Users consistently describe Workday's interface as 'not even close to intuitive' with hidden required fields and too many ways to reach the same destination. New users report spending hours trying to find basic features like pay slips, with one user stating 'finding a payslip takes over an hour.' The UI reportedly feels like it 'was designed in 2003 and never updated.'

Job applicants must create a new account for every company using Workday, even though ideally one account should suffice. The resume parser frequently fails, putting names with 'every letter repeated 3-4 times' or requiring complete manual re-entry. Users report the word 'hate' appears in 40% of top Reddit posts about using Workday to apply for jobs.

Workday's ATS focuses on HRIS and lacks sourcing automation, candidate engagement tools, and recruiter-centric workflows that standalone ATS platforms provide. The mobile experience isn't intuitive, leading to high candidate drop-off rates and limiting the quality of the candidate pipeline for companies heavily relying on mobile applicants.

Users report frequent password resets without advance notification causing lockouts. The login and password procedures are cumbersome with complex multi-factor authentication. Some users describe having to type login and password each time they open the app, then immediately answer security questions before accessing anything.

Workday does not publish pricing publicly, requiring custom quotes. Companies under 500 employees typically pay $150K-$300K annually for HCM & Payroll. Mid-size companies (500-2,500 employees) pay $300K-$500K. Implementation costs add another 100-200% of annual fees, meaning a $300K deal could cost $600K-$900K in year one.

The company is quite rigid with subscription agreements which can be challenging when organizational changes happen within a 3-7 year period. Many features cost extra and are not available out of the box, requiring upgrades or extra configuration to unlock full potential. Organizations find it difficult to scale down or adjust during business changes.

While Workday advertises 3-4 month implementations for mid-market, most organizations spend anywhere from 3 months to 2 years in 'firefighter mode' after go-live. Research shows IT projects like Workday implementations exceed budgets by 75% and overrun schedules by 46% on average. Partner selection heavily impacts success - poor partners lead to endless rework.

Users report clicking anything comes with a 5-second delay, with multiple reviewers describing the system as 'painfully slow.' Large organizations face significant page load delays, and each week switch in timesheets requires multiple seconds to load. The mobile app freezes frequently, especially during clock-in/clock-out operations.

Users report Workday is 'SO bad and don't even have a way to contact them for feedback or complaints.' Customer support uses a ticketing model with 24-72 hour turnaround times before callbacks. During implementation, inadequate support staff training and insufficient resources lead to frustration, delays, and decreased productivity.

Some employees reported not getting paid in a given week, which happened multiple times after go-live. In severe cases, employees' 401K contributions were not actually going to the 401K even though money was being pulled from their weekly salary. These payroll failures create serious employee trust issues and compliance risks.

Workday has scheduled weekly maintenance windows where tenants are down: Production tenants Friday 11PM-Saturday 3AM PT, Sandbox tenants Friday 6PM-Saturday 6AM PT. Organizations running global operations or with weekend payroll deadlines find these regular outages disruptive. StatusGator has recorded 100+ incident notifications since 2024.

The mobile app freezes when trying to clock in or clock out, with reports that it completely locks up phones requiring device restart. When answering security questions during time tracking, the screen freezes. Users say it takes 3 times as long to clock in compared to a simple card swipe, with constant technical issues whether using browser or app.

In August 2025, Workday suffered a data breach through social engineering attacks. Hackers accessed a database containing business contact information for up to 11,000 corporate customers and 70 million individual user records. The breach was part of a larger campaign that also targeted Google, Adidas, and Qantas through phishing and malicious OAuth applications.

Large organizations report limited report customization which frustrates data-driven HR teams. Workday HCM may not suit teams seeking simpler configuration, broader integration flexibility, or more predictable pricing structures. Custom development requires specialized skills driving up costs, and highly customized systems complicate future upgrades.

The biggest challenge for any enterprise is data migration and report management. Workday often needs to integrate with legacy systems and third-party applications, and ensuring seamless data flow is critical for operational continuity. Organizations report spending months cleaning and mapping data before it can be imported correctly.