Equipping Tomorrow’s Workforce to Succeed in the New Skills Economy

Take a moment to reflect: How does the work you’re doing today compare to what you were doing—and how you were doing it—five years ago? Now consider what your work might look like five years into the future.

If your answer is that your work has evolved in ways you couldn’t predict, and will continue to do so, you’re in good company. As advancing technologies produce novel ideas, new opportunities, and entirely fresh ways of operating, the nature of work is shifting faster than ever before. 

Consider that between 2019 and 2022 alone, the U.S. labor market saw 8.6 million occupational transitions, McKinsey research shows, a 50% increase from the previous three-year period. And by 2030, another 12 million job changes may be needed as generative artificial intelligence (AI) and other forces alter labor demand.

What’s more, in-demand skills are also shifting at an unprecedented rate. In 2016, companies surveyed by the World Economic Forum predicted that 35% of workers’ skills would be disrupted in the following five years. In 2023, that figure has risen to 44%. No wonder, then, that 3 in 4 organizations worldwide can’t find skilled workers.

Taking Control Through Upskilling and Digital Training

To confront this talent shortage and improve agility, companies are moving away from focusing on traditional credentials and instead looking for workers with specific capabilities who can thrive in dynamic environments. At the same time, workers are looking for affordable, flexible educational paths so they can continually build new skills to remain competitive.

So how can companies and workers alike continue to grow—and make sure opportunities and skills  are aligned? 

Here at Workday, we’re not only helping our customers implement skills-based strategies—we’re also undertaking our own skills-based training evolution. We think our journey offers an interesting perspective on the future of digital education and upskilling, so I’d like to share our story.

Introducing Learn with Workday

As Workday has grown steadily over the years, we’ve been fortunate enough to gain more than 10,000 customers who trust Workday as a platform enabling them to better manage their people and finances. And as technology has advanced, we’ve stayed on the cutting edge, embedding AI and machine learning (ML) into the core of our platform while making data integration and data analysis easier than ever before. As a result, our customers are continually finding new ways to leverage their Workday investment to drive business outcomes.

Right now, customers rely on experts at Workday and dozens of partner organizations—to deploy Workday  and maximize customers’ ongoing value. To ensure the quality of project resources, and ultimately customer success, we’ve maintained rigorous training and certification processes for these experts, which can only be obtained by working for Workday, a customer, or a partner.

Today, there are 60,000 openings for Workday jobs in the U.S., and to keep pace with our growth, and the increasing needs of our customers, we needed to expand our training offerings. And so we’ve decided to open entry-level Learn with Workday training to the general public, with the goal of creating a pipeline of Workday-primed talent with in-demand skills who will support  our customers and continue to drive success well into the future.

Whether they are seasoned professionals or just starting out, Learn with Workday training will help individuals  become more attractive to future employers while developing the confidence, skills, and knowledge they need to accelerate their career with Workday technology.

Workday Basics, teaches participants about the core features and frameworks that are key to the Workday value proposition. In roughly five hours of self-directed study, learners will become familiar with Workday terminology and products. They’ll understand how Workday consolidates multiple sources of data into a single view, enabling organizations to quickly uncover insights and increase agility. They’ll also be introduced to the configurable business process and security frameworks that organization’s use to keep up with their changing business needs.

Workday Beyond Basics, lets students continue their journey to learn more about additional Workday products and explore real-world examples of how businesses around the world drive better outcomes. By the end of the five-hour course, participants will understand how organizations can configure Workday with their own brand, deploy company-wide Workday updates in minutes, configure security settings to allow role-based access, create customized reports, and add additional Workday products to boost productivity.

Upon completing the Workday Basic Series, learners will earn a digital badge that validates their accomplishment and signals to the marketplace that they’re ready to continue their Workday journey. They’ll also gain access to the Learn with Workday Talent Directory, a resource for Workday customers and partners to search  for Workday-primed  talent.

Future-proofing careers

While Learn with Workday is just beginning, we’re excited about the early feedback we’ve received. Our learners come from diverse backgrounds: They’re entry-level employees looking to gain an edge as they begin their careers, as well as mid-career technology and human resources experts who want to transition to new opportunities, but didn’t previously have an opportunity to learn Workday.

Holly, a learning management system (LMS) administrator, was inspired by potential opportunities afforded by the training. “As an LMS/HRIS administrator, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to obtain new roles without Workday experience, so the digital badge and certificate of completion will hopefully open doors,” she says.

Similarly, Swetha, a senior HR professional, finished the courses with a new sense of excitement about her career growth, noting: “I learned so much from the Learn with Workday courses and can’t wait to find a position where I can leverage my new skills.” 

As Learn with Workday grows, we are committed to expanding the coursework to dive deeper into specific Workday roles. We want individuals to see clear paths for growth, and to feel confident that they are building resilient skills in the face of ongoing change.

Unquestionably, the way we work will continue to evolve. And while we may not know exactly what the future of work holds, we know it will require highly skilled and adaptable workers. We hope Learn with Workday will serve as a tool for talent in the marketplace and companies alike to meet the needs of the working world, both for today and tomorrow.