One thing was more or less certain ahead of Workday Rising: Workday needed to come up with new AI agents. That’s precisely what it’s doing by expanding the Workday Illuminate AI platform. New specialized agents are being introduced for HR, finance, and specific industries or processes. The agents are designed to automate complex business processes, making it easier to perform performance reviews, workforce planning, and financial closing.
This announcement follows disappointing results from AI investments in the market. An MIT study reveals that, despite spending billions on AI last year, only 5% of organizations have actually achieved a return on their investment.
“Too many AI efforts amount to random acts of automation that never scale or deliver real value,” said Gerrit Kazmaier, president of product & technology at Workday. “The barrier of self-building AI on legacy systems and closed platforms is simply too high.”
Workday claims that its approach is different because it integrates AI agents directly into workflows, transforming processes to deliver concrete business results.
New HR agents
The new HR agents take the Workday platform to new heights. They focus on streamlining workforce and talent management. An agent can also prepare performance reviews. There are new agents for:
- Business Process Copilot Agent, which automates the implementation and configuration of new business processes
- Case Agent, handles administrative tasks to reduce resolution times
- Document Intelligence for Contingent Labor Agent, which speeds up SOW creation and contract management
- Employee Sentiment Agent, which analyzes continuous employee feedback and provides insights
- Job Architecture Agent, automates the creation of job ladders
- Performance Agent, analyzes performance data from various enterprise applications
Financial agents for speed and insight
The Finance agents are designed to streamline reconciliation, testing, and planning:
- Cost & Profitability Agent, simplifies cost and profitability through natural language
- Financial Close Agent, streamlines the financial close process with automation and real-time visibility
- Financial Test Agent, continuously tests finances to detect fraud and enable compliance
Industry-specific solutions
For specific industries, Workday introduces agents that simplify specialized workflows:
- Academic Requirements Agent automates the creation of academic requirements for educational institutions
- Student Administration Agent automates repetitive student administrative tasks
Existing agents deliver measurable results
Workday presented the performance of existing agents that are already available:
- Contract Intelligence Agent reduces contract execution time by 65%
- Frontline Agent shortens time for personnel changes by up to 90%
- Financial Audit Agent saves early access customers up to 900 hours per year
- Payroll Agent automates payroll tasks up to 4x faster
- Planning Agent reduces data exploration and analysis by 30%
- Recruiter Agent helped General Motors reduce candidate screening by 70%
- Talent Mobility Agent enabled AdventHealth to save $68 million in agency expenses in 12 months
Workday Flex Credits for flexible AI adoption
With the introduction of Workday Flex Credits, Workday is introducing a new consumption model designed to make AI adoption more accessible. This transparent, subscription-based system gives organizations flexibility in implementing AI innovations.
Customers receive an initial allocation of Flex Credits as part of their Workday subscription, which is renewed annually. Organizations can add more credits as their AI usage expands, without complicated tiers or hidden costs. The credits are universally applicable to various Workday agents and platform innovations.
Availability
The new Illuminate agents will be available in 2026. Workday Flex Credits can be purchased starting today. The company emphasizes that AI innovation is built directly into the Workday platform and delivered continuously, so customers always have access to the latest agents and platform enhancements.
Also read: Workday Data Cloud gives you direct access to HR and financial data