Span about skipping missing managers.

Team hierarchy looks wrong

Check the parent org structure in Workday, and confirm with Span that team sync is on.

GitHub or GitLab usernames not linked

Confirm the vcs_username custom field is populated in Workday for each employee.

Job levels not showing

Confirm the job_level custom field is populated in Workday.

Absences not appearing

Confirm absences were enabled for the integration and that the out-of-office source in Settings → Org Calendar is your HR system. Contact support to enable absence sync if it wasn't set up.

Data looks stale

Check the integration's status under Settings → Integrations, and check Settings → Directory Sync for a staged sync waiting to be applied.

Disconnecting Workday

The integration page has no disconnect button. To stop syncing from Workday, contact your Span account team or support.

Related articles

People Data & Roster Management

Using Directory Sync for Roster Management

Connecting an OOO Data Source in Span

Need help?

Contact your Span account team or reach out to support@span.app.