Workday: The three red flags of talent strategy and how to avoid them

Requisitions and job offers are still growing, or in other words, the world is still hiring – according to Workday’s Global Workforce Report.

But there are nuances. The pace of growth has slowed and hiring decisions are taking longer. Beneath the steady surface, a quiet shift is unfolding: uncertainty is reshaping how organizations think about talent, skills, and the future of work.

To understand what HR needs to know, UNLEASH spoke exclusively to Phil Willburn, Vice President of People Analytics at Workday.

Retaining high performers

Compared to 2024, the rate of hiring growth has slowed. Yet both job requisitions and offers continue to climb, signalling a cooling – not a collapse – in demand for talent.

The biggest change the labor market has seen over the past 12 months is that organizations are taking longer to decide on the type of worker they need to hire as hiring processes are slowing down. 

“We don’t know exactly why, but our hypothesis is that uncertainty in the labor market, the economy, and business outlook is causing hesitation,” Willburn explains. “Hiring managers may also be less certain about the skills needed for a given role.

“And because the pace of hiring is slowing, each hire becomes a bigger bet. That pressure likely contributes to the longer decision-making process. So from a labor market perspective, the change isn’t dramatic – it’s a slight slowing, not a cliff drop.”

However, Willburn explains that the real story isn’t external – it’s internal – stating the “crisis is happening inside organizations”.

To highlight this, Workday identifies three the three red flags of talent strategy: top talent leaving, dead-end career growth, and AI strategy being lost in translation. 

This is a key area of interest as last year, Workday reported that 75% of industries had rising high-performer turnover. This year, that’s increased to 100%. 

“That’s alarming,” Willburn says. “High performers carry the heaviest workloads and deliver the greatest impact, yet they’re leaving even in a softer labor market.”

Another key issue is declining internal mobility. 

Internal hiring was steadily rising for years, but Willburn states that there has been a drop over the past year, mainly due to lengthy external hiring timelines, and because hiring managers are conflicted as to what skills to prioritize in an AI-driven world.

But there’s also fewer promotions, with Willburn stating “almost every industry reported decreases”. 

He adds: “So you have unclear AI strategy, reduced internal hiring, and fewer promotions – exactly the opposite of what high performers want. They crave growth, and if they don’t see it internally, they’ll leave.

“What can organizations do? Well first, clarify the AI strategy and how it connects to work. Ambiguity breeds anxiety. 

“Second, expand the definition of growth. It can’t just be promotions – it needs to include gigs, stretch assignments, and rotations. 

“Third, communicate directly and empathetically. Recognize effort even when strategies shift. Leaders must acknowledge contributions, explain why priorities change, and support employees through transitions. Recognition and transparency go a long way.”

To combat this, Willburn suggests that a number of structural things can be done, such as gigs, rotations, extra assignments, and giving employees challenging work which can have a “big impact” on engagement. 

The previous year’s report found that even if the extra work comes with extra challenges, it’s more likely to engage employees, rather than if they have a lighter workload that feels meaningless. 

This links back to the importance of recognition, and understanding what “meaningful” work means to each employee. 

We need to communicate how their [employees] work ties to the company strategy and how it’s moving the needle,” Willburn adds. “Nobody wants to feel like they’re wasting their time or that what they’re doing isn’t value-added.”

As a result, he suggests that leaders need to improve on how they connect people with the work they do. 

“Retention requires recognition,” he adds. “Understanding what’s meaningful to each employee, and clearly linking their work to strategy.

“That’s leadership at its core: knowing your people, understanding their motivators, and connecting their work to impact.”

Integrating AI in a human-centred way

Although employees need meaningful work and recognition, they also need the right support – especially when new tech is being integrated into businesses.

As an AI-driven tech company, Workday created AI tools for employees to use – only to find that less than half of the workforce were utilizing them.

To understand what was causing the blocker, Workday asked employees directly to find they felt they either didn’t have enough time to use the tools, they were unsure how to do so, or they did not believe the tools were accurate or reliable. 

From this, the business understood that there isn’t a tool gap, but a people gap. 

“We had to meet employees where they were, so we launched our EverydayAI program,” Willburn notes. “Carl stood up [at Workday Rising 2025] in front of all the employees and made it clear: this is important. 

“Every employee at Workday would set a personal goal for how they would use AI in their day-to-day work.”

Part of this trust is ensuring that AI remains human-centered, meaning human skills are evaluated while repetitive and transactional work is removed. AI should therefore be used for tasks such as note-taking or data entry, to free up time for collaboration and creativity. 

Workday research supported this, suggesting that employees that use AI gained approximately two extra hours a week to spend with colleagues. 

Willburn explains that this is not a “AI versus humans,” but rather a blend of both together, with organizations needing strategies that pair digital efficiency with human connection.

Sharing his concluding thoughts, Willburn highlights that he’s noticed that HR is often not leading or even participating in the roll out of AI tools that directly impact their workforce.

Instead, IT often leads the force: buying and deploying the tools. The strategy office reinforces the message, and the CEO signals its importance. Yet the biggest value of AI won’t come from the tools themselves – it will come from adoption, usage, and employees seeing AI as a colleague, not just another piece of technology.

 

This is where HR comes in. HR leaders need to be at the table, side by side with their executives and IT counterparts, helping guide this together.

“Because HR’s perspective is the unlock – that’s where the magic happens.

“So my one piece of advice: If you’re not at that table yet, find a way to get there.”