Artem Voloskovets
- How many employees is Workday laying off?
- Workday layoffs timeline
- How does the latest round compare with Workday's 2025 layoffs?
- Is Workday cutting jobs because of weak financial results?
- Is AI connected to the Workday layoffs?
- Workday spent about $2.2 billion on two AI acquisitions
- Workday headcount
- Workday layoffs: key numbers
Workday has maintained its Q3 and full-year fiscal 2027 guidance and will continue hiring in selected strategic areas. The latest cuts follow two previous restructuring programs since 2025.
How many employees is Workday laying off?
Workday reported 21,070 employees as of January 31, 2026. Using that headcount as a reference, a 2.5% reduction would equal approximately 527 jobs. The actual number may differ because Workday's headcount has changed since the reporting date.
Key figures:
- Workforce reduction: ~2.5%
- Main teams affected: product and technology
- Expected charges: $65–80 million
- Office space: being reduced
- Strategic hiring: continuing
- FY2027 guidance: unchanged
Workday layoffs timeline
Workday has announced three significant workforce restructuring programs since 2025.
| Period | Workforce affected | Main area | Restructuring charges |
| 2025 | ~7.5% ultimately | Broad restructuring | $233 million |
| February 2026 | ~2% | Mainly Global Customer Operations | ~$135 million |
| Latest round | ~2.5% | Product and technology | $65–80 million |
2025: approximately 7.5%
Workday initially announced plans to cut approximately 8.5% of its workforce in February 2025.
The completed restructuring ultimately reduced headcount by approximately 7.5%, according to subsequent SEC reporting.
Total charges reached $233 million:
- $196 million for severance, employee transition costs, benefits and share-based compensation;
- $37 million primarily related to office-space impairment.
February 2026: approximately 2%
Workday announced another restructuring in early 2026 affecting approximately 2% of its workforce. The cuts primarily targeted non-revenue-generating positions in Global Customer Operations.
Expected restructuring charges totaled approximately $135 million, including $55 million in employee-related costs and $80 million associated with office space and other long-lived assets.
Latest round: approximately 2.5%
The latest restructuring affects approximately 2.5% of employees, primarily in product and technology. Expected charges are $65 million to $80 million.
How does the latest round compare with Workday's 2025 layoffs?
The latest reduction is considerably smaller.
| Metric | 2025 | Latest |
| Workforce reduction | ~7.5% | ~2.5% |
| Restructuring charges | $233M | $65–80M |
| Main focus | Broad | Product and technology |
| Office reductions | Yes | Yes |
| Strategic hiring continues | Yes | Yes |
Measured as a percentage of the workforce, the latest reduction is approximately one-third the size of the completed 2025 restructuring.
Is Workday cutting jobs because of weak financial results?
Workday has not reduced its fiscal 2027 guidance alongside the latest layoffs.
For fiscal Q3 2027, the company previously forecast:
- Subscription revenue: approximately $2.515 billion
- Year-over-year growth: approximately 12%
- Non-GAAP operating margin: approximately 30%
For the full fiscal year, Workday expects $9.94 billion to $9.95 billion in subscription revenue, approximately 13% growth. Workday reported $2.649 billion in total revenue for fiscal Q2 2027, up 12.8% year over year. Subscription revenue increased 13.9% to $2.471 billion.
Is AI connected to the Workday layoffs?
Workday is cutting jobs while increasing investment in artificial intelligence, although the company has not said that the 2.5% of affected employees are simply being replaced by AI.
More than 5,500 Workday customers are using at least one of the company's internally developed AI agents.
Current AI products include:
- Developer Agent
- Financial Audit Agent
- Agent Passport
- Adaptive Decision Intelligence
Workday has also expanded AI partnerships with AWS and Google Cloud.
Workday spent about $2.2 billion on two AI acquisitions
Workday acquired two AI-focused companies during fiscal 2026:
- Paradox — approximately $1.1 billion.Paradox develops AI-powered recruiting technology.
- Sana — approximately $1.1 billion.Sana develops AI-based enterprise knowledge and learning technology.
Combined acquisition value: approximately $2.2 billion.
Workday headcount
Workday reported the following employee totals:
| Fiscal year-end | Employees |
| January 31, 2025 | 20,482 |
| January 31, 2026 | 21,070 |
| Change | +588 |
Workday's headcount therefore increased year over year despite its 2025 restructuring. This is possible because Workday eliminated positions in some areas while hiring in others.
Workday layoffs: key numbers
- 2.5% — latest workforce reduction
- ~527 — estimated jobs based on FY2026 year-end headcount
- $65–80M — expected latest restructuring charges
- ~7.5% — completed 2025 workforce reduction
- $233M — cost of the 2025 restructuring
- 21,070 — employees as of January 31, 2026
- 5,500+ — customers using Workday-developed AI agents
- ~$2.2B — combined acquisition price of Paradox and Sana
The latest cuts are Workday's third significant workforce restructuring action since 2025. Unlike the larger 2025 program, the new round is concentrated primarily in product and technology and does not change Workday's fiscal 2027 financial guidance.
Artem Voloskovets
