Reduced Employee Attrition

Evidence and data. Interviewees reported that implementing Workday Prism Analytics and People Analytics was important to reducing employee attrition. They noted that the ability to combine real-time workforce data with predictive analytics helped their organizations identify attrition risks and intervene earlier in the employee lifecycle.

Workday Prism provided HR teams with immediate visibility into workforce trends to detect early indicators of employee disengagement, such as declining engagement scores or performance metrics. Several interviewees emphasized that this real-time access allowed them to take corrective actions before patterns escalated into turnover.

Additionally, interviewees highlighted that People Analytics allowed their HR teams to identify employees most likely to leave using historical data. By assessing trends and retention drivers, organizations could deploy targeted retention strategies with greater precision. They explained that this predictive approach allowed their HR teams to allocate resources more effectively and focus interventions where they would have the greatest impact.

• The director of people operations in retail shared how People Analytics helped identify the cause of high attrition rates at their fulfillment centers. They found that many employees were leaving due to insufficient understanding of their benefits and the absence of Spanish-speaking support. Using People Analytics allowed the team to track attrition patterns and identify these issues. As a result, they implemented Spanish- and English-speaking team member services on-site. This intervention led to a noticeable decrease in attrition, and their team continued to use People Analytics to monitor workforce trends and make improvements.

• The manager of people analytics in education explained that they leveraged Prism Analytics data to gain insight into workforce trends and turnover drivers during a period of heightened attrition across industries. They said: “When the Great Resignation hit, we put together a team to monitor our workforce data. I built a discovery board using Prism Analytics data that highlighted our turnover trends, even though our attrition wasn’t as high as other organizations during that time. Having that insight allowed us to shift our focus from merely trying to reduce attrition to strategically developing our employees and hiring more in line with our needs. Our recent investment in a skills and career path module is a direct result of that approach.”

Modeling and assumptions. Based on the interviews, Forrester assumes the following about the composite organization:

• The composite organization has 5,000 employees.

• Before implementing Workday’s Prism Analytics and People Analytics, the composite has a 20% voluntary turnover rate.

• With Workday Prism Analytics and People Analytics, the composite organization reduces its voluntary turnover rate by 5% in Year 1, 7% in Year 2, and 10% in Year 3.

• The average fully burdened annual salary of an affected employee is $91,520.

• The average cost of replacing an employee is 30% of their annual salary. This is a conservative measure that considers recruiting, onboarding, and training costs and temporary productivity losses as new hires ramp up.

Risks. This benefit will vary among organizations based on:

• Employee count.

• The average voluntary turnover rate before Workday.

• The average fully burdened annual salaries of affected employees.

• The average cost of replacing an employee as a percentage of their annual salary.

Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 10%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $4.4 million.

Financial And Business Reporting Efficiencies

Evidence and data. Interviewees noted that Workday Prism Analytics gave their organizations’ FP&A teams a centralized, reliable source of financial and operational data. Its ability to integrate information from Workday and external systems reduced the need for manual reconciliation and minimized discrepancies in reports. Automated data quality checks and governed workflows in Prism Analytics ensured consistency across datasets, which reduced errors and limited the back-and-forth typically required during audit reviews. As a result, finance teams completed audits faster and with greater confidence in their data. Prism Analytics also significantly reduced the time spent on manual data preparation for business reporting. With real-time access to integrated datasets, FP&A teams no longer had to reconcile spreadsheets or verify data across systems and could devote more time to analysis, scenario planning, and forecasting.

• The director of people operations in retail explained that before Prism Analytics, the FP&A resources at their organization spent up to nine hours finalizing audit agreements due to extensive back-and-forth communication via emails and the manual process of reviewing and verifying data in spreadsheets.
  
  The director of people operations also discussed how their organization eliminated duplicative reporting efforts: “We had around 100 different HR reports that were generated by different tools and users with varying preferences, which created a lot of additional work for us. When we started doing our reporting on Workday, we decided on five key reports, communicated them to all our regions, and eliminated the need for multiple people creating different reports.”

