How to Search in Workday: Find Reqs, Reports, People and Tasks

To search in Workday, type into the global search bar at the top of any page, press Enter, then use the category filters on the left of the results to narrow to people, organizations, tasks, reports or other objects. Workday only returns what your security roles let you see, so a missing result is often an access issue rather than a typo.

This guide is for recruiters, HR partners, managers and admins who use Workday daily and want to stop clicking through menus. The most common mistake we see is searching by name when a unique ID would return one exact match.

Key takeaways

• Global search finds any object you have permission to view: workers, requisitions, reports, tasks and organizations.
• Search by unique ID (employee, requisition or position) for exact matches instead of scrolling through common names.
• Prefixes followed by a colon limit results to one object type; type "?" in the search bar to see the list your tenant supports.
• The default search category shows only active workers, so former employees may need a different category, prefix or report.
• When something is missing, check spelling, leftover filters and object status before assuming a security problem.

How does Workday search work?

Workday uses a single global search box instead of separate menus for each module. Everything in the tenant, from a worker's profile to a job requisition to a custom report, is an object that search can find if you have permission to view it.

Three ideas explain most of what you'll see:

• Security trimming. Workday's own administrator training explains that security groups get access through permission to secured items, and that constrained groups usually see only a subset of data, often limited by organization. So a recruiter and a payroll partner typing the same term will get different results.
• Categories. After you press Enter, results are grouped into categories that appear as filters. Workday's search reference says the default Common category lists only active workers, applicants, organizations, reports and tasks. Admins can change the tenant default, and you can change your own in your preferences.
• Related actions. Once you open an object, the related actions menu (the small icon next to its name) shows what you can do with it, such as viewing history, starting a business process or running a linked report.

If you're still getting used to the layout, our guide on how to navigate the Workday interface covers the home page, worklets and menus.

How do you find a person in Workday?

Type the person's name or employee ID in the search bar and press Enter. If the name is common, pick the People category filter to remove tasks and reports from the list. An employee ID is the most reliable search because it's unique.

From the worker profile, the related actions menu lets you view job details, compensation, time off or worker history, depending on your access. Searching for someone by a previous or legal name is controlled separately: Workday documents a security domain that admins can use to let specific groups search by current legal and historical names. If that search returns nothing for you, your group may simply not have that domain.

For terminated employees, remember that the default category covers active workers only. Try a broader category or a worker prefix your tenant enables, search by employee ID, or run a report that includes inactive workers.

How do you find a job requisition (req) in Workday?

Recruiters and hiring managers usually find requisitions in one of these ways:

1. Type the requisition ID exactly as it appears in your tenant and press Enter. The ID format is set by your organization's configuration.
2. Search the job posting title and filter the results to the requisition category.
3. Use a recruiting search prefix if your tenant has one enabled. Workday publishes separate prefix references for Recruiting and Staffing.
4. Open the hiring manager's or recruiter's dashboard, where open requisitions often appear in a worklet.
5. Run a delivered or custom report that lists requisitions by status, organization or recruiter.

If a requisition still doesn't show up, it may sit outside your supervisory organization or recruiting security scope. Ask your Workday administrator to confirm your role assignments. If you own the recruiting configuration, our walkthrough of Workday recruiting setup from requisition to offer explains how requisitions are structured in the first place.

How do you find tasks and reports?

Every action in Workday is a task, and most tasks and reports can be started by typing their names. Typing "request time off" or "change job" and selecting the matching item is usually faster than clicking through menus.

Finding delivered and custom reports

Type the report name, press Enter, and filter to the tasks and reports category. If you don't know the exact name, try a key word such as "headcount" or "requisition." Custom reports built by your team appear for users who have access to them. Administrators can also run reports that list the custom reports in the tenant, which helps when you suspect a report already exists but can't remember what it's called.

Searching won't tell you how a field changed over time, though. For that, see our walkthrough on tracking field-level changes in Workday using RaaS.

How can you search Workday faster?

A few habits save real time if you live in Workday all day.

Technique	What it does	When to use it
Category filters	Limit results to one object type	Common names or broad terms
Search prefixes	Restrict search to one object type before you press Enter	Frequent searches of the same type
Unique identifiers	Return a single exact match	Employee IDs, requisition IDs, position IDs
Favorites and quicklinks	Save common tasks and reports for one-click access	Tasks you run every week
Related actions menu	Jump from one object to linked tasks	Moving from a worker to their job history or pay

Prefixes work by typing a short code and a colon before your search term. Workday's documentation gives "bp:" as an example that returns business process definitions. The list available depends on your tenant and release, so the quickest check is to type "?" in the search bar, which shows the prefixes you can use.

Saving frequently used items means you search less in the first place. See our guide to maintaining quicklinks in Workday for setup steps.

Why can't I find something in Workday search?

When search comes up empty, run through this checklist before raising a ticket:

• Spelling and naming. Try a shorter term or a different word. Report names often differ from what people call them.
• Leftover category filter. A filter from a previous search may be hiding results.
• Default category. If your default only covers active workers, former employees and closed items won't appear.
• Security access. You may not be in a group that grants view access to that object or organization.
• Object status. Closed requisitions, inactive organizations and terminated workers may need specific prefixes, filters or reports.
• Recent changes. New objects can take a short time to appear in search after creation.

Administrators troubleshooting access can run the security analysis tasks for a given user to see which groups grant or block access to an item. Our article on designing role-based Workday security groups explains why two people in similar jobs can see very different results.

When this doesn't apply: if search works for colleagues in your exact role but fails for you, the problem is more likely a missing role assignment on your account than a configuration issue. Ask your admin to compare your security groups with a colleague's.

Frequently asked questions

Why do my coworkers see different Workday search results than I do?

Workday filters results by each user's security groups and the organizations they support. A payroll partner, recruiter and line manager will each see different workers, reports and tasks for the same term. This is by design, to protect employee data. If you think you need broader access for your job, request it through your Workday security administrator.

Can I search for terminated employees in Workday?

Usually, yes, but not always from the default view. The default Common category lists only active workers, so a former employee may not appear when you search by name. Try their employee ID, switch to a broader category or a worker prefix your tenant enables, or run a report that includes inactive workers. Your admin can confirm which method your organization uses.

How do I find a custom report someone shared with me?

Type the report's name in the global search bar and filter to the tasks and reports category. If it doesn't appear, the report may not be shared with you, or the owner may have named it differently than you expect. Ask the owner to confirm the exact name and sharing settings, or ask an administrator to check your access to the report's data sources.

What to do next

• Type "?" in the Workday search bar and note the three or four prefixes you'd use most.
• Switch to searching by employee and requisition ID for one week and see how much scrolling you save.
• Save your five most-used tasks and reports as favorites or quicklinks.
• If results look incomplete, ask your admin which search category your tenant uses by default.

Sources

• Workday Administrator Guide: Reference: Search Workday
• Workday Education: Configurable Security Framework

Last reviewed: October 2026.