Service, Skills, and Support: Veteran Voices From Workday

Service, skills, and support. These three words capture the powerful stories of our veteran community at Workday. This Veterans Day, we are proud to honor and thank our colleagues who have served in the armed forces. 

We are committed to fostering an environment where their unique experiences are valued and their leadership skills can help drive our company and our customers forever forward. This commitment is put into action through dedicated hiring programs and resources designed to help veterans and military spouses find their next career at Workday.

To mark this day, we're sharing the journeys of three of our colleagues in their own words. From our Global CTO who has balanced a 25-year parallel career in tech and the Air Force, to a 20-year veteran who just made his first leap into the corporate world, to an intelligence officer who has stepped up to be Workday’s Military and Veterans Employee Belonging Council lead, their stories are a testament to the strength and dedication our military and veteran community brings to Workday.

Joe Wilson, Global CTO

My experience has been a 25-year journey of balancing two parallel careers: one in technology and one as a reservist in the U.S. Air Force. After growing up as an army brat, I joined the Air National Guard in 2000 while working as a software engineer; I transferred to the Air Force Reserve in 2007. Military service has called me to global locations in Antarctica, Germany, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and Afghanistan, while also affording me an opportunity to assist in state emergencies like Hurricane Katrina.

I’m grateful that all of my civilian employers over the years have been supportive, but the experience I had when I joined Workday in 2013 is one I’ll never forget. I started as an enterprise architect when Workday was still relatively young and much smaller than it is today. Just three months later, I received a mobilization notification to deploy to Afghanistan. I was anxious because I was so new to Workday and felt I had not done anything of consequence for the company. Workday owed me absolutely nothing. 

After alerting my manager, I was astonished by the response, feeling totally supported. At our annual strategy meeting held shortly before I deployed, our leadership called me up on stage. The company recognized me for my service, and to my even greater surprise, my family joined us by video on the big screen behind me. It was a super emotional event.

Then, a few days before I left, our HR team called. Our company handbook was still new at that time and had a very generic military leave policy; they had updated the policy to cover the full difference between my Workday pay and my military pay for the entire duration of my deployment. That is not required by law. Then, while I was deployed, teams across Workday sent me huge care packages—moving boxes full of snacks. My fellow servicemembers, many who barely knew me, were like, "Who are you?"

That support has never wavered and has allowed me to serve in major leadership roles, including a command tour, duty at the Pentagon, and my current role as a deputy wing commander, all while growing my career at Workday to global CTO. That said, my amazing Workday colleagues who shoulder additional responsibilities in my absence are truly an extension of my service.

There are so many things veterans learn in uniform that every civilian employer should want. In the military, you’re teamed with people from every socioeconomic class, every ethnicity, and every background, but everyone is united in purpose and learns how to function as a team in order to succeed.

From there, servicemembers learn to operate in what we call the "VUCA"—a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous environment. As they learn to navigate VUCA, where everything is on the line, they become stronger, and they can bring that strength to a civilian employer.

We used to call these "soft skills,” but they aren’t. These are hard skills. They are hard-won. And they add massive value to any organization that’s simply willing to recognize them. This is why I’m so passionate about hiring veterans.

Cliff Purkey, Principal Product Manager, U.S. Federal

I served 20 years in the Army as an intelligence officer—starting in Berlin, where I was stationed the day the Wall came down, and retiring as a chief warrant officer—and then I eventually transitioned into civil service at the Defense Intelligence Agency. I have spent my entire 37-year career in the government, until just this year, when I took my very first step into corporate America and joined the team at Workday. Leaving the familiarity of government service was a huge decision for my family and me, and I was very nervous.

My anxiety melted away during the recruiting process. The interview format was very structured, so it was clear what they were looking for. My recruiter gave me so much guidance and, as I didn't know any of the corporate lingo, when he would use terminology I’d never heard, I would just laugh and ask him to explain it to me. He would always take the time to do so, and he never made me feel out of place. I found those reassurances comforting, and they gave me the confidence to make the leap.

This focus on me as a person, and not just a resumé, continued when my leaders looked at my background. I had no product management or corporate experience. None.

But I do know how to manage people, budgets, and logistics. My last job in the government was as the deputy chief human resources officer, leading an organization that took care of over 10,000 globally dispersed people. My leaders at Workday didn't fixate on the product management skills or roles I didn't have; they valued the deep HR and government experience I did have.

They knew those were the critical skills they needed to help build our products. They were living the "skills-first" philosophy I’d heard about and they were very clear from the start: this was a "roll your sleeves up, let's solve a problem together" job.

I felt that collaborative spirit immediately. My new boss invited me to attend a three-day summit my first week at work. On my first day there, I was brand new, sitting in a room with leaders, trying to be the quiet guy and just learn. After 15 minutes, my skip-level manager looked at me and said, "Please know, we want your opinions, we want to hear from you."

That simple act made me realize I was truly part of the team and that they valued my voice from day one. I feel a genuine sense of caring from people leaders and teammates at Workday. There’s no competition, friction, or sabotage; everyone is just trying to row together. It’s refreshing, and it’s why I’m so glad I took this leap.

Jerremy Jarvis, Principal Managing Partner and Veteran’s Employee Belonging Council Lead

I enlisted in the Army Reserve in 2012 as an intelligence analyst and became a military intelligence officer in 2017. When I came to Workday in 2019, I was, and am, still actively serving in that role. But I was only a few months into my new job, still ramping up and so excited to be here, when I received notice from my unit that they were deploying me to the Middle East. It was shocking. My first thought was about my new job. I was so new, I felt like I hadn't provided any real value to the team yet; now I was about to tell them I had to leave for nearly a year.

I went to my leaders, and their reaction amazed me. No one blinked. No one mentioned the projects I was on, or what I’d be missing. Their only response was, "What can we do? What do you need? Help us understand how we can best support you."

That support was unwavering for the whole 10 or 11 months I was in Jordan. The team had their arms around me the whole time. Actually, even before I was deployed, our Military and Veterans Employee Belonging Council (EBC) found out that my girlfriend (now my wife) had been recently deployed to Afghanistan, and they sent her box after box of her favorite comfort food: Oreos.

When I came back from that mission in 2020, I returned to my same role and picked back up where I had left off. Since then, I’ve completed many smaller missions and training assignments. And, earlier this year, I’m happy to say that I was promoted to principal managing partner.

Workday has been so supportive of me as an active reservist. And after I came back from that first deployment, the company asked for my feedback to help improve its military leave policies, which were already incredibly generous. I’ve led many soldiers in my 13 years of service, and I can tell you, that level of support is the exception, not the rule. 

My experience has been so positive that it made me want to give back. I got involved with our Military and Veterans EBC, which I now lead. Our EBC’s main output is community. We’re a place for active-duty members, veterans, military spouses, parents, and even allies. It’s a group of people who simply understand what it means to serve.

We also focus on advocacy and professional development. Workday now even has a military spouse protection policy, ensuring that if a Workday employee’s active-duty spouse is relocated, they can move and still keep their job at Workday. We're passionate about helping recently transitioned vets see how their skills directly translate to a corporate role; it’s all about service and community. I’m proud to be part of an organization that truly walks the walk.