By Jacob Halbesma, Guest Writer

Xavier’s rollout of Workday, the new administrative and payroll system intended to modernize operations on campus, has instead delayed pay for the entire staff of Xavier Newswire.

This semester, Xavier Newswire staff have gone over two months without being paid for their work, an issue directly related to Xavier switching payment systems for students employed by school-funded groups or university departments.

The new online hour logging and payment system, Workday, was instituted in place of the previous one, Banner. The change came at the end of the fall semester.

According to Xavier’s website, officials implemented Workday to “simplify and modernize our administrative processes” by providing a platform that manages student records, human resources and cloud-based systems. The program has staged implementations that started earlier this year and will be finalized in 2027. Throughout the implementation, some clubs and collectives have had trouble receiving compensation for their work, including Xavier Newswire. 

However, many students rely on on-campus employment to pay for tuition, rent and basic necessities in their day-to-day lives. The lack of payment has forced some students to look for new opportunities to earn money and fulfill their needs. 

“After we realized we weren’t getting paid, I had to find other ways to make some money. We all hope that this gets resolved soon and normal payment continues., first year Philosophy, Politics, and the Public major Newswire Staff Writer Ben Jenkins said.

While Workday has run efficiently for hourly-rate organizations, it still struggles with Newswire. Xavier Newswire writers are paid a set amount per piece written rate, where compensation is based on unit production.  

Workday helps track hours by allowing students to clock-in and clock-out virtually, automatically counting the hours they work. The system reports back the hours, making it easy for those employees to get paid. Student media or freelance employees are different, as they may charge different amounts for different jobs, causing systems like Workday to struggle to be fully integrated for all.

The Office of Student Involvement has been in direct contact with the payroll department on behalf of Newswire.

Newswire writers, who expected to be paid several hundred dollars to cover expenses, are left writing unpaid. 

“It’s unfortunate that it’s been an ongoing issue for at least a month now and we can’t get it figured out,” first-year business analytics major and Newswire Staff Writer Gavin Guffey said.

The university has not provided a definitive timeline for when these payments will be dispersed, leaving students waiting as Workday’s implementation continues. Until then, students say they plan to keep reporting and hope their pay will hit their bank account soon. 

** Update: Students in Newswire were paid as of 3/5/2026