What if managers could save three hours a week on paperwork, make faster, smarter decisions about your team’s compensation, and become a genuine talent developer rather than an HR administrator?
It does not require an AI Agent to achieve these benefits. Most organizations can start with utilizing Workday Manager Self-Service to its fullest extend. These tools don’t just save time; they fundamentally shift managers’ role, giving them the power and insight to directly drive their team’s success. It’s time to move beyond simple approvals and take control of key team transactions, turning HR processes into a competitive advantage.
Data-Driven Leadership: Analytics at Your Fingertips
The modern manager needs real-time intelligence, and Workday delivers it by embedding analytics across both HCM and Expenses—no more waiting for monthly reports from HR.
HCM Analytics
From a manager’s dashboard, they can track key workforce data to justify decisions and intervene proactively:
- Turnover Rates: Instantly see which roles are experiencing high attrition. If a job family has a 25% turnover rate, they know exactly where to prioritize retention efforts and coaching.
- Capacity and Headcount: Accurately assess current workload and justify new hiring needs based on real-time organizational data, supporting effective workforce planning.
- Compensation Equity: Review team member salaries relative to internal and external benchmarks before initiating any pay changes.
Expense Analytics
Managing team budgets becomes simpler when expense data is unified with HCM. You can track spend against budget in real-time and quickly flag anomalies or policy violations. This immediate oversight ensures compliance and fosters enhanced accountability among team members.
Managerial Autonomy: Initiating High-Impact Transactions
The true power of Workday manager self-service lies in empowering managers to initiate core transactions instantly and accurately. Instead of sending requests to HR, managers drive the process directly from their dashboard:
- Job Transfers and Reorganization: Directly initiate and manage job transfers, reporting changes, or title adjustments within a manager’s span of control. This ensures organizational changes are implemented rapidly and documented correctly, eliminating delays.
- Bonuses and Compensation: Recognize and reward high performance in the moment. Managers can initiate spot bonuses or recommend compensation changes with immediate access to budget data, ensuring rewards are timely, fair, and aligned with policy.
This autonomy leads to increased manager efficiency and dramatically improves the employee experience by ensuring quick execution of career moves and recognition.
Focus on the Future: Talent and Performance Development
A manager’s primary job is cultivating talent. Workday manager self-service gives them the tools to replace the painful annual review with a fluid, continuous performance process.
They can use self-service features to:
- Set and Track Goals: Easily cascade organizational goals down to individual contributors, providing transparency and linking daily work to strategic priorities.
- Provide Continuous Feedback: Log and review ongoing performance check-ins, coaching tips, and recognition in one place.
- Manage Talent Profiles: View critical employee data—such as skills, career aspirations, and readiness for promotion—to facilitate meaningful career conversations and identify future leaders.
This transforms managers from an administrator of reviews into a true talent developer, directly contributing to improved employee experience through clearer communication and faster growth paths.
Streamlined Workflow: Utilizing Hubs and Dashboards
Workday ensures busy managers can access everything they need in seconds with personalized Hubs and Dashboards to make manager self-service delightful.
- The Manager Dashboard acts as their command center, providing a prioritized list of action items: pending expense approvals, performance review due dates, and open requisitions.
- Workday Hubs provide dedicated spaces that curate relevant information and learning materials for specific needs (like the ‘Career Hub’ or ‘Team Hub’).
This consolidated view dramatically increases manager efficiency. You can approve a time-off request, initiate a title change, and check your team’s budget—all from a single screen. Ultimately, this reduces busy work for HR business partners, allowing them to focus on strategic consulting, talent acquisition, and development programs.
Empowering managers with Workday means empowering the entire organization for growth and agility. With all these options, organizations need a partner that can configure a system to reflect an organization’s policies and values. Let Teamup9 show you how to unlock this enterprise potential for your teams.