Administration

Workday is working for Penn State

Recent survey highlights user experience

Credit: Penn StateCreative Commons

The WorkLion Management Office (WMO) has released the results of the first-ever Workday survey conducted in late 2020. Workday is Penn State's human resources and payroll system that includes functionality for benefits, payroll, time tracking, absence management and talent management functionality. 

The survey assessed how employees use and view the Workday system. With representation from every Commonwealth Campus, the survey garnered almost 2,500 responses, 94% of which were either faculty or staff members, and 6% student employees. Furthermore, 50% of respondents identified themselves as having elevated responsibilities within Workday, such as a manager or timekeeper.

Overall, 63% of employees reported using Workday at least once-a-week, and the overwhelming majority of all respondents, 74%, have had a positive experience when completing tasks or looking for information within Workday. When in the system, users reported positive experiences when reviewing and updating their benefits and their personal information, such as address, contact and personal data.

The area that received the highest positive response was payroll. Nearly nine in 10 respondents reported having a positive experience completing payroll-related tasks within Workday, such as reviewing pay information, updating their W2, making payment and withholding elections, and viewing documents, pay slips, and time sheets.

Respondents also provided ideas for further system enhancements in areas such as site navigation, training documents, processes and workflows, and reports.

“The WMO team is constantly looking for ways to enhance the Workday configuration in collaboration with our HR and Payroll partners,” said Rina Kumar, director of the WMO. “As the Workday cloud product grows, we will continue to leverage the investment Penn State has made in the system and drive improvements for our users. I am grateful for the responses and positive results. We will use the feedback and comments to guide our work going forward.”

Last Updated February 8, 2021