• The manager of people analytics in education said: “One of the top benefits of Prism in my view is faster reporting. We used to create reports based on data pulled from different sources, which took a really long time. Once we moved our data to Prism Analytics, everything updated daily. Our dashboard, discovery board, and standard reports are much faster and more reliable. That kind of performance improvement matters, especially to business leaders who don’t have time to wait and need answers quickly.”

Modeling and assumptions. Based on the interviews, Forrester assumes the following about the composite organization:

• The composite organization has 50 FP&A team members.

• Before Workday, the FP&A resources spend 15% of their time on auditing.

• With Workday, the composite organization reduces the time spent on auditing by 50% in Year 1, 53% in Year 2, and 55% in Year 3.

• The average fully burdened annual salary of an FP&A resource is $95,680.

• Before Workday, the composite’s FP&A resources spend 50% of their time on reporting activities.

• With Workday, the composite organization reduces the time spent on reporting activities by 55% in Year 1, 60% in Year 2, and 65% in Year 3.

• For this benefit, the composite has a productivity recapture rate of 50%. Employees spend most of the time they save on activities that generate business value, but do not dedicate all reclaimed time to value-added work.

Risks. This benefit will vary among organizations based on:

• FP&A team size.

• Time spent on auditing and reporting activities before Workday.

• The fully burdened annual salary of an FP&A resource.

Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 10%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $2.0 million.

Accelerated Employee Onboarding Due To Process Optimization

Evidence and data. Interviewees shared that Workday Prism Analytics played a key role in accelerating employee onboarding by streamlining task coordination across HR, IT, and compliance teams. With a centralized view of onboarding progress, HR teams no longer had to rely on manual check-ins or emails to ensure new hires completed each step. This visibility allowed them to track onboarding milestones in real time and proactively address delays, such as incomplete forms, stalled training, or postponed start dates, before they became blockers. Interviewees also mentioned that HR teams leveraged Prism Analytics data to analyze trends in the onboarding process. This analysis allowed them to identify recurring bottlenecks and implement targeted improvements, such as adjusting training schedules or refining IT setup procedures, creating more efficient workflows.

In addition to accelerating new employees’ time to productivity, Prism Analytics also improved operational efficiency for HR teams. Automating routine administrative tasks and identifying process inefficiencies meant HR specialists spent less time manually tracking onboarding progress, sending follow-up emails, and coordinating approvals across departments. Instead of chasing updates on paperwork completion, system access provisioning, or compliance training, HR teams could rely on real-time dashboards to monitor progress and intervene only when necessary. Additionally, automated status updates kept new hires informed about their next steps, which reduced the number of inquiries to HR specialists about onboarding timelines and requirements.

• The EVP of global operations in insurance explained: “We’ve been able to speed up our employee onboarding process up to 30%, so they’re able to start their work more quickly. We’ve also improved the consistency of our onboarding process. Now, we go through a checklist to make sure that every step, including reviewing policies, signing documents, and receiving their workstation setup, is covered.”

Modeling and assumptions. Based on the interviews, Forrester assumes the following about the composite organization:

• The composite organization hires 1,000 new employees each year.

• Before Workday, the average initial onboarding time per employee was 40 hours.

• With Workday, the composite reduces initial onboarding time by 10% each year.

• The average fully burdened hourly rate of an affected employee is $44.

• Before Workday, HR specialists spend 2 hours on initial onboarding activities per new employee.

• With Workday, the composite reduces time spent on HR-driven initial onboarding activities by 75%.

• The average fully burdened hourly rate of an HR specialist is $31.

• For this benefit, the composite has a productivity recapture rate of 50%. Employees spend most of the time they save on activities that generate business value, but do not dedicate all reclaimed time to value-added work.

Risks. This benefit will vary among organizations based on:

• New employees hired each year.

• Initial onboarding time per employee before Workday.

• The average fully burdened hourly rate of an affected employee.

• The average time spent on initial onboarding activities per new employee before Workday.

• The average fully burdened hourly rate of an HR specialist.

Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 10%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $249,000.

