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Administrator Guide
Last Updated: 2025-04-04
Purge Dependents and Beneficiaries for Active Workers

Purge Dependents and Beneficiaries for Active Workers

  • Create a custom purge report that returns active workers whose dependents and beneficiaries you want to purge. Add the
    Purge
     tag to the custom report.
  • Open a service ticket with Workday Support requesting to enable the
    Workers Dependent and Beneficiary
     purgeable data type and include a list of purge instances from your custom report.
  • Security: These domains in the System functional area:
    • Custom Report Creation
    • Purge Person Data
You can purge all dependents and beneficiaries for a selected set of active workers. When you purge this data, Workday removes any references to the person from the tenant.
This feature is available only by request, as purging this data is irreversible and can cause issues if done incorrectly. Always test the custom report and purge in your Sandbox environment before you purge any data in your Production environment.
To avoid affecting payroll, integrations, and reporting, we recommend that you don't purge dependents or beneficiaries that are active in current elections. Additionally, we recommend that you don't purge emergency contact and dependents and beneficiaries data at the same time. Purge emergency contact data first and then purge dependents and beneficiaries data afterwards.
  1. (Optional) Create a purge plan.
    If you don’t create a purge plan, Workday will automatically select required purgeable data types to purge.
  2. Access the
    Purge Person Data
     task.
    Select the custom purge report that you created. See Create a Privacy Purge Custom Report.
  3. From the
    Population to Purge (Report Definition)
     prompt, select the custom purge report for dependents and beneficiaries.
    Only reports with the
    Purge
     tag display.
  4. Click
    View report on selected population
     to confirm the data to purge.
  5. Select the check box for the
    Workers Dependent and Beneficiary
     purgeable data type and click
    OK
    .
  6. Select the
    Confirm
     check box and click
    OK
    .
Workday:
  • Purges the dependents and beneficiaries data that matches your purge criteria. Run the report again to confirm the purge action.
  • Removes all the dependents and beneficiaries data for active workers that match your criteria in the custom purge report.
    When using the
    Workers Dependents and Beneficiaries
     purgeable data type, Workday will not purge data shared with an emergency contact.