The CEO has turned the company culture toxic - Anonymous employee Workday Employee Review

1.0
Jan 19, 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- The benefits that haven't yet been taken away can be useful. - The ESPP scheme is a good way to earn a little more. - Generally the people you work with can be fun.

Cons

Honestly, the last few years since Carl has taken over have been incredibly tough and sad to see. He's been striving to destroy the employee experience at every turn to save a few pennies whilst simultaneously saying he cares and pretending to cry while he announces redundancies. Before he came along, Workday was a fantastic place to work with a lovely culture, since then it's been completely upended and is now just your average American corp where the executives are caricature businessmen who only care about their next quarterly earnings. Carl has been on an aggressive cost cutting exercise over the last few years with multiple rounds of redundancies. So much so that everyone now works in fear of being outsourced to India. I've personally had colleagues who have unknowingly trained their replacements out there before being let go. Morale is on the floor and with it has gone any form of creativity or innovation as no one wants to fail and be sent out the door. Promotions are being cut and employees now have to compete against each other for the few that get granted each year, being force ranked on each occasion. This has led to no one wanting to give recognition and a massive sense of mistrust around each other. Those who thought they had a future here are finding quickly there is none so are leaving in droves, however, there is also currently no backfilling of open roles so those that are left have to pick up the slack leading to burnout and being put into impossible situations with no hope of success. Employees are massively overworked all while some American executive keeps telling you to "do more with less" with the only reward at the end of the year being a round of redundancies. Overall, Workday has become a terrible place to work. They still market "employees" to candidates as a value trying to say they care but please do not be fooled by this, they haven't cared for a long time and while Carl is here they never will.

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5.0
Jul 1, 2026
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Pros

Work life balance is good, coworkers are very nice

Cons

Constant changes in the company

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Workday Response
4d
Thank you for your review, we appreciate you taking the time to share your experience at Workday. We're committed to fostering an open, inclusive culture, and feedback like yours helps us continue to grow and improve for all our Workmates.
3.0
Jun 29, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Excellent engineering talent and knowledgeable coworkers. Strong engineering culture with high code quality standards. Modern technology stack and opportunities to work on large-scale enterprise software. Good work-life balance compared to many tech companies. Competitive compensation, benefits, and employee perks. Collaborative environment with supportive teammates. Opportunities to learn new technologies and grow technically. Stable development processes and mature SDLC practices. Strong emphasis on testing, code reviews, and software quality. Flexible work arrangements (depending on team).

Cons

Large organization means decision-making can be slow. Significant amount of process and bureaucracy before changes reach production. Cross-team dependencies can slow delivery. Career growth can depend on organizational priorities and manager support. Frequent reorganizations can shift priorities and disrupt long-term projects. Innovation may move slower than at smaller startups. Internal tools and processes can sometimes feel overly complex. Communication between teams can occasionally be inconsistent. Like much of the tech industry, the company has experienced layoffs, creating uncertainty for some employees. Promotions can take time and require navigating multiple approval levels.

1
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Workday Response
4d
Thank you for your thoughtful review. We're aware that there's always room to grow, but at Workday, we take pride in our dedication to our Workmates and the 'employee first' ethos we've embedded since day one. We value your feedback as well as the praise you have provided in your review.
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