Understanding User Struggles
Customers needed a simple system to change branding and immediately see UI updates. Users should sense the tenant’s brand upon login a branded homepage, hub navigation, and themed icons are essential. Branding flows were mapped for core screens (homepage, org chart, benefits/pay hubs) and for high-frequency actions (job requisition, payment elections).
Streamlining Branding through
User Centered Design
The team developed a new tenant branding admin experience that prioritized:
Direct Feedback
Real-time preview across devices and screen sizes to streamline iteration and validation.
Unified Configuration
A single workflow for branding setup that spans both web and mobile, closing the fragmentation gap.
Accessibility
Clear documentation/help resources linked inline, reducing time wasted on trial and error.
Extensible Theming
Support for advanced concepts such as secondary color, folder-organized image library, and future extensibility for AI-powered quick theme creation.
MVP Focus
Delivered core capabilities including color theming, branded navigation, banner/logo placement, and preview (with a roadmap to extensibility/automation via AI and richer rule-building).
Customers Care About Color
Several brainstorms have been created over the years with customer requests for more color configurations with kudos from Gap, KPMG, and more.
We are interested in adding tenant branding utilizing a dark blue HEX color but during testing we found that the action button color doesn't change and the standard Workday blue color looks odd with our dark blue tenant color. - VMWare
Our primary color is a crimson (hex 9E1B32), and the automatically chosen slightly different crimson hover color blends too closely for it to be a viable accessible option for end users. We will likely need to use our secondary gray color as that has a default hover color with sufficient visual contrast. - Saint Joseph's University
Request is to apply the same custom hex color options to mobile branding configuration so our users can have a consistent and cohesive experience on both desktop and mobile devices. - BJ's Wholesale Club, Inc.
Customers Convey Culture through Iconography
Longstanding brainstorm upvoted by 939 customers across industries and locales, including Puma, Lloyds, Rakuten.
Our marketing department is pretty frustrated that we can't use the images they've created to match our brand. We don't want our employees to have a "Workday" experience, we want them to have a "Noodles" experience. - Noodles & Co
We are anxiously awaiting the ability to upload custom branded images for employee recognition. - Camden National Bank
Our firm would like to have the ability to customize our own feedback badges as well as tie them with our branding and culture. - Hogan Lovells International LLP
Theming Principles
Our guiding values to drive decisions around tenant branding
Great by default, configurable for the last mile
Provide theming default options (with the Workday brand theme as one of them), and optimize tenant branding configuration to promote accessibility, experience cohesion, and the best UX possible. Utilize alerts to guide toward best practices, while giving customers flexibility and control.
A cohesive, unified experience platform
Focus on commonly configurable elements across enterprise systems to create parity and ensure that when customers centralize experience in Workday, 3rd party brands are complementary.
Effortless tenant branding application
Leverage AI to streamline configurations and apply best practices automatically.
Product Demo
Here's a quick look at GenAI Theming in Workday.
Impact
Delivering Real Outcomes
Ownership
Admins can now independently brand tenant environments, reducing reliance on product support or technical resources.
Time Savings
Branding tasks that used to take days (or even weeks with complex rules) can now be completed in hours, with the preview feature drastically reducing iteration cycles.
User Delight
Admins consistently found the UI intuitive, with reusable themes and immediate feedback cited as major positives. The updated configuration has improved customer satisfaction and promoted platform "stickiness" through more authentic tenant representation.
Business Results
Reduced errors, improved adoption of branding features, accelerated onboarding, and established a clearer competitive stance relative to peer HCM platforms offering rich branding.
Key Learnings
Insights Driving the Next Iteration
User Empathy Drives Design
Direct admin observation proved critical, surfacing gaps not just in function but in knowledge workflows and expectations.
Preview is Pivotal
The ability to see branded changes in real time is a make-or-break feature for admin efficiency and satisfaction.
Documentation Must Be Contextual
Inline help and documentation links prevent workflow breakdown and accelerate onboarding.
Scalability Matters
Flexible, extensible systems for image management and rule-building address needs of Workday’s most complex tenant customers.
