Workday's skills-based approach transforms hiring and employee retention

In a significant shift towards organizational development, Workday, a leading tech company, has adopted a skills-based approach to enhance its workforce strategy. Over the past three years, the organization has leveraged data from artificial intelligence, managerial feedback, and executive insights to identify critical skills that are essential across various roles within the company. This information has not only enabled Workday to map 100% of jobs to job-critical skills but has also played a pivotal role in refining the hiring and talent development processes by creating verified employee profiles. The shift to a skills-centered framework allowed Workday to reframe the discussion from the importance of skills to how they can address specific business challenges. The organization has focused on outcomes, including improved employee mobility, retention, and reduced time-to-hire. In the last six months, these efforts have resulted in a 15% decrease in time to fill positions and an 8% rise in offer acceptance rates among nearly 900 hires. Such advancements demonstrate the effectiveness of little changes that redefine an organization's approach to human resources. This innovative recruitment strategy encouraged employee engagement as well, with over two-thirds of workers discovering new opportunities through the Career Hub and more than 5,000 participating in gig assignments. The implementation of standardized interview protocols and a required skills-based hiring certification for interviewers has contributed to greater consistency and precision in the hiring process. Additionally, the actionable skills data provided by Workday's Skills Cloud has helped connect skills with core business goals, promoting internal mobility and addressing skills gaps that may hinder performance. As more industry leaders recognize the value of this approach, Workday's experiences stand as evidence that a thoughtful and strategic implementation of skills-based hiring can drive significant improvements in business performance. This movement towards prioritizing skills is becoming a compelling business strategy rather than merely a response to the evolving labor market dynamics, establishing a blueprint for others to follow as the relevance of skills in the workplace only grows stronger.