There used to be a time when Workday proudly boasted of being an employee-first company. There used to be a time when Workday had a strong culture, ethics, and values. Not anymore. Now it is a soulless, Wall Street-first corporation—one with failed leadership and an endless rat race.
The company’s downfall began around 2–3 years ago and accelerated in the past year. During the pandemic, many senior leaders joined the company, bringing a toxic culture with them. It is equally surprising to see the low quality of many engineering leaders who joined from other large tech corporations. Many of them lack strategic, technical, or leadership skills. Most are highly tactical and could be first-line managers at best.
Red flags began appearing in the engineering departments nearly two years ago. Workday used to have a bottom-up approach, fostering a psychologically safe culture where everyone could share ideas and innovation thrived. The new leaders abolished this and instilled a top-down approach. Many of their ideas were outdated and, in many cases, unfeasible. People who voiced concerns—high performers who were well-liked by their peers—were let go by the new senior leadership. They built their empire through a culture of fear.
In the last year, the culture of fear has turned into a culture of terror. The level of purging has become uncontrollable. Poor leadership decisions have led to multiple engineering failures. Resilience and scalability have taken a serious hit. It’s equally surprising that the leaders responsible for this are still at the helm, with no accountability whatsoever. Anyone who objected to this was shown the door.
Transparency is what’s truly lacking in the company. Yes, everyone knows that cost optimization is important, but without visionary leaders at the top, trust slowly erodes. At this moment, employee trust in leadership has seriously diminished. It will be a Herculean task to win that back. In the meantime, people have entered survival mode, doing the bare minimum while looking for opportunities elsewhere.
