Honoring Service With Action: How Workday Supports Our Veteran Community

Discover how Workday is bridging the civilian opportunity gap for transitioning service members. From philanthropic investments and dedicated hiring programs to innovative skills translation technology, we’re empowering veterans to thrive in the modern workforce.

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Each year across the United States, more than 200,000 service members transition from military life to the civilian workforce, carrying with them exceptional capabilities honed in high-stakes, mission-driven environments. They bring their technical skills, but more importantly, they bring a level of leadership, adaptability, and grit that is essential to the modern workforce. Yet for many veterans, the transition is met with a language gap, where their military experience doesn't always align with civilian job descriptions, making it difficult for hiring teams to recognize their full potential.

At Workday, we believe hiring veterans does more than honor their service. It's a strategic imperative to tap into one of the most capable and motivated talent pools in the market. We are proud to share how we are closing the opportunity gap through our philanthropic investments, dedicated hiring initiatives, and innovative technology designed specifically for those who have served.

The Workday Foundation and Peer Support

Supporting the military community begins long before a job application is submitted. Through the Workday Foundation, we focus on creating career pathways for veterans and their spouses by investing in workforce development. To date, the Foundation has granted nearly $6.5 million to organizations that help support veterans. Our partnerships focus on high-impact training, such as technical curriculums at Code Platoon, IT and cybersecurity pathways through NPower, and economic well-being programs at the Foundation for Women Warriors

Hiring veterans does more than honor their service. It’s a strategic imperative to tap into one of the most capable and motivated talent pools in the market.

"Military veterans represent a remarkably talented and resilient workforce, yet they often face unique barriers when transitioning to civilian careers," says Carrie Varoquiers, Chief Impact Officer at Workday. "By investing in organizations that provide specialized training and support, we're helping these talented veterans build sustainable, long-term careers that honor the excellence and dedication these service members have shown to our country."

Beyond financial support, our Workday Military & Veterans Employee Belonging Council (EBC) provides a vital internal network for fellowship and development. With more than 450 members across six physical chapters and one virtual chapter, this EBC offers a community for those currently serving, veterans, allies, and military spouses. This peer support ensures that when a veteran joins Workday, they are paired with mentors who understand their unique journey.

Dedicated Hiring for Veterans

To help empower veteran talent, this year we are launching a dedicated hiring strategy in North America specifically for transitioning service members, targeting key roles in IT, account management, and program management.

Workday is U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) Ethics approved, and we’re proud to announce that we are now launching a SkillBridge program to allow transitioning service members in our communities to gain structured, project-based experience at Workday during their final months of active duty, to help ease their transition into civilian careers. 

Our talent acquisition teams at Workday also receive specialized training on veteran hiring best practices, and we provide a weekly recruiter support program to offer real-time guidance on military-to-civilian skill mapping. Furthermore, Workday offers military time off and military leave of absence programs with no annual limit, ensuring those with continuing service obligations have the flexibility they need when called to duty. 

Workday also provides robust support for employees who need to move to a new city due to their military spouse or domestic partner being transferred. Our domestic relocation policy is designed to ensure veterans and their families are supported by Workday.

Military Skills Translation Functionality

While many organizations have the desire to hire veterans, they often lack the tools to understand a candidate's full potential. This is where Workday innovation steps in with military skills translation functionality, a new capability it’s planning to develop and make available later this year in Workday Recruiting.

At Workday, we’re committed to making the value of veteran talent unmistakably visible.

It’s designed to help organizations of all sizes or missions more effectively identify and hire skilled veteran talent. Embedded directly within the "My Experience" section of a candidate's application, this tool will be designed to  analyze a veteran's service background alongside job descriptions to produce a tailored list of civilian-equivalent skills.

Aligned with the Workday Skills Cloud, this functionality will help veterans articulate their leadership and technical expertise in language that resonates with private-sector recruiters. 

Strengthening the Federal Workforce for the AI Era

To help strengthen our long-standing commitment to skills-based talent development, Workday recently announced our participation as a leading technology partner in the U.S. Tech Force, a White House-backed initiative designed to help the federal government recruit and develop a stronger technology workforce. This program addresses the widening talent gap between government and commercial organizations as agencies take on increasingly complex AI and digital priorities.

Join Us in Moving Forward

At Workday, we’re committed to making the value of veteran talent unmistakably visible. Whether through the philanthropic work of the Workday Foundation, our dedicated hiring programs, or the technology in our platform, our goal remains the same: to honor the excellence of those who have served by ensuring they have every opportunity to thrive in their long-term career success.

Ready to start your next mission with us? Explore our careers for veterans at Workday and see how your skills can help shape the future of enterprise AI.

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