Workday is introducing Work Intelligence, a new capability designed to help enterprises understand how artificial intelligence is changing jobs, reshaping skill requirements and influencing workforce planning. The launch reflects a shift from evaluating AI through technology investment alone to measuring its impact on tasks, roles and employee capabilities.
Announced at Workday Rising 2026, Work Intelligence breaks jobs down into individual tasks, connects them with the skills required to perform them and helps leaders identify where AI can automate activities, augment human work or leave responsibilities firmly in human hands.
“Work Intelligence gives leaders the data to thoughtfully redesign roles, build careers, and help people grow into what’s next.” — Nikki Helmer, Vice President, Talent Management and Insights, Workday
The capability draws on Workday Skills Cloud, which is used by more than 3,450 customers and built on an ontology of over 75,000 skills. By connecting workforce and skills data, Work Intelligence aims to help organisations make more informed decisions about hiring, reskilling, automation and job redesign.
The launch comes as enterprises seek clearer evidence of returns from AI investments. Work Intelligence allows leaders to track how tasks change, how employees’ time shifts towards new responsibilities and which skills are becoming more important. This offers a way to assess AI’s workforce impact beyond assumptions or one-time studies.
The platform also works with Workday Decision Intelligence to identify employees whose existing skills could prepare them for emerging roles. This can help businesses compare the potential time and cost advantages of developing internal talent against external recruitment. Workday Learning, powered by Sana, can then turn these insights into personalised learning paths.
According to the 2026 Workday Global Workforce Report, 76% of heavy AI users expect AI to create new career opportunities, highlighting the importance of preparing employees for changing roles.
Importantly, Workday says the tools do not make decisions about people. Instead, they provide leaders with workforce insights to support planning, while decisions remain with people.
Work Intelligence is now available to early-access Workday Human Capital Management (HCM) customers. Its value will ultimately depend on how effectively organisations use task-level insights to redesign work, develop skills and connect AI adoption with measurable business outcomes.
