When Should I Start Recruiting My Workday Team?

As early as you can. That’s the short answer

But keep reading, because (as with anything software-related) it’s not that simple.

In an ideal world, you’d have an entire team lined up from Day 1 to keep everything efficient and proactive. But you have process and budgetary constraints, and need to balance your recruitment with them.

So let’s take a realistic look at Workday hiring.

You need your own team during the design phase

Having spoken to hundreds of people with Workday implementation experience – and had Workday training myself – the surest way to keep down total project cost is to at least have your project manager, functional lead, integrations person, data specialist and any stream leads on board during the design phase.

There are 2 reasons for this:

• Your team gets an in-depth understanding of your goals and is there to ensure your best interests are reflected in the planning and scoping processes. This helps prevent costly change requests down the line. (Think of it as an essential insurance policy.)

• You have experts who can manage ongoing resource needs efficiently. They know your project inside out, and that understanding – combined with their previous Workday implementation experience – means you’re hiring the right people at the right time to keep things on track.

Let me tell you a story.

We placed a Workday project manager, who was parachuted in to help a project facing big delays and budget overruns. On his second day, he called us up to say the company had no data or integrations lead, and that was causing many of the issues. It was obvious to him, but no one on the client’s team had been able to identify those missing skillsets – and they were paying a price running into the £10,000s as a result.

Check if you’re deploying to countries with longer recruitment lead times

The Workday candidate pool is small and niche because the product is newer than other solutions. In some geographies, it’s very small and very niche for certain skills – you could count the number of people on your fingers. So if you need people in particular countries or with particular language skills, figure it out as early as possible – because it can take longer to find the right person. (And when you do find the right person, act quickly!)

You also have different notice periods, which affects how quickly your chosen candidate can start. A candidate in Spain or the US will likely have 2 weeks’ notice; in the UK, it’s generally 4 weeks. You need to add that on to your recruitment timescales, so your project isn’t caught short at inopportune times.

Your rule of thumb: hire before there’s a looming problem

Think about your company’s overall investment in Workday…Don’t you want to be the person taking credit for how the project succeeded on time and on budget?

The surest way to bask in that glory is to hire early enough that you prevent problems – and therefore minimise the project’s overall costs.