Market Perspectives

We are happy to share some insights about Workday drawn from our latest Value Index research, Ventana Research Value Index: Total Compensation Management, which assesses how well vendors’ offerings meet buyers’ requirements.

In all of our Value Indexes we utilize a structured research methodology that includes evaluation categories designed to reflect real-world criteria incorporated in a request for proposal (RFP) and vendor selection process for total compensation management. We evaluated Workday and 13 other vendors in seven categories, five relevant to the product (adaptability, capability, manageability, reliability and usability) and two related to the vendor (TCO/ROI and vendor validation). To arrive at the Value Index rating for a given vendor, we weighted each category to reflect its relative importance in an RFP process, with the weightings based on our experience and on data derived from our benchmark research on total compensation management.

Workday’s total compensation management system includes its broader suite of HCM applications and can be used in its financial management offering and in integrated planning and reporting products. Workday was categorized as an Innovative Vendor, ranking eighth overall in this Value Index evaluation. It ranked fourth in Product Experience where it was designated a Value Index Leader in Usability and Adaptability. It ranked 12th in Customer Experience and performed best in TCO/ROI, placing 11th. Workday’s overall performance was impacted by its lower rankings in Validation where it ranked 13th, and TCO/ROI. These two categories represent 20% of the weighting in the overall Value Index.

Our assessment finds that Workday could improve its performance in Capability, where it ranked eighth due to its support for specific types of compensation and incentives. UKG could also improve capability by providing more clarity on its investment in improving its offering and compensation processes. In Customer Experience, UKG ranked 13th in Validation and 11th in TCO/ROI where it can provide access to tools, and supporting information. This assessment was based on Workday Compensation R2 and was available in August of 2022.

Workday, like all compensation management vendors, should ensure they continue to focus on capabilities beyond the core that will only continue to increase in their importance to buyers, like prescriptive analytics, proactive pay equity management, and creative and personalized compensation plans that are becoming increasingly more complex.

This research-based index is the most comprehensive assessment of the value of total compensation management software in the industry. Technology buyers can learn more about how to use our Value Index by clicking here and included vendors that wish to learn more can click here. Read the report here.