Workday Launches Work Intelligence to Show How AI Changes Job Tasks

Workday introduced Work Intelligence on October 13, 2026, at Workday Rising 2026 in Las Vegas, a product the company says decomposes each job into its underlying tasks and ties those tasks to required skills, drawing on Workday Skills Cloud, which Workday says is now used by more than 3,450 customers.

A Task-Level View of Each Job

According to Workday, Work Intelligence gives companies a view of how AI is altering the day-to-day work inside each role and which skills employees will need next, and it helps leaders plan how to develop their people as that work changes. Workday Skills Cloud, the system behind the product, is built on an ontology of more than 75,000 canonical skills, the company says.

The premise, as Workday describes it, is that job titles and org charts cannot show leaders how AI will actually change work. AI seldom transforms an entire job in one step, the company says; it changes individual tasks, and as tasks shift, the skills that matter most shift with them. Work Intelligence shows leaders and employees where that task change is occurring, which employees already hold the skills gaining importance, and where training can close the remaining gaps. The announcement cites the 2026 Workday Global Workforce Report, which found that 76% of heavy AI users expect AI to create new career opportunities.

“The basic building block of work is shifting from the job to the task – and without that view, most companies are left guessing whether to hire, build skills, automate, or redesign roles, with no way to know which guess is right,” said Nikki Helmer, Workday’s vice president of talent management and insights. Helmer said Work Intelligence gives leaders the data to thoughtfully redesign roles, build careers, and help people grow into what comes next.

Workday says companies typically have visibility into headcount, reporting lines, and titles, yet lack visibility into the tasks that compose each job. Work Intelligence is built to close that gap from within Workday, where customers already store people, job, and skills data. The company describes the product as an ongoing view of how work is changing rather than a one-off workforce study, so leaders can keep planning as business needs and AI agents evolve.

From Task Data to Skills and New Roles

Workday expects AI to create new roles in addition to changing existing ones. As AI becomes part of everyday work, the company says, companies will need roles focused on designing how people and AI agents work together, measuring AI impact, managing agent performance, and deciding where AI should and should not be used. Work Intelligence is designed to surface those needs earlier so leaders can plan for the roles and skills the business will require.

As jobs change, Work Intelligence works with Workday Decision Intelligence to show which employees already hold key adjacent skills. Workday says Decision Intelligence can put numbers on the time and cost advantages of developing those skills internally versus hiring externally, giving leaders a data-backed case to invest in their people. The company states that neither tool makes decisions about people: both show how work is changing, and people decide what to do with that information.

Workday says companies can then use Workday Learning powered by Sana to turn those insights into personalized learning paths that recommend upskilling aligned to new opportunities. In the company’s example, a financial analyst whose manual reconciliation tasks are increasingly supported by AI would see the forecasting skills most relevant to a next step and receive a tailored path to build them.

Measuring AI Impact and Availability

Work Intelligence also lets leaders measure the impact of AI on work, according to Workday. Leaders can track how tasks change, where an employee’s time shifts, which skills are growing, and whether people are moving into new roles and responsibilities. The company frames that measurement as a way to connect AI investment to business value and to keep planning as work, roles, skills, and AI agents continue to evolve, rather than relying on assumptions or one-time studies.

Work Intelligence is available now to early-access customers of Workday Human Capital Management (HCM).

Companion Announcements at Rising 2026

Workday made two companion product announcements at Rising on October 13. The company said Workday Decision Intelligence is now available across its portfolio, giving HR and finance teams a single, governed AI experience over the people, financial, and planning data already governed in Workday. Decision Intelligence is available to Workday HCM and Workday Financial Management customers.

Workday also launched Autopilot Agents spanning hiring, payroll, accounting, and compliance, which the company says continuously handle routine processes in the background while employees remain in control. Autopilot capabilities in the Talent Acquisition Agent are available to early adopter customers, with general availability planned for early 2027. Autopilot capabilities for the Payroll, Accounting, and Deployment Agents are planned for early adopter customers in early calendar year 2027.

The Rising 2026 digital program on October 13 includes the Office of the CHRO keynote at 11:00 a.m. PT and a Workday Talent Development strategy and vision session at 4:30 p.m. PT.