2025 Federal Forum Highlights: Tackling Change Head-On

In this article we discuss four key takeaways:

• Agencies Want IT Modernization to Help Deliver on Goals
• Federal Agencies Are Optimistic About AI
• Agencies Realize the Value of a Skills-Based People Strategy
• The Shared Services Model for HR Delivery Improves Agency Operations

The U.S. federal government is facing sweeping changes with the new administration, making it more important than ever to stay connected to peers and leaders in the industry. On March 13, Workday sponsored its third annual Federal Forum​​—in conjunction with FedScoop—at the Waldorf Astoria in Washington, DC, bringing together more than 580 attendees from federal agencies, state and local government, and industry press.

Several major themes emerged during the Forum, including the importance of HR modernization for supporting agency missions, how commercial shared services drive efficiency and reduce costs, the strategic use of skills for workforce optimization, and the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) and AI agents to boost productivity and reduce unnecessary burdens. 

Here are four key takeaways that stood out from the day: 

1. Agencies Want IT Modernization to Help Deliver on Goals

I had an opportunity to chat with Workday CEO Carl Eschenbach at the Federal Forum about global trends around IT modernization. He emphasized the constant state of transformation and disruption in today’s world and pointed out a universal need for business leaders to stay ahead of the curve and focus on what they can control: productivity, efficiency, and employee experience. 

It’s the same for federal agencies. There’s a significant shift toward efficiency and software modernization that could dramatically cut costs and improve experiences for employees and tax payers. 

Despite the uncertainty some federal leaders feel about how modernization efforts will impact their agencies and about the potential for disruption during the transition to a new solution, there is growing consensus that modernizing HR is essential for replacing outdated, inefficient systems and better meeting the needs of agencies and their employees. Modernization has the potential to improve the way agencies manage their human resources, and we believe HR transformation will be a major priority for federal leaders in the coming years.

"Technology, at the end of the day, enables change. It doesn’t drive change,” noted Eschenbach. “What drives change is people, and I sense the people in the U.S. federal government want that change. And I’m confident the Workday platform can deliver."

2. Federal Agencies Are Optimistic About AI

When deployed thoughtfully and ethically, AI can significantly increase human productivity. Most federal agencies recognize that they can use AI to improve government efficiency by automating repetitive tasks, analyzing large amounts of data to find trends and anomalies, and increasing the effectiveness and speed of service delivery. 

But with new technologies comes the need to build more institutional capacity across the workforce to effectively deploy and scale AI capabilities. Upskilling existing workers and attracting savvy tech talent are top of mind for harnessing the latest AI tools. 

Additionally, as agentic AI proliferates among federal agencies, it’s imperative to have a way to manage and govern AI agents in the same way you manage and govern your people—with a single system of record for the full lifecycle of the resource. That’s why Workday recently introduced the Agent System of Record, which will provide a centralized spot for managing an organization’s entire fleet of AI agents, including third-party agents, all in one place. 

With security and ethical use of AI being a top concern, it’s important to point out that Workday is the only vendor that delivers a clear understanding of the details of each AI model used to help mitigate risk. Workday is a transparent, secure, human-centric solution with AI and machine learning embedded natively at its core. It’s also built on a decade of commitment to the responsible development and deployment of AI technologies and advocacy for global regulation.

3. Agencies Realize the Value of a Skills-Based People Strategy

A skills-based talent strategy focuses on the skills and competencies required for a role rather than traditional factors such as education or previous job titles. While the practice of skills-based hiring has been around for at least a decade, it took hold in the federal marketplace with a 2020 Executive Order in the previous Trump administration and has become a priority for civilian, defense, and intelligence agencies of all sizes. Speakers at the Federal Forum pointed out that a skills-based talent strategy can help agencies:

• Attract and retain top talent: By focusing on skills rather than job titles or education, agencies can cast a wider net and find the best candidates for their positions.

• Improve operational efficiency: By identifying and developing the skills they need to achieve their goals, agencies can improve their operational efficiency, leading to cost savings and improved service delivery.

• Adapt to changing workforce needs: The workforce is constantly changing, and agencies must be able to adapt to these changes. A skills-based talent strategy can help agencies identify and develop the skills they need now and in the future.

“Overall, a skills-based talent strategy can help federal agencies improve their workforce planning, hiring, and development practices,” said Aashna Kircher, group general manager for the office of the CHRO at Workday. “This leads to a more effective and efficient workforce that is better equipped to meet both today’s and tomorrow’s challenges.”

4. The Shared Services Model for HR Delivery Improves Agency Operations

In recent years, there has been a growing trend toward shared service HR delivery in the federal government. Centralizing certain HR functions—including performance management, learning, time and absence, benefits administration, payroll, and more—can go a long way to improving efficiency and effectiveness. 

Speakers and panelists at the forum discussed the many benefits of shared services, including the potential cost savings of eliminating duplicative functions, increased accuracy through streamlined and standardized processes, enhanced compliance with applicable laws and regulations, and improved employee satisfaction from having a single point of contact for HR.

“By centralizing HR functions, organizations can better plan and manage their HR resources,” said Matthew Cornelius, managing director, federal, at Workday. “We help agencies consolidate, standardize, and modernize with SaaS-delivered shared services, which can reduce costs, eliminate cumbersome manual processes, and improve efficiency for both shared service providers and the customers they serve.” 

Workday is unique in connecting its enterprise applications to a single data and security model with actionable analytics and transactions in the same system. Additionally, Workday meets monthly with the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to ensure our HR offering aligns with the Human Capital Business Reference Model (HCBRM) functions and sub-functions, including for personnel action request (PAR) processing. Migrating federal enterprise applications to Workday allows agencies to take advantage of best-in-class infrastructure, applications, business processes, and operating practices. 

Solidifying Our Commitment to Federal

Workday also hosted its inaugural Federal Partner Day on March 12, bringing together more than 20 unique organizations from our partner network. This event allowed Workday to reinforce its dedication and outline its plans, empowering partners with the necessary knowledge and resources to effectively implement modern HR management solutions for federal agencies, enhancing efficiency and effectiveness.

As we move into the future, the public sector must continue to adapt to meet the changing needs of citizens and employees. Workday is committed to providing innovative solutions that help agencies achieve their missions, and we look forward to continuing to partner with the federal government in the years to come.