Streamlined Performance Review Preparation For People Leaders

Evidence and data. Interviewees noted that leveraging combined insights from Workday Prism Analytics and People Analytics helped improve the efficiency of performance review preparation for their organizations’ people leaders. With People Analytics, managers could access a holistic view of each employee’s contributions, engagement trends, and growth trajectory, and in turn spent less time manually compiling performance data across multiple sources. Workday Prism Analytics complemented this efficiency by integrating data from various systems so their teams could gain deeper insights into workforce trends and performance patterns. Streamlining data access and surfacing key insights allowed managers to quickly identify top performers, pinpoint areas for improvement, and tailor feedback more effectively. This improved visibility not only saved time but also fostered more meaningful performance discussions.

• The EVP of global operations in insurance said: “The time our managers spend on preparing for annual performance reviews with their direct reports has been cut in half. Instead of spending an hour digging through past reviews, coordinating with HR, and pulling together total reward statements, all the data is in one place. Our managers can go in prepared to have those conversations with their employees with a clear sense of their performance history and compensation.”

Modeling and assumptions. Based on the interviews, Forrester assumes the following about the composite organization:

• The composite organization has 500 people managers, each overseeing 10 direct reports.

• Before Workday, each people manager spends 2 hours preparing for annual performance reviews per direct report.

• With Workday, the composite reduces the time spent preparing for annual performance reviews by 50%.

• The average fully burdened hourly rate of a people leader is $60.

• For this benefit, the composite has a productivity recapture rate of 50%. Employees spend most of the time they save on activities that generate business value, but do not dedicate all reclaimed time to value-added work.

Risks. This benefit will vary among organizations based on:

• Number of people managers.

• Time spent on preparing annual performance reviews per direct report before Workday.

• The average fully burdened hourly rate of a people leader.

Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 10%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $336,000.

HR Analyst Efficiencies

Evidence and data. Interviewees described how combining Workday Prism Analytics and People Analytics increased their HR analyst teams’ efficiency by streamlining reporting processes. Before Workday, HR analysts pulled data from various HR systems, spreadsheets, and third-party platforms to compile recurring and ad hoc reports. Recurring reports often included monthly headcount updates, attrition summaries, and DEI dashboards, each requiring consistent formatting and data validation. Ad hoc reports were typically generated in response to leadership or compliance requests and included more complex, one-off analyses like workforce trends by region, compensation modeling, or turnover breakdowns by department.

With Workday Prism Analytics and People Analytics, teams could automatically access and validate data across systems in a centralized platform. Prism Analytics made it easier to produce recurring reports by centralizing data collection and reducing errors, and People Analytics offered dynamic filtering and visualization tools that helped analysts quickly respond to custom requests. Together, these tools reduced the time analysts spent on manual preparation and ultimately enabled them to deliver insights to business leaders faster.

• The director of people operations in retail explained how self-service reporting enabled their business leaders to access key workforce metrics quickly without relying on HR analysts: “We can drill down into our dashboards very easily to pull metrics in seconds. If someone needs to know our attrition rate, I can open the dashboard, set the dates, and I’ll have that number in two seconds.”
  
  The director of people operations continued: “When our head of DEI wants to see data around pay gaps by age or ethnicity, we can easily pull reports based on any specific needs or questions. We’re pulling data from one system in 10 minutes instead of pulling data from 10 systems in three weeks.”

Modeling and assumptions. Based on the interviews, Forrester assumes the following about the composite organization:

• The composite organization has 35 HR analyst team members.

• On average, the HR analyst team produces 30 unique, recurring HR reports per quarter. This metric refers to the distinct categories of reports produced, such as headcount, attrition, and DEI, which may be customized or versioned for different departments or business units.

• Before Workday, it takes 1 hour to produce each unique, recurring HR report.

• With Workday, the composite organization reduces the time spent producing unique, recurring HR reports by 90% in Year 1, 93% in Year 2, and 95% in Year 3.

• The average fully burdened hourly rate of an HR analyst is $38.

• On average, each HR analyst produces two ad hoc HR reports per quarter.

• Before Workday, it takes 5 hours to produce each ad hoc HR report.

• With Workday, the composite organization reduces the time spent producing ad hoc HR reports by 80% in Year 1, 85% in Year 2, and 90% in Year 3.

