With Penn’s return to campus operations scheduled to resume on September 7, the University has identified a method to make a systemic change in Workday to update work addresses from the employee’s home address back to the campus work address. The systemic update is effective for pay dates on or after September 10, 2021, and will relieve department business administrators and human resources representatives (who have the Workday roles and responsibilities of HR Analysts and HR Partners) of the burden of making these changes manually.

In preparation for repopulating campus, the University has expressed its expectation of returning to pre-pandemic, on-campus operations, where any position that was on campus before the pandemic will return to campus, beginning in the fall. This is consistent with the University’s commitment to collaboration and cooperation achieved through in-person interactions.

Although staff were expected to return to working on campus by September 7, the University recognizes that there may be some hybrid work arrangements, provided such arrangements are consistent with operational needs. Hybrid work arrangements require manager approval, a business rationale, and a completed Agreement for Regular Off-Campus Work 1-2 Days/Week and must be signed by all required approval levels.

If staff believe their work address should not be changed from their home address back to a campus address, they should contact their school/center HR Representative or Staff and Labor Relations, as there is a multi-step approval process for requesting off-campus work that needs to be followed. No changes should be made to a staff member’s campus work location unless that process has been followed, and the change has been approved.

Note that all students will automatically be changed to an on-campus locations. Any new students must be entered into Workday as having a campus address.

Impact to Employees

Employees residing in Pennsylvania 

Non-Philadelphia residents–will have Philadelphia City Wage tax withheld from their pay once the change is implemented.

Philadelphia residents–will not experience any change to their withholding.

Employees residing in reciprocal states (New Jersey, Ohio, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and Indiana) and working in Pennsylvania

Workers who elect to be taxed in their state of residence instead of the state in which they work (PA)–will need to complete the state reciprocal form in Workday/BSI to have taxes withheld based on their state of residence. Refer to the Self Service: Access to W-2, W-4, and State Reciprocal Forms tip sheet for information on how to access the form.  Philadelphia City Wage taxes will be withheld except where applied as a credit to state tax withholding.  

Workers who do NOT elect to be taxed in their state of residence, but are instead taxed in the state in which they work (PA)–will have Philadelphia City Wage Tax and Pennsylvania state tax withheld once the Work Address has been updated to the on-campus address.

Workday Tasks to Be Completed by Employee-For individuals Residing Outside of Pennsylvania

To ensure they are properly taxed, workers should access Workday as soon as possible to review and update their tax information. Individuals whose work address has been changed have received a Workday notification of a To-Do task labeled “Address Change: Possible Updates Needed to Tax Elections.” Workers should do the following: 

• Click on the “BSI Tax Withholding Form Employee” link and review and complete the appropriate state or local tax forms displayed.  
• Click on the “Pick Other Forms” button to determine if additional forms are available to be completed.  For additional information, refer to the Self Service: Access to W-2, W-4, and State Reciprocal Forms tip sheet.
• Once any tax changes have been reviewed and approved by the worker, the worker should submit the change and archive the task by clicking the orange Submit button.

If you have any questions, please contact the Employee Solution Center at solutioncenter@upenn.edu or (215) 898-7372.

—Department of Human Resources