Laid off from Workday.
The company that sells HR software published its own layoff terms, a 12-week minimum plus tenure, when it cut 8.5% of staff to fund its AI push. The irony wrote itself; the floor was real.
At a glance
What's known about Workday severance and layoffs
- About 1,750 roles, 8.5% · February 2025
- Minimum 12 weeks + tenure-based weeks · Published U.S. floor
- $230M to $270M · Charges, primarily severance
- Reallocating toward AI · Stated driver
- About 2%, roughly 400 roles · February 2026
- 3, every one in California · Tracker filings, all time
Recent Workday layoffs
Workday cut about 2% of staff in February 2026
On 4 February 2026 Workday told the SEC that reorganizations would eliminate about 2% of its workforce, primarily non-revenue generating roles in its Global Customer Operations team. HR Executive estimated roughly 400 people from that percentage, and our tracker holds a 154-job California filing dated the same day. The company put charges at $135 million, about $40 million of it severance, benefits and related costs. No terms on record.
Previous rounds
Workday layoff history
Workday's most recent cut landed on 4 February 2026, and it was narrower than the one before it. The company told the SEC that reorganizations inside certain functions would eliminate about 2% of its workforce, primarily non-revenue generating roles in its Global Customer Operations team. HR Executive put that at roughly 400 people, working from the percentage rather than a company headcount, and our tracker holds a 154-job California filing dated that day. Workday said the actions were expected to be substantially complete by the first quarter of fiscal 2027.
What the 2026 filing carries is money, not terms. Workday estimated $135 million in charges, about $40 million of it cash for severance payments, employee benefits and related costs, and about $80 million booked against the impairment of office space and long-lived assets. That second number is real estate, not people, which matters if you read the headline charge as a measure of what the company spent on the people it let go. The filing sets out no per-employee package, and unlike February 2025 it furnished no note to employees as an exhibit, so anyone cut in this round is working from their own paperwork rather than a public floor.
February 2025 was the round with a published floor, and it's still the useful one to measure an offer against. The CEO's note to employees, filed with the 8-K, said affected U.S. employees would be offered a minimum of 12 weeks of pay with additional weeks based on tenure, plus additional vesting of restricted stock units, career services, benefits support and immigration support, while people outside the U.S. would get packages based on local standards. The company announced approximately 1,750 positions, or 8.5% of its workforce. A year later its annual report described that same plan as having resulted in a reduction of about 7.5%, which is worth holding onto when an announced percentage and a reported one get quoted back at you as the same number.
The headcount moves in the opposite direction from the round totals. Workday reported over 20,400 employees in 34 countries at the end of January 2025, a figure it said predated that February's plan, and over 21,000 in 36 countries a year later, with the U.S. share of that workforce falling from about 63% to about 58%. Our tracker holds 3 Workday filings in all and 2 covering 771 jobs since the start of 2025, California in every case, so the tracker misses whatever these rounds reached elsewhere.
Two more things sit on the record and belong in your own timeline. The company ran a smaller cut in January 2023, when the co-CEOs told employees they'd reduce headcount by 3%, with the majority in the technology and product units, and it published terms that time too. And two days after the 2026 announcement, on 6 February 2026, Carl Eschenbach ceased to serve as chief executive and co-founder Aneel Bhusri took the job; the filing records the date and says nothing about why. If you were cut in the U.S. in February 2025, the figure to hold your paperwork against is the 12-week minimum the company put in writing at the time; if you were outside the U.S., that floor was never yours, because the same note offered only packages based on local standards, aligned with the U.S. ones where possible, so your local rule sets the comparison. For February 2026 the company published no figure either way, so your own agreement is the whole of it. Our WARN tracker has what other employers filed in the same window, which is how to tell whether a California notice covered your site or somebody else's.
Reporting on previous Workday layoff rounds
February 2026 · About 2% of the workforce, primarily non-revenue generating roles in Global Customer Operations, which HR Executive estimated at roughly 400 people from the disclosed percentage rather than a company headcount. Our tracker holds a 154-job California filing dated 4 February 2026.
About $40 million of the $135 million in charges covers severance payments, employee benefits and related costs. No terms on record.
February 2025 · About 1,750 roles, 8.5% of headcount, framed by CEO Carl Eschenbach as prioritizing innovation investments like AI. The company's fiscal 2026 report later described the same plan as a reduction of about 7.5% of the workforce. Our tracker holds a 617-job California filing dated 5 February 2025.
A minimum of 12 weeks of pay for U.S. employees with additional weeks based on tenure, plus additional vesting of restricted stock units, career services, benefits support and immigration support, with packages based on local standards outside the U.S.. The 8-K put charges at $230 million to $270 million, of which $145 million to $175 million was severance, benefits and related costs.