• For this benefit, the composite has a productivity recapture rate of 50%. Employees spend most of the time they save on activities that generate business value, but do not dedicate all reclaimed time to value-added work.

Risks. This benefit will vary among organizations based on:

• HR analyst team size.

• Number of recurring unique and ad hoc HR reports produced per quarter.

• Time spent producing recurring unique and ad hoc HR reports before Workday.

• The average fully burdened hourly rate of an HR analyst.

Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 10%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $55,000.

Reduced M&A Effort

Evidence and data. Before implementing Workday Prism Analytics, M&A efforts were highly manual, as resources across various departments had to consolidate data from multiple systems, reconcile inconsistencies, validate information, and ensure accuracy across platforms. Without a centralized data source, tracking and integrating workforce and financial metrics was inefficient and prone to error. Interviewees said that Prism Analytics automated data ingestion, transformation, and validation, which reduced administrative burden and improved data reliability so teams could focus on postmerger strategy and execution instead of data management.

• The VP of HRIS in healthcare shared that integrating financial and workforce data during M&A activities used to take six months but could now be done in just a few days with Prism Analytics. They explained: “We’ve seen tremendous time savings on M&A activity. As soon as a new deal closes and the legal agreement is finalized, we’re able to set everything up right away. In the past, we would have to manually transfer large volumes of data from multiple systems and had to ensure that all the data was accurate, compliant, and aligned with our existing frameworks. With Prism Analytics, we can integrate everything, including compensation structures, employee records, and benefits information, without having major disruptions to our business operations.”

Modeling and assumptions. Based on the interviews, Forrester assumes the following about the composite organization:

• On average, the composite organization experiences one M&A instance each year.

• The composite organization relies on a cross-functional team of three resources — one each from IT, HR, and finance — to support M&A activities.

• Before Workday, each cross-functional team member spends 1,040 hours on financial and workforce data integration each year.

• With Workday, the composite reduces the time spent on financial and workforce data integration by 80%.

• The average fully burdened hourly rate of a cross-functional HR, IT, and finance team member involved in M&A is $45.

• For this benefit, the composite has a productivity recapture rate of 50%. Employees spend most of the time they save on activities that generate business value, but do not dedicate all reclaimed time to value-added work.

Risks. This benefit will vary among organizations based on:

• Average M&A instances each year.

• Team size and roles involved in financial and workforce data integration for M&A efforts.

• The average time spent on financial and workforce data integration before Workday.

• The average fully burdened hourly rate of a cross-functional team member involved in M&A activities.

• Organization size.

  • The impact of this benefit can vary significantly based on organization size. Larger organizations with more complex M&A transactions are likely to see greater time savings due to larger, geographically dispersed teams and more intricate data integration needs. Smaller organizations may not experience the same scale of benefit.

• Industry differences.

  • The impact of this benefit can vary significantly between industries. For example, M&A processes in financial services often involve stricter regulatory requirements and more complex data handling, which can result in greater time savings. Alternately, M&A efforts in tech or software may focus more on intellectual property and technology integrations with less emphasis on workforce and financial data, which can result in comparatively lower time savings.

Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 10%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $126,000.

System Consolidation And Ongoing Maintenance Cost Savings

Evidence and data. Before investing in Workday Prism Analytics and People Analytics, interviewees’ organizations relied on multiple point solutions for data visualization, reporting, and HR and finance integration. These legacy tools, used for tasks such as employee data management, performance tracking, and financial reporting, often overlapped in functionality and required dedicated IT resources for maintenance and integration. Consolidating capabilities onto a single platform with Workday allowed organizations to retire many legacy point solutions, which led to software licensing cost savings. Interviewees’ organizations also saved labor costs by reallocating IT resources previously dedicated to managing multiple legacy systems.

• The manager of people analytics in education said: “What I appreciate about Workday is that it’s built for users who just want to get the data in and tell the story people are asking about without needing a ton of technical expertise. As long as you understand the basics, like using a common text field such as employee ID to connect datasets, you can get a lot done. We often use a base Workday dataset in Prism Analytics and then integrate other data sources, like exit survey data, without having to write any code or manually build tables. It’s incredibly efficient.”

