You either die a hero, or you live long enough to become Oracle. - Marketing Workday Employee Review

Once upon a time, Workday was the kind of place that people would take pay and title cuts to join. When someone heard I worked there, the reaction was almost always positive. (Unless they were a recruiter who had to use the ATS.) I remember hearing so much positivity about the culture, and pretty shortly after I joined, I realized it was true. Why? The ephemeral “culture.” We’ve all heard this line about companies, but in the case, it used to be true. Not so anymore. While it’s hard to pinpoint when a culture starts breaking down, here are a few signposts for the cumulative erosion of the “Workday Culture,” and how it became Any Other Big Tech Company. First, they love to slam Oracle and SAP as “dinosaurs” at company meetings. I hate to break it to you, but you’re hiring all your senior management from those two places. To misquote Batman, “you either die a hero, or you live enough to see yourself become Oracle and SAP.” And these people are the hollow, political, shallow operatives that have no original ideas and spout nonsense yet continually get promoted. They know how to protect their territory, but when you crack them open, buzzwords spill out across the floor. That’s all they are. So, Workday is now the dinosaur that it so loves to criticize. Next, I noticed things starting to unravel during COVID. I suppose it exposed what the culture was hanging on, which was mostly in-person interactions, company functions, Pleasanton-centric activities that made it fun to work there. Once those were gone, it started to crack. And the “race to 10 billion” or whatever they called it became the culture, not the actual culture. That was the beginning of the end. And it’s just gone downhill from there. And this was unavoidable, but with the co-founders (both great humans, thanks to them for their leadership) leaving, the end was sealed. The current CEO lacks charisma and will only last a few more years until Workday inevitably ends up part of Salesforce. Now, in the middle of all this, I must say that I have worked with some really great people, and that’s pretty much the only upside of Workday. Those who remain, I salute you. The old guard has quite a few great humans, and I’m thankful to have worked with them. But those who remain must deal with this reality: it’s now the most toxic, political cesspool of a company you’ll ever encounter. Backstabbing, one-upping, desperate power grabs are an everyday experience. It turns you into something you’d never want to be. It pushes you to some dark places. Title and position are the only currency. Career growth is nonexistent. Pay is far below tech standards. Far, far too many middle managers, and if you end up with a bad one who doesn’t advocate for you, and there are many of those, you’re doomed. And if you think that Workday is totally fine, you’re part of the problem. The disrespect shown to the hard work of those of us with the misfortune to work in marketing was another slap in the face. They gave us two CMOs in the last few years who had zero marketing experience. Imagine if any other group did that. They won’t, because they view marketing as easy, like anyone can do it. The current CMO has very little respect internally, and no amount of absurdly cringe Super Bowl commercials and bus tours will hide the fact that she’s devoid of substance and is only building her personal brand on the backs of hard-working marketers. If your idea of a dream company is somewhere you can only advance by making meaningless decks, spouting buzzwords, delegating work to other people, and making plans for planning, then Workday is for you. Otherwise, run far away. Find another generic Big Tech company, rest and vest, live your life, and remember, we’re all more than our jobs. P.S. And everyone’s right — your ATS is garbage. Nobody likes Workday who has to apply for a job using it. P.P.S. And shoutout to anyone in IPE on Workday Blind. Thanks for keeping it spicy.