saveState confusion/question

[Rick Reumann]

I'd like to use saveState to avoid having to use hidden vars on a form...

<h:inputText value="#{employeeAction.employee.name}"/>
<h:inputText value="#{employeeAction.employee.id}"/> <--- use saveState instead?

EmployeeAction has a reference to Employee:

<managed-bean>
        <managed-bean-name>employeeAction</managed-bean-name>
        <managed-bean-class>net.reumann.EmployeeAction</managed-bean-class>
        <managed-bean-scope>request</managed-bean-scope>
        <managed-property>
            <property-name>employeesListBean</property-name>
            <value>#{employeesListBean}</value>
        </managed-property>
        <managed-property>
            <property-name>employee</property-name>
            <value>#{employee}</value>
        </managed-property>
    </managed-bean>

I have both EmployeeAction and Employee implementing Serializable.

I've tried 

<x:saveState id="employeeAction" value="#{employeeAction}"/>

and 

<x:saveState id="employee" value="#{employeeAction.employee}"/>

I'm having difficulty getting saveState to work. Any tips much appreciated.

Things work fine if use the hidden vars.