Case Study
UST redesigns Workday job architecture to drive efficiency for industrial real estate firm
OUR CLIENT
Managing a $50 billion portfolio across office, industrial, healthcare, and retail, this Australian national real estate firm serves over 40,000 investors globally. With a $15 billion development pipeline, the company prioritizes sustainable value creation for customers, investors, and communities.
THE CHALLENGE
Implementing configuration changes in Workday to accommodate acquired employees
Following a recent acquisition, the firm needed to integrate hundreds of new employees into its existing Workday system while ensuring seamless alignment with current job structures, compensation plans, and HR workflows. The complexity of the project extended beyond simple data migration—it required a comprehensive redesign of the Workday job architecture to accommodate the newly combined workforce. Key challenges included:
- Job catalog and compensation alignment—The firm needed to restructure job classifications and compensation frameworks to prevent discrepancies between legacy and newly acquired roles.
- Business process adjustments—Existing workflows for promotions, transfers, and approvals had to be reconfigured to reflect the updated job architecture.
- Eligibility and benefits coordination—The acquisition introduced differing bonus structures, eligibility rules, and time-off policies, necessitating a detailed review and standardization across all employees.
- Data consistency and HRIS integration—Ensuring that employee records remain accurate and accessible on Workday was critical to avoiding disruptions in payroll, reporting, and compliance tracking.
Without a streamlined approach, the real estate firm risked operational inefficiencies, workforce management bottlenecks, and increased administrative overhead.
THE TRANSFORMATION
Delivering a transformational change to the job architecture in Workday
UST’s Workday experts led a complete redesign of the job architecture, aligning 1,000+ jobs, open positions, and job requisitions into a cohesive framework. The project required close collaboration with the IT team to ensure configuration changes, workflow automations, and integrations with external systems aligned with the company’s specific needs. End-to-end testing validated the transition, ensuring a smooth cutover with minimal disruption.
THE IMPACT
Streamlined workforce management processes and enhanced decision-making
By consolidating workforce data into a unified Workday system, the real estate firm achieved:
- A single source of truth—All HR data is now centralized, eliminating inconsistencies and improving reporting accuracy.
- Enhanced decision-making—With streamlined workforce data, leadership can make informed, strategic decisions more efficiently.
- Operational cost savings—The firm reduced IT overhead by eliminating the need for multiple HRIS applications and redundant administrative processes.
- Seamless employee integration—Newly acquired employees were quickly onboarded with consistent job structures, compensation plans, and eligibility rules.
- Improved HR efficiency—Standardized job architecture and automated workflows have significantly reduced administrative workload and manual interventions.
- Scalability for future growth—The newly reconfigured system provides a solid foundation for future workforce expansions and organizational changes.
The Workday transformation positioned the company for long-term efficiency, enabling strategic workforce management, reducing operational complexities, and ensuring a more agile and responsive HR function.
Our Workday experts are here to help you get the most of out your solution. If you already have a Workday project in mind, get in touch with our experts now at workday@ust.com.
RESOURCES
https://www.ust.com/en/insights/planning-year-end-compensation-through-workday