At Workday the number one value is employees, who are also known affectionately as ‘Workmates’. As such Workday encourages all employees to put family front and center of their working lives. Our philosophy is that the wellbeing of our employees’ families are central to the wellbeing of the individual employee, so many of our benefits reflect this approach to holistic family-wide wellness. For example all employees receive access to family-wide private healthcare cover, as well as income protection and life insurance policies. Employees also have access to an EAP program, which offers a range of services from mental health support to financial consultations, all of which can be accessed by any member of the household.
During the pandemic, Workday’s top priority was ensuring all employees and their families put their safety first. For example Workday gave all Workmates extra compensation to cover any additional costs related to Covid-19 (two weeks additional pay), additional funds to set up work from home stations ($500 USD), and Workday gives all carers (which not only captures children but also elder care) $2000 USD per year to cover caring costs, which allows employees to care for their families whilst they work.
Workday also recognises that some employees need additional support to better accommodate caregiving responsibilities, including childcare or eldercare. Workday’s Caregivers Leave of Absence policy provides workmates with daytime caregiving responsibilities to request up to 12 weeks of leave and receive 50% of their normal salary.
Workday also has a deliberate focus on continuously improving diversity and inclusion within the organisation, and introducing policies which are family-friendly continues to help Workday to attract and retain talent amongst under-represented minorities (women are particularly under-represented in the technology industry), such as women with families. These policies are designed to allow women to build meaningful careers at Workday, whilst still balancing their family commitments. Workday also has a Flexible Schedules Policy allowing people to pursue better working arrangements to support caregiving responsibilities, such as a compressed work weeks, an AM/PM split schedule, working non-standard hours or alternate days, or part time schedule requests.
In the event of a family emergency or death, Workday also has policies to support the employee. Workday’s paid compassionate leave allows employees to take up to 10 days paid leave per event. Events can include death of a loved one, friend or pet, as well as events like miscarriage, IVF, Menopause, Domestic Abuse, Home Emergency, Donation (such as bone marrow) & Caregiving.
Workday is also proud of its parental leave policy. Workmates are eligible to take up to 12 weeks of paid leave and receive 100% of their salary to welcome and bond with a new addition to the family (birth or adoption of a child). This benefit is available to all new parents, including mothers, fathers, same-sex couples, and adoptive parents.
Perhaps one of Workday’s most loved family-friendly policies is the Workbaby Gift. Workday sends all new babies a Workbaby kit with some adorable Workday swag!
Amongst the many initiatives Workday has to support families, it is particularly proud of Maven. Workday employees and their partners receive unlimited access to Maven at no cost, which provides family planning and support services for egg freezing, fertility, pregnancy, postpartum, adoption, surrogacy, new parenthood, and returning to work after leave through to a child’s first birthday.
Maven includes over 20 specialties of women’s and family health providers through video chat and messaging with a dedicated Care Coordinator who can help to navigate benefits, such as personal referrals to high-quality fertility clinics and expert resources on every topic. It can also include on-demand video appointments with Maven OB-GYNs, mental health specialists, prenatal nutritionists, lactation consultants, career coaches, and many others.
Workday actively promotes the Maven benefit to all Workmates around the world and has had significant take up, but due to privacy we cannot disclose individual examples from Australia.
By putting a focus on family-wide wellness, this also enhances the wellbeing of the employee, who can be sure the organisation will support them and the wider family through any difficult times. We also know the data clearly shows diversity leads to better business outcomes, so we want to appeal to a broad range of talent including those with family responsibilities, and demonstrate we value and support diversity in its many forms. Overall this leads to a happier and more productive workforce, which is more likely to either join or stay with Workday as an employer of choice.
“At Workday we’ve always been an employee-centric workplace, and we’ve always strived to be an employer of choice. But in recent times employees have really started to question the role of work in their lives, and as a result many are scrutinizing whether their employers can accommodate the needs of the whole family, whether that’s children, aging parents, or even the family pet. At Workday we’ve really thought about what we can offer families, in terms of both flexibility but also support in times of need, and our policies really reflect that care and consideration. As such we think Workday is well positioned to attract and retain employees with families, and nurturing this crucial talent, particularly during this period of talent scarcity, will be critical in the months and years ahead, as Workday pursues its growth ambitions in both Australia and the rest of the world.”