• The EVP of global operations in insurance shared: “In our previous environment, we had this mix of tools that was clunky and expensive. We had a tool for data analysis, data visualization, and reporting. Prism Analytics and People Analytics let us bring everything under one roof.”

Modeling and assumptions. Based on the interviews, Forrester assumes the following about the composite organization:

• The composite saves $150,000 each year by retiring legacy point solutions previously used for HR and finance functions.

• After Workday, the composite reassigns one IT resource previously dedicated to ongoing management of the legacy environment.

• The average fully burdened annual salary of an IT resource is $97,760.

Risks. This benefit will vary among organizations based on:

• The cost of legacy point solutions.

• IT resources previously dedicated to ongoing management of legacy environment that can be reassigned after transitioning to a consolidated platform with Workday.

• The average fully burdened annual salary of an IT resource.

Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 10%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $555,000.

Unquantified Benefits

Interviewees mentioned the following additional benefits that their organizations experienced but were not able to quantify:

• Avoided excess hires. Interviewees described how Workday Prism Analytics helped ground headcount planning and decision-making in real-time data. With greater visibility into open roles, budgeted headcount, and organizational priorities, HR and operations teams could introduce data-backed processes for approving new positions. Rather than relying on manual tracking or disconnected requests, organizations implemented structured workflows that required justification for each new hire. This shift helped eliminate unnecessary or duplicative hiring to prevent budget overruns.

  • The director of people operations in retail said: “Prism Analytics lets us manage to our budget directly. We’ve been able to eliminate excess hiring because all decisions are driven by the dashboard. We now track frozen positions and require a business case tied to the data before any new role is approved. It’s become a structured process, and it’s saved us from hiring resources that don’t align with business needs.”

• Improved cross-functional collaboration between HR and finance. Interviewees noted that Workday Prism Analytics helped foster stronger alignment between HR and finance teams by providing a shared, reliable source of truth. Prior to Prism, these teams often struggled to align on key operational and workforce metrics. With the introduction of Prism dashboards, HR and finance business partners could meet regularly to review headcount and budgeting decisions using a centralized view, which enabled more productive planning discussions.

  • The director of people operations in retail said: “Before Prism Analytics, HR and finance barely interacted and often argued over the numbers. Now, they meet monthly and use the headcount dashboard as the centerpiece of the conversation. It’s created a structured and collaborative process we never had before.”

• Improved decision-making. Interviewees shared that Prism Analytics helped them make faster, more informed decisions about key operational processes. Providing centralized access to detailed workforce and financial data and drilling down into specific metrics with Prism enabled teams to identify trends and resolve business challenges more efficiently and with greater confidence.

  • The director of people operations in retail said: “Before, we struggled with figuring out things like bonus allocations, tax implications, and compliance with state-specific laws, such as California’s rules on vacation pay accruals. It was a real challenge. With Workday, we can now easily track where people are located and make quicker decisions.”
    
    The director of people operations continued: “When we had to decide where to relocate offices, we used Workday to figure out which would be most convenient based on where our employees are located. To figure that out before Workday, we would have needed to gather data from ten different systems, and the analysis would have taken weeks. We were able to make a confident decision in days rather than months.”

Flexibility

The value of flexibility is unique to each customer. There are multiple scenarios in which a customer might implement Prism Analytics and People Analytics and later realize additional uses and business opportunities, including:

• Expanding use cases and functionality. Interviewees shared that their organizations continuously uncovered additional value from Workday Prism Analytics and People Analytics as they expanded their use of the platforms. Although organizations initially adopted core reporting and workforce insights, they evolved their use over time to support more complex business needs, integrate external datasets, and automate new workflows.

  • The manager of people analytics in education said: “One thing I appreciate about Prism Analytics is that it keeps getting smarter. Looking at the roadmap, it looks like more AI functionality is coming soon, which is exciting. There are some really great developments in the works. One thing I’ve learned from my experience with Workday is that they’re incredibly customer driven. Prism Analytics and People Analytics are consistently being updated and improved because they’re always open to listening and truly take customer feedback to heart.”