Why Candidates Hate Workday (And How to Fix It)
While Workday offers strong features for HR teams, its long-winded application process leads to 70% fewer applications and significant talent loss. Simplify can help deliver the streamlined application experience that today's top candidates expect.
In today's competitive job market, creating a seamless job application experience isn't just a nice-to-have—it's essential for attracting top talent. However, many companies unintentionally create significant barriers in their hiring process through their applicant tracking system (ATS). Workday, a popular and widely adopted option, has become notorious among job seekers for its cumbersome application process. It’s the most popular option for ATS among Fortune 500 companies – and the most hated among job seekers.
The Candidate Experience Problem
The challenges associated with applying through Workday extend beyond minor inconveniences. These frustrations are causing qualified candidates to abandon applications mid process, potentially costing companies their next amazing hire. In fact, 60% of job seekers quit in the middle of filling out online job applications because of the length and complexity.
Tedious Application Process
The typical Workday application process feels like filling out the same information and fields 100+ times. Despite candidates uploading their resumes, they're often required to manually input their work history, education, and other details into separate fields. This redundancy isn't just frustrating—it's time consuming. What should be a 5 minute application often turns into a 30 minute ordeal….which adds up over time!
Research also shows that:
- 43% of companies say that the application phase is the most popular drop off area
- 49% of candidates would consider applying for a role instantly if the process was simple
Account Creation Fatigue
One of the main pain points is the requirement to create a new account for every company using Workday. Imagine a job seeker applying to ten different companies—that's TEN separate Workday accounts to create and manage. Each account requires:
- A unique username and password
- Personal information verification
- Email confirmation
- Privacy policy acceptance
This repetitive process creates what psychologists call "decision fatigue," where candidates become overwhelmed by the number of steps required before they can even begin their application.
Poor Mobile Optimization
In an era where 2/3 job searches happen on mobile devices, Workday's mobile experience falls short. Users report numerous issues such as:
- Forms that don't scale properly to mobile screens
- Tiny text fields that are difficult to tap
- Upload buttons that don't work consistently on mobile browsers
- Sessions that timeout frequently, losing entered data
Frustration and Drop Off Rates
The numbers say a lot concerning how frustrated candidates are with Workday.
As mentioned earlier, completion rates drop significantly (365%) when the process exceeds 15 minutes. Appcast, a recruitment data provider, found the drop off rate to be 92% for people who click "Apply," but do not complete an application. Companies are losing 92% of interested candidates before even having a chance to evaluate their qualifications!
The Employer's Perspective
While Workday offers robust features for HR teams, its lack of friendly user interface and impact on candidate experience comes with hidden costs that affect your entire recruitment funnel.
The Hidden Cost of a Bad Application Process
The 70% reduction in applications isn't just a number—it represents thousands of potential candidates who might be perfect for your roles but are deterred by the application process. This reduction in your talent pool has rippling effects:
- Increased time to fill positions
- Higher recruitment marketing costs
- Decreased hire quality due to limited candidate options
These immediate impacts only scratch the surface of the true business cost. You may face deeper organizational challenges:
Extended Vacancies Impact Team Performance: When positions stay open longer, existing team members must take on additional responsibilities. This increased workload can lead to burnout, decreased morale, and even additional turnover—creating a snowball effect of staffing challenges. Meanwhile, critical projects and initiatives remain understaffed, potentially causing your organization to miss market opportunities.
Marketing Costs Increase: As application completion rates drop, talent acquisition teams must cast an increasingly wider net. This means spending more on job board visibility, social media advertising, and recruitment marketing campaigns just to maintain the same candidate flow. You may find your company paying premium prices for recruitment platforms and agencies to compensate for these inefficiencies.
Quality Compromises Create Long-term Issues: A limited candidate pool often forces hiring managers into uncomfortable compromises. When faced with pressing vacancies and few candidates, they may need to lower their standards or rush decisions. These compromises can lead to poor culture fits, increased training needs, and higher turnover rates—starting the expensive hiring cycle all over again.
Missed Opportunities
Top candidates, particularly those in high-demand fields like technology and executive leadership, often have multiple opportunities available to them. These candidates are less likely to complete lengthy application processes, especially when competitors offer more streamlined alternatives. Your application process might be unintentionally filtering out your most qualified candidates.
Recruiting Bottlenecks
For HR teams, Workday's structure can create additional issues:
- Manual data verification due to incomplete applications
- Increased need for candidate follow up
- Higher volume of support requests related to application issues
- Extended time spent managing duplicate candidate profiles
Simplify is the Solution for a Better Candidate Experience
We have good news....you don't have to choose between Workday's robust features and a positive candidate experience. Simplify offers a simple solution that bridges this gap.
What is Simplify?
Simplify is an innovative auto fill solution, offering a free browser extension that works seamlessly with Workday to streamline the application process. It acts as an intelligent layer between candidates and your application system, automatically populating required fields while maintaining the data integrity your HR team needs.
How It Works
The process is straightforward for users:
1. Install the Simplify browser extension
2. Upload their resume once to create their Simplify profile
3. Click "Autofill" when applying to any Workday position
4. Review pre-populated information and submit
Employer Benefits
Implementing Simplify creates immediate positive impacts:
Increased Application Volume
- Reduction in application abandonment rates
- Higher conversion from job view to application submission
- Broader candidate pool due to reduced barriers
Enhanced Employer Brand
- Improved candidate perception of your organization
- Higher likelihood of candidates recommending your company to peers
- Better reviews on employment sites regarding application process
Accelerated Hiring Process
- Reduced time-to-fill positions
- More complete applications requiring less follow-up
- Increased focus on candidate evaluation rather than data collection
Taking Action
Are you ready to improve your candidate experience while maintaining your investment in Workday? Here are the next steps:
- Educate Your Team
- Share information about Simplify with your recruiting team
- Update application instructions to include Simplify information
- Train recruiters on how to guide candidates through the simplified process
- Update Your Communications
- Add Simplify information to job postings
- Include Simplify details in application confirmation emails
- Create resources explaining how candidates can use Simplify
- Monitor the Results
- Track application completion rates
- Gather candidate feedback
- Measure time to fill metrics
Don't let a tedious and long application process cost you top talent. By implementing Simplify, you can maintain Workday's robust features while providing candidates with the streamlined experience they expect in today's job market.
Ready to learn more about how Simplify can transform your candidate experience? Visit Simplify for more information and to see the solution in action.