Work Intelligence Breaks Jobs Into Tasks to Show Leaders Where AI Can Help, What It Should Augment, and What Has to Stay Human
Work Intelligence Draws on Workday's Deep Understanding of Skills, Already Delivered to More Than 3,450 Customers Through Workday Skills Cloud
LAS VEGAS, Oct. 13, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Workday Rising 2026 – Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ: WDAY), the trusted agentic platform for HR, finance, and IT, today introduced Work Intelligence, which shows companies how AI is changing the work inside each job and which skills their people will need next. It breaks each job into the tasks people do, connects those tasks to the skills they require, and helps leaders plan how to grow their people as work changes. Work Intelligence draws on Workday's deep understanding of skills, delivered through Workday Skills Cloud, which is now used by more than 3,450 customers and built on an ontology of more than 75,000 canonical skills.
Job titles and org charts don't show leaders how AI will truly change work. AI rarely changes a whole job at once. It changes tasks, and as tasks change, the skills that matter most change, too. Work Intelligence shows leaders and employees where that's happening, who already has the skills that are becoming more important, and what training can help people build the rest.
The 2026 Workday Global Workforce Report found that 76% of heavy AI users expect it to create new career opportunities. As new roles emerge, Work Intelligence can help leaders capture that opportunity, getting more value from the people they already have and planning for the roles ahead.
"The basic building block of work is shifting from the job to the task – and without that view, most companies are left guessing whether to hire, build skills, automate, or redesign roles, with no way to know which guess is right," said Nikki Helmer, vice president, talent management and insights, Workday. "Work Intelligence gives leaders the data to thoughtfully redesign roles, build careers, and help people grow into what's next."
Most companies can see headcount, reporting lines, and job titles, but not the tasks that make up each job. Work Intelligence closes that gap from inside Workday, where companies already keep their people, jobs, and skills data. It is built to be more than a one-time workforce study. Leaders get a view of how work is changing, so they can keep planning as business needs and AI agents evolve.
Creating Better Paths for Employees and Anticipating New Roles Created by AI
AI won't just change existing roles, it will create new ones too. As AI becomes part of everyday work, companies will need new roles focused on designing how people and AI agents work together, measuring AI impact, managing agent performance, or deciding where AI should and should not be used. Work Intelligence helps leaders see those needs earlier, so they can plan for the roles and skills the business will need next.
As jobs change Work Intelligence works seamlessly with Workday Decision Intelligence to give leaders and employees a clear picture of internal readiness. By showing which employees already hold key adjacent skills, Decision Intelligence can help quantify the time and cost advantages of growing those skills internally versus hiring externally, equipping leaders with a data-backed case to invest in their people. Neither tool makes decisions about people – they give leaders a clear picture of how work is changing, and people decide what to do with it.
Then, with Workday Learning powered by Sana, companies can turn those insights into personalized learning paths that help people build the skills they need, recommending upskilling aligned to new opportunities. For example, a financial analyst whose manual reconciliation work is increasingly supported by AI can see the forecasting skills that matter most for their next step – and get a personalized path to build them.
Measuring the Impact of AI on Work
Every company investing in AI eventually needs to answer the same question: "Is it working?"
Work Intelligence lets leaders measure the impact of AI on work. They can see how tasks change, how an employee's time shifts to new work, which skills are growing, and whether employees are moving into new roles and responsibilities.
That gives leaders a clearer way to connect AI investment to business value. Instead of relying on assumptions or one-time studies, they can use Work Intelligence to keep planning as work, roles, skills, and AI agents continue to evolve.
Availability
Work Intelligence is now available to early access Workday Human Capital Management (HCM) customers.
For More Information
- Read more about how Workday Decision Intelligence helps HR and finance teams ask, decide, and act on trusted workforce and financial data.
- Learn how Workday's Autopilot Agents get real work done across HR, Finance, and IT.
- Register and attend Workday Rising sessions in the digital program:
- Office of the CHRO Keynote: Supercharge Your People with AI that Anticipates, Advises, and Acts [26-KEY4], Oct. 13 at 11:00am PT.
- Workday Talent Development: Strategy and Vision [26-PSVHR2644], Oct. 13 at 4:30pm PT.
About Workday
Workday operates at the heart of the enterprise – HR, finance, and IT – where the margin for error is effectively zero. By tightly coupling AI with the context, guardrails, and trusted processes that run the business, Workday goes beyond AI that assists work to agents that are capable of driving measurable outcomes. More than 11,500 organizations worldwide, including more than 65% of the Fortune 500, trust Workday to deliver. For more information about Workday, visit workday.com.
© 2026 Workday, Inc. All rights reserved. Workday and the Workday logo are trademarks of Workday, Inc. All other brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements including, among other things, statements regarding Workday's plans, beliefs, and expectations. These forward-looking statements are based only on currently available information and our current beliefs, expectations, and assumptions. Because forward-looking statements relate to the future, they are subject to inherent risks, uncertainties, assumptions, and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict and many of which are outside of our control. If the risks materialize, assumptions prove incorrect, or we experience unexpected changes in circumstances, actual results could differ materially from the results implied by these forward-looking statements, and therefore you should not rely on any forward-looking statements. Risks include, but are not limited to, risks described in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including our most recent report on Form 10-Q or Form 10-K and other reports that we have filed and will file with the SEC from time to time, which could cause actual results to vary from expectations. Workday assumes no obligation to, and does not currently intend to, update any such forward-looking statements after the date of this release, except as required by law.
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SOURCE Workday Inc.