TL;DR
Workday is a cloud-based enterprise software platform for HR, finance, and planning that can be considered GDPR-compliant, provided personal data is handled properly. Since Workday routinely processes sensitive information like employee records, businesses must follow strict GDPR guidelines to remain compliant.
How to maintain GDPR compliance with Workday
Workday is widely used for human capital management, payroll, and financial planning, all of which involve collecting and processing personally identifiable information (PII). This makes GDPR compliance not just optional, but critical.
Here’s how to stay compliant while using Workday in your organization.
Identify what personal data is processed Workday typically manages a wide range of personal data:
Employee names and contact info
Job applications and CVs
Salary and payroll details
Attendance and time-tracking data
Performance and benefits information
As such, it's essential to map out exactly what PII is being processed and ensure it aligns with your privacy policy and data handling procedures.
Monitor data access and security controls
Per Article 33 of the GDPR, if any personal data breach occurs, users must be notified without delay.
To stay secure and compliant:
Use Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) for admin users
Set up role-based access control for sensitive modules
Monitor Workday’s audit logs for suspicious access
Review Workday’s data breach notifications and incident response practices
While Workday follows industry-leading security protocols, your internal policies must reinforce those protections to remain GDPR-compliant.
Key GDPR compliance practices:
Supports data subject rights, including deletion, access, correction, and export
Offers data processing agreements (DPAs) for customers
Enables audit trails and logging for customer accountability
Complies with international data transfer laws via Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) and the Data Privacy Framework (DPF)
Certifications and Security Standards: ISO/IEC 27001, 27017, 27018
SOC 1 & SOC 2 Type II reports
Data encryption in transit and at rest
Continuous penetration testing and internal auditing
International Data Transfers: Workday ensures lawful data transfers using:
Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs)
Participation in the EU-US and Swiss-US Data Privacy Framework
Regional data residency options for organizations with specific geographic requirements
For data access, corrections, or deletion requests, customers can manage data directly within Workday or contact their support/account team for assistance.
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