The ‘great resignation’ is still going on and has impacted many Workday customers.

Let’s say that you have posted an open position and can’t find anyone with Workday experience. Is it easier, or better, to hire someone with a SME background in HR, Accounting, Recruiting, etc. or to hire someone with an IT background?

From my standpoint, it depends on the position.
– If you are looking for a Workday Studio programmer, a Workday Extend programmer, then they really need to have IT / programming experience. If you are looking for someone to support Prism, an IT and data analytics background would be helpful.

– If you are looking for someone to support most other Workday areas (pick your module- HCM, Benefits, Payroll, Learning, Finance, Expenses, etc.), I think it is better to select an SME that has demonstrated the ability to pick up technology quickly. Then they can leverage both their SME experience and ability to learn technology as they support users in their area of functional expertise. For example, I’ve found it really helpful to have a SHRM certified person, which strong HR experience, on our team.

Another way to ask the question is- is it easier to teach an IT person to understand and care about the complexity of HR processes, general ledger processes, grant management, talent development plans, etc. OR is it easier to take someone with SME level experience in any of the above areas and teach them how to use Workday?

This perspective comes from leading an internal Workday support team for 5 years. It grew to 7 people, none of which had ever worked in IT before or had IT college degrees. We started as an HRIS team and then were moved into IT when we started supporting Workday Finance. I was always on the lookout for SMEs that really enjoyed using Workday as people to build into and as potential people to ask to join our Workday support team.

What types of people do you look for when you are hiring for your internal Workday support team?

>>> If you do find yourself in a position where you need temporary Workday support help while you are searching for a permanent hire, I’m part of a large pool of independent consultants with many years of Workday experience that love to help Workday customers. Just let me know how we can help!