Workday announces 400 job cuts in customer ops restructuring

More jobs cuts, this time in HR tech, arrive on the back of similar news at Amazon, UPS, Pinterest and other big employers.

Workday disclosed in a Feb. 4 regulatory filing that it will eliminate approximately 2% of its current workforce as part of reorganizations designed to “better align their people and resources to their highest priorities in fiscal 2027.”

What’s happening with Workday layoffs?

Workday’s restructuring arrives during what many analysts have characterized as a turbulent labor market that saw 1.2 million job cuts across all sectors in 2025.

This marks Workday’s second significant restructuring in just over a year. The move continues the workforce platform’s shift toward revenue-generating investments. The announcement comes after last year’s 8.5% workforce reduction that CEO Carl Eschenbach said was meant to better align “resources with [Workday] customers’ evolving needs.”

The cuts, affecting approximately 400 employees based on the company’s workforce size, will fall primarily on non-revenue-generating roles within Workday’s Global Customer Operations team. The company stated it “plans to continue to hire in key strategic areas and locations throughout its fiscal 2027, including additional revenue-generating areas to meet its market opportunity.”

The restructuring is expected to be largely completed by late April 2026, subject to local law and consultation requirements in various jurisdictions. Workday will report its fourth quarter and full-year financial results on Feb. 24, 2026. Those results are expected to include the approximately $135 million in restructuring and impairment charges.

Considerations for HR leaders

For HR leaders whose organizations use Workday’s platform, the reduction in Global Customer Operations staff may raise questions about service delivery and support capacity. The company did not provide details in the filing about how the restructuring might affect customer-facing operations or service levels.

The filing’s emphasis on reallocating resources toward “revenue-generating areas” and away from customer operations represents a strategic shift that may impact how Workday supports its existing customer base.

The $80 million impairment charge related to office space, the largest component of the total charges, suggests significant real estate consolidation.

The company cautioned that the restructuring may not deliver the anticipated benefits and that actual costs could exceed the $135 million estimate. The final costs and timeline will depend on local employment laws in the various countries where Workday operates.

HR Executive will continue to monitor this story as Workday releases its fourth-quarter earnings later this month.