January 2023 · 3% of employees, with the majority in the technology and product units, which CNBC estimated at about 525 people from a reported headcount of more than 17,500. The co-CEOs said the cuts didn't come from overhiring and that hiring would continue through fiscal 2024.
Three months of severance pay plus two weeks for each year of employment, with stock vesting continuing through April 2023 and optional medical benefits for six months, per CNBC's account of the message to employees.
How Workday's layoffs compare to other companies
A published minimum is the detail to keep. Most companies publish nothing; a floor lets every affected person check their own offer against the company's public word.
What to do after being laid off from Workday
- File for unemployment in the state where you worked. Benefits run from your filing date, and severance usually doesn't block you. Workday's biggest hubs: California. Somewhere else? Every state is here.
- Apply for financial and hardship assistance. Unemployment supplements income, but food benefits, health coverage and utility help are often available as well. Here's some of what Workday's hub states run: California, and every other state is here.
- Mind the health insurance window. Losing coverage opens a 60-day special enrollment period, and an ACA plan usually beats unsubsidized COBRA. Compare your options before the employer coverage lapses, and read how the COBRA clocks run if you are weighing it seriously.
- Get your real runway number. Severance plus savings divided by reality. The calculator takes five minutes.
- Know which clocks are already running. Severance review windows, COBRA election, visa grace periods, and 401(k) rollovers all run on federal deadlines that started at termination. All five deadlines are here.
Workday layoff and severance questions
What severance did Workday pay in its 2025 layoffs?
U.S. employees were offered a minimum of 12 weeks of pay with additional weeks based on tenure, plus additional vesting of restricted stock units, career services, benefits support and immigration support, according to the CEO note the company filed with its 8-K. Packages outside the U.S. followed local standards. The filing put total charges at $230 million to $270 million, with $145 million to $175 million of that in severance payments, employee benefits and related costs.
Why did Workday cut jobs while growing?
The company framed the 2025 round as prioritizing innovation investments like AI and platform development, and said in the same filing that it expected to keep hiring in key strategic areas that year. Its own annual reports show the workforce larger after the round than before it, over 20,400 employees at the end of January 2025 and over 21,000 a year later, with the U.S. share of that workforce falling from about 63% to about 58%.
What happened in the February 2026 Workday layoff?
Workday told the SEC on 4 February 2026 that reorganizations inside certain functions would eliminate about 2% of its workforce, primarily non-revenue generating roles in its Global Customer Operations team, and expected the work to be substantially complete by the first quarter of fiscal 2027. HR Executive estimated roughly 400 people from that percentage. Our tracker holds a 154-job California filing dated the same day. No terms on record.
Did Workday file WARN notices for its layoffs?
Yes. Our tracker holds 3, with 2 of them covering 771 jobs since the start of 2025, and California received every one. Cuts that reached other states or other countries don't appear there, so a filing count reads as a floor rather than a total for any round.
Where do I file for unemployment after being laid off from Workday?
In the state where you worked, not where the company is headquartered. Workday's biggest U.S. hubs are California. Severance usually doesn't block you from filing, and benefits run from your filing date, so file the same week.
Is it OK to file for unemployment after a layoff at Workday?
Yes. Unemployment insurance is funded by payroll taxes employers pay on wages, the claim never appears on credit reports or background checks, and future employers cannot see it. If the hesitation itself is the obstacle, whether filing is OK has its own article.
What happens to my health insurance after a layoff at Workday?
Your plan sets the end date rather than the law, so the separation packet is where that date actually lives, and it is often the last day of the month rather than your last day of work. After coverage ends, COBRA lets you keep the identical plan by paying the whole premium yourself, up to 102 percent of what the plan really costs, which lands as several times the payroll deduction you were used to. You get 60 days to elect, counted from the later of coverage ending or the election notice arriving, and electing reaches the coverage back to the day the old plan stopped so no gap exists. How continuation coverage works walks the timing, and whether to take it rather than a marketplace plan is a separate decision.
Should I sign the severance agreement right away?
First pin down how much review time you actually have. If you're 40 or older, federal law gives you 21 days to consider an agreement that waives age claims, 45 in a group layoff, and a waiver signed under a shorter deadline can be invalid. If you're under 40, no federal window applies and the deadline in your packet may be real, so confirm it in writing and ask for more time if you need it. Use whatever window you have to read the release terms, especially non-disparagement and no-lawsuit clauses, and don't stall past a real deadline, because offers can be withdrawn.
Can I collect unemployment if I got severance from Workday?
Usually yes, though some states delay benefits until severance pay periods end, and lump sums are treated differently than salary continuation. Check your state's rules on our state benefit pages, and file immediately either way so your claim date is locked in.