Major System Announcement: Welcome To Workday!
Employee-Focused Technology to Launch in 2023
We have exciting news for you! Workday is headed to Cook Children’s! As Cook Children’s identifies more ways to elevate our Team Experience, we needed an integrated system with features and functionality to help take us to the next level.
You may ask, “What is Workday?”
Workday is a cloud-based application that will serve as an integrated system that will transform and manage Cook Children’s Human Resources, Finance and Supply Chain business processes.
You may wonder, “What does this mean for me?”
Complete with a clean, clutter-free design developed with you in mind, Workday will change how you access your employee information at Cook Children’s. It’s fully mobile, which means you can take care of important Cook Children’s matters anywhere from a device with an internet connection. The system will be accessible from your cell phone’s internet browser, or a Workday application that is available for Apple and Android devices.
In addition, you will be able to quickly and easily personalize your home screen as you would your smartphone. When you visit the Workday home screen, which you’ll conveniently access from the homepage of CookNet, you will be able to quickly access your personal work information and complete multiple tasks with a few clicks. Things such as:
- Compensation and Benefits Details
- Requests for time off (PTO)
- Pay
- Annual performance review system (today known as PACE)
- Absences
- Expenses
- Purchases
- Team directory
- Favorites
- And more
“I think our employees are going to love Workday because it will feel so familiar to them because of apps they are already using away from work,” said Keith Holtz, Chief Administrative Officer for Cook Children’s. “Workday makes it easy to change your personnel information, check your benefits, request time off, generate department reports and so much more. It looks and feels like most of your favorite websites. You can create the homepage to fit your needs.”
How big is this project?
Think of it this way: We are bringing together all of the components we currently manage in Lawson and several other systems into one universal integrated system. Workday is expected to truly impact the Team Experience in a big way.
During the initial stage of the 15-month project, many of our HR, Finance, IT/IS and Supply Chain team members are participating in numerous design and planning sessions. These vital sessions may last hours and take place over several days each week during the coming months.
“This is a major undertaking like we have not seen at Cook Children’s since the EPIC project,” said Theresa Meadows, senior vice president and CIO at Cook Children’s. “We will have many departments involved with this project. These departments will collaborate to create this very important system that will impact us all. This will allow us to modernize the Team Experience from the current tools we use today for Talent Management, Finance, and Supply Chain.
What if I need help from someone in HR during Workday implementation?
Workday is a major project and involves several Cook Children's team members, including employees from HR. We ask for your patience during this time. If you have an immediate need, please place “URGENT” in your email subject line and someone from HR will call you as soon as possible (most likely during a break from this project). Otherwise, they will respond as soon as possible.
Additionally, please do not schedule another meeting over an existing Workday calendar appointment time.
“We ask for your patience and grace during this time," said Beth Schmidt, AVP of Human Resources. "If you need us, we will do our very best to get back to you as soon as possible. Please understand we are all involved in numerous phases of this project and it requires a great deal of time for so many of us. We believe this will all be worth the time and effort when Workday becomes a part of everyone's daily work life in 2023.”
We will provide more information on Workday as we get closer to the launch next year, but for now we want you to be aware of the magnitude of this project. Watch for ongoing updates around key milestones in the project. Thank you for understanding and we hope you join us in our enthusiasm for Workday!