Insights

Planning Year-End compensation through Workday

Richard Cherichello, Solutions Consultant Workday & ServiceNow Practices, UST

Encumbered by a great deal of uncertainty, the past year has created significant challenges for companies as they attempt to manage their end-of-year compensation and bonus packages. Rising inflation and rampant hiring, followed by recent layoffs due to economic uncertainty, means companies in December are likely dealing with a significantly different workforce than when they started the year.

At the same time, the Great Resignation has empowered employees to demand more of their employers and are more likely to leave a job if they are unhappy or unsatisfied. Twitter provides a great case study of what happens when you apply undue pressure on an overworked and underappreciated workforce.

As the complexity of compensation packages increases, companies are all using software-as-a-service partners like Workday to manage much of their human capital management needs, such as payroll management.

Many companies have turned to Workday to handle their HR and, specifically, compensation packages. But software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions can be hard to configure without specific expertise.

Over 40% of UST’s enterprise clients are already Workday customers, providing us with comprehensive experience with every possible configuration. UST has a robust Workday practice with professionals that provide advisory, support and augmentation services to customers with specific needs. Organizations work with partners like UST to conduct frequent Workday Health Checks to optimize their Workday configuration.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Workday is a powerful solution, but it needs to be configured to your specifications to bring real value to your organization
• Every company’s compensation packages are different, needing an expert to help make sense of it all
• Despite the importance of year-end compensation, not every solution provider can help with this unique need
• UST’s Workday solution provides best-in-class service with years of experience

WHAT DOES WORKDAY DO?

Workday helps companies manage their finances and human resources through cloud technologies. It provides a streamlined user and administrative experience across financials, HR, talent, payroll, analytics and more. Workday helps companies manage their compensation packages. But it is important to remember that it requires configuration for more complicated scenarios.

HOW COMPANIES CAN COMPLICATE END-OF-YEAR COMPENSATION

Companies motivate their employees yearly to go above and beyond their potential. They encourage them to aspire for more compensation beyond their base salary. Throughout the year, they promote some employees (potentially demote some) and hire employees that replace those who depart. They cannot risk dropping the ball and forgetting to pay out promised bonuses at the right amounts, as employees are increasingly empowered to share their frustrations on social media or leave for a company that keeps its promises.

As an industry leader, Workday’s out-of-the-box solution handles several activities well. However, like other SaaS solutions, it often takes an expert to identify configurations and enhancements that save time and money. With companies focused on ending the year on a high note, they need Workday-specific expertise to ensure they’re maximizing the use of this platform.

UST’s Workday practice is an efficient must-have for any company looking to supercharge and maximize its Workday package across multiple departments. Here are five reasons a partner like UST can help supercharge your Workday usage through specific configurations.

1) Lack of bandwidth. HR departments are especially under pressure in 2022 due to an outsized percentage of layoffs hitting these professionals. They have to focus on many things to close out the year, and they likely don’t have time to configure Workday to ensure everyone receives what they are owed at the end of the year.

2) Workday is not automatically optimized for your business. A corporation’s end-of-year compensation package can stress even the most complex out-of-the-box solution. Every company has its unique process for bonuses and merit increases. While most companies have a budgeted target pool, the end amount can vary based on whether it is a set amount or a percentage of revenues or profits. Every scenario is different and requires a unique configuration that Workday may not be able to provide without expertise. Our full suite of advisory, support and augmentation services helps our clients who use Workday to have a complete digital transformation journey.

3) Management often creates unique situations. Companies looking to close out their annual payroll often realize that different departments may have different compensation packages. While Workday makes it easy to compensate everyone if there are minimal configurations, the reality is few organizations operate like that. High performers or high-performing departments can get additional benefits, which an automated system could miss.

4) Compensation expectations can lead to difficult conversations. If a company had a down year, compensation packages could decrease. That means management might need to have difficult conversations with their employees. Companies need the right provider to come in, make sense of the year-end compensation period, and execute.

5) Some things cannot be changed. For instance, the system cannot be altered if someone does not earn their merit bonus. In that scenario, it may be impossible to generate merit statements for employees who still need to receive awards. But the right partner understands that there are several steps in the business process that they would likely have to go back and modify so that everyone knows their accurate compensation.

Getting compensation right is critical for businesses that want a happy and motivated workforce in 2023. It’s simply too important to leave to an out-of-the-box solution or overworked employees. A solution like UST’s Workday practice can ensure every worker receives what they are owed on time and with minimal friction so that they can focus on the job.

WHY UST

Powered by technology, inspired by people and led by our purpose, UST builds for boundless impact—touching billions of lives in the process.

Unlike other providers, we do not require lock-in contracts or period limits. We are efficient and affordable thanks to just-in-time resourcing and flexible models based on managed capacity and services. Our Workday solution is part of a global platform-based practice that helps customers reduce SaaS expenditures, including ServiceNow, Salesforce and MS Dynamics.

Our offerings can augment or add to your existing Workday support model with built-in scalability, lower costs, and by leveraging synergies across our 30,000-person global organization.

To learn more about how we can supercharge your Workday solution, click here to schedule a consultation with one of our Workday experts.