Working to Ensure Public Policy Builds Trust and Drives Innovation Forever Forward

In this article we discuss:

• Modernizing IT in the Public Sector
• Leading the Conversation on Smart AI Safeguards
• Driving a Skills-Based Approach to Talent
• Ensuring the Safe and Secure Transfer of Data

As we look toward the coming year, there is no doubt we’ll remember 2024 for the unprecedented number of elections held around the world. Millions exercised their right to cast their vote in more than 60 countries. At the same time, we saw a similarly unprecedented focus on the role of technology in our lives and in business—a focus that also permeated policymaking in governments around the globe. For example, nearly 700 bills related to AI were introduced in U.S. state capitals in 2024 alone.

With advocacy teams in North America, Europe, and the Asia Pacific, Workday is proud of the constructive role we play in the public policy process. But, as our CEO Carl Eschanbach has said, “there is a reason why the windshield in your car is bigger than the rear-view mirror.” In the coming year, we expect policymakers to roll up their sleeves and pursue an even greater focus on how technology and innovation can benefit both public sector and industry verticals across the economy. We also expect continued interest in tech regulation, which can spur innovation if crafted carefully—or stifle transformation if misaligned.

Consistent with our values, Workday advocates for policies that build trust, unlock human potential, and ensure our ability to serve our customers. In 2025, we see tremendous opportunities in the technology policy arena and are excited to share our focus areas for the coming year.

Modernizing IT in the Public Sector

Government agencies around the world are increasingly hamstrung by high retirement rates and barriers to attracting new talent, all while being saddled with costly and outdated legacy IT systems. For example, there are estimates that agencies in the U.S. spend more than $100 billion a year on IT and cyber investments, with close to 80% focused on maintaining existing legacy IT systems. In budget cycles that demand clear ROI, it is crucial that governments have the right people and tools to serve their constituents and achieve their missions while reducing unnecessary spending.

Workday advocates for policies that drive the modernization of public sector technology by replacing decades-old legacy systems with best-in-class commercial technology. These legacy systems can lead to higher security vulnerabilities and often an inability to effectively use AI. We support avoiding “build, don’t buy” scenarios, a common pitfall for federal agencies. Too often, federal efforts to build their own technology result in high failure rates, increased cost and inefficiency, and depriving agencies of commercial and private sector innovation. 

In the U.S., we’re excited about our growing customer base in the federal government. With the incoming Trump administration placing a renewed focus on increasing efficiency and modernizing the federal workforce, we anticipate playing an active role in supporting federal HR and finance modernization and maximizing the federal approach of adoption of commercial shared services offerings. At the same time, Workday is seeing a surge in new U.S. state and local customers and our policy teams are working to advocate for public sector technology transformation in U.S. state capitals, as well as supporting key wins in the UK, expanding opportunities in Australia, and helping our teams in Canada and Singapore.

Leading the Conversation on Smart AI Safeguards

In line with our values and our commitment to driving responsible AI, Workday has been laying the groundwork for smart AI regulation since 2019. We believe that meaningful AI regulation is necessary to build trust in AI, enable responsible innovation, and keep people at the center of decision-making. Workday has emerged as a leading voice in the area of HR and AI advocacy and we are focused on ensuring that AI regulation is risk-based, leverages workable accountability tools like impact assessments, clearly delineates responsibilities among those in the AI value chain, and supports international harmonization.

Adopted early last year, the European Union’s AI Act is the world’s first comprehensive AI regulation. Following years of Workday’s direct engagement in support of the above objectives, we are proud to have constructively shaped the law to ensure it effectively builds trust and enables innovation. At the same time, the EU AI Act’s adoption is in some ways only the beginning of the process, paving the way for secondary legislation that will implement the law. We continue to work with EU policymakers on these rules, while at the same time deepening our collaboration with the new government in the UK, continuing to work with lawmakers in Canada as they weigh a path forward on AI, and supporting Australia’s AI governance policy, as well as ongoing and emerging regional policy conversations in Singapore and Japan. 

In the U.S., we were pleased to be an early champion and adopter of the National Institute of Standards and Technology AI Risk Management Framework (NIST AI RMF) as the leading U.S. federal benchmark for AI governance, and will continue to work with key Congressional stakeholders and the incoming administration on the path forward for U.S. federal AI governance. Beyond Washington, D.C., we anticipate continued AI policymaking in state capitals around the country. Last year, Workday played a leading role in laying the foundation for workable state AI governance proposals and engaged with multi-state efforts as well as directly in states like California, Connecticut, New York, and Washington. Following the passage of the first-in-the-nation state-level AI law in Denver, we will add Colorado and Texas to that list this year. 

Driving a Skills-Based Approach to Talent

At Workday, we view skills as the right lens through which to view the changing world of work—and we are seeing growing momentum behind skills-based approaches to talent in the U.S., in Europe, and beyond. For example, governors in more than a dozen states have worked to remove degree requirements from public sector roles. Workday advocates for policies that advance skills-based approaches to talent, support employer incentives for reskilling, and drive labor data modernization.

At the U.S. federal level, we have been working closely with key Congressional stakeholders on the reauthorization of the Workforce Innovation and Reauthorization Act (WIOA). In the waning days of the last Congress, we were pleased to see consensus from both the House and the Senate on Workday-endorsed reforms that would ensure real-time, economy-wide federal labor data reporting and help states focus on new and emerging skills and in-demand roles. We look forward to supporting the successful reauthorization of WIOA this year. At the same time, we will continue working to support and expand skills-focused federal hiring policies. 

Similarly, in Europe, we have joined the EU Pact for Skills and have been working with EU policymakers to expand access to critical digital skills. For example, Workday’s Cybersecurity Skills Academy Pledge seeks to foster in-depth cybersecurity skills training through our partnership with Technological University Dublin. We look forward to partnering with European policymakers as the new European Commission advances its mandate and governments around the world show increased enthusiasm for skills.

Ensuring the Safe and Secure Transfer of Data

At Workday, we believe privacy is a fundamental right and the privacy of our customers’ data has always been a top priority. Workday’s advocacy on privacy policies is driven by our experience as a software company born in the cloud: we understand that rigorous privacy protections are critical to earning and maintaining our customers’ trust.

Today, dozens of countries around the world and states in the U.S. have adopted data privacy laws. As more governments consider privacy rules and the interplay between existing privacy rules and new technologies like AI, we look forward to continuing our collaboration with policymakers to ensure privacy laws enact meaningful and workable guardrails that account for the nature of enterprise software and AI. In the U.S., we will continue our years-long advocacy for a strong federal privacy law, while around the world we will support the free flow of data across borders through mechanisms that both safeguard privacy and underpin global innovation. 

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Looking toward 2025, the windshield is indeed larger than the rear-view mirror—and ripe with opportunity to advance policy that both builds trust, drives innovation, and supports our customers. As we have in the past and will in the future, Workday stands ready to dig in, work hard, and play a constructive role that moves our Workday employees, our customers, and the world forever forward.