Workday 2025R2's Platform Upgrades

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[1]

Feature: Create Custom ConnectR

Product: User Experience

Setup Effort: Setup Required

Targeted Production Date: September 20, 2025

Summary: ConnectRs are the new iteration of Workday’s Guided Experience—otherwise known as “Task Wizards”. Like all of you, we don’t know what’s up with the new name 😅 But, this Feature definitely deserves your excitement! You can now create your own Task Wizards from scratch, consolidating previously scattered tasks into a single, sequenced, and seamless user experience.

Here’s an end-user example of a self-service ConnectR that consolidates tasks commonly initiated when an employee’s marital status changes…

And here’s an admin config example of consolidating common set up tasks for the Benefits module...

To get inspired by the possibilities, peruse the “By Functional Area” path within the ConnectR’s task input.

Once created, ConnectRs can be launched as standalone tasks or linked into dashboards, cards, or announcements. You control access by securing them to the domain(s) of your choice. Workday even delivers a data source called All ConnectRs so you can report on them—handy once you’ve built up some volume, just like reporting on your custom reports.

Setup:

• Enable the domain Set Up: Connect R and add the proper security groups to modify permissions.

• Run the task Create ConnectR for building them and Maintain ConnectR for viewing/editing/deleting those already created.

🔗 Release Note

[2]

Feature: Global Navigation Configuration Enhancements

Product: User Experience

Setup Effort: Automatically Available

Targeted Production Date: Sept. 20, 2025

Summary: Global Navigation is now more configurable than ever! Meaning, with this 2025R2 Feature, Workday opens the ability to configure both Menu Categories and the Menu Items that appear within each Category. You can relabel, reorder, add, and remove to your heart’s desire ❣️

Setup:

If you don’t see these new buttons automatically, you may not be opted in! Run the task Maintain Feature Opt-Ins and check the box for Global Navigation Menu Categories.

🔗 Release Note

[3]

Feature: Global Navigation Sidebar

Product: User Experience

Setup Effort: Setup Required

Targeted Production Date: September 20, 2025

Summary: Now this is what we call a UI / UX upgrade 👏 Meet your new Global Navigation Sidebar—always with you, yet never in the way. The new Sidebar stays pinned as you navigate through Workday, making it easier than ever to access exactly what you need, when you need it.

You can pin your top apps to the top of your Sidebar, access your Saved items in one click, and customize the order of what appears.

Setup:

Use the Maintain Feature Opt-Ins task to opt in to Global Navigation Menu Categories. Then, run the Edit Tenant Setup - System task and check the box for Enable Global Navigation Sidebar (it’s the last item in the System Setup section).

BTW: Once you turn this on, you'll have to log out and log back in to get the Sidebar to appear. Hopefully this saves you the hour of head-scratching we went through here 😅

Notes:

Something to adjust to here is the hover Feature. The options for each icon only appear when you hover on them—not on a click 🤔 This feels a bit odd and others have noted that in the Questions on the Release Note as well!

🔗 Release Note

[4]

Feature: Hubs: Quick Actions

Product: User Experience

Setup Effort: Setup Required

Targeted Production Date: September 20, 2025

Summary: Hubs get even more customizable! You can now add your own, custom Quick Actions and Quick Action sections on configurable Hubs 🤩

Setup:

1. Navigate to the task Maintain Hubs, click the related actions button on the Hub you want to add Quick Actions to, and click View Overview Configuration.

2. From here, you can modify the default Quick Actions that Workday has configured on the Hub, or, you can create your own Quick Actions section using the task Create Quick Actions Section.

3. Finally, create your own Quick Actions! You can label your Quick Action buttons however you'd like, and control who sees which buttons by Security Group or Condition Rule. Your Quick Actions can be an External Link, Task or Report, or a Dashboard. Extend apps are also supported within the Task / Report option!

Notes:

To get your Quick Actions to actually appear on your Hub…

1. Click the Edit button on the View Overview Configuration page on the Hub, and under Content, select "Customize Sections and Cards".

2. Add a new row for your Quick Actions section.

🔗 Release Note

[5]

Feature: Quick Actions on Workday Home

Product: Home Experience, User Experience

Setup Effort: Automatically Available

Targeted Production Date: September 20, 2025

Summary: Say hello to 2025R2’s new Quick Actions on the Home Page 👋 (You’ll have to get acquainted even if you’re shy—they’re truly FRONT and center 😂).

Up to 5 buttons will appear here, with a related actions button for up to 5 additional overflow tasks.

These replace the now retiring ML-generated Quick Tasks that are buried under Announcements and Important Dates…

Unlike their predecessor, the new Quick Actions are fully configurable, allowing you to add, remove, and reorder these buttons as you see fit! By default, the most commonly used tasks in your tenant will appear here, but you can customize them entirely by navigating to Home page Settings and using the task Edit Quick Actions.

🔗 Release Note

[6]

Feature: Save in Context

Product: User Experience

Setup Effort: Automatically Available

Targeted Production Date: September 20, 2025

Summary: A simple, but REALLY impactful Feature! You've now got a "Save" icon on every single task page, so you can easily bookmark tasks and items without interrupting whatever you're doing 😍

The items you save will then show up in your Saved items, which you can easily access from the “Saved” icon on the new Sidebar:

🔗 Release Note

[7]

Feature: Security Admin Hub

Product: Data Access (Configurable) Security

Setup Effort: Automatically Available

Targeted Production Date: September 20, 2025

Summary: An exciting one for Workday security admins! You now get your very own Security Admin Hub 🔐😌 Combined with this release’s Feature that allows you to customize Quick Actions on Hubs, managing and maintaining security in Workday just got a whole lot more customized, organized, and streamlined. Here’s a peek at the new Hub…

Setup:

Run the task Maintain Functional Areas to enable the Security Administration Hub functional area.

Then, enable and set up the Security Administrator Hub domain.

🔗 Release Note

[8]

Feature: Updates to Profile and Primary Button Styling

Product: User Experience

Setup Effort: Setup Required

Targeted Production Date: September 20, 2025

Summary: This release Feature made the biggest splash (and stirred up the most uproar). Workday delivered two updates to the everyday User Experience of Workday:

• You can now change the primary button color to match your organization’s brand—finally, a step beyond the classic Workday blue.

• The user profile got a full glow-up.

But it’s not without its quirks! Regarding the profile update, users have reported:

• The pronunciation tag shown below the worker’s name gets cut-off.

• Candidate and user profile pics look pixelated or oddly resized.

• The all-white menu is harder for admins to explain navigation to end-users.

Workday seems to be on-the-job fixing these bugs. But nevertheless, some orgs are asking for the option to opt-out of what feels like a rushed change to modernize the look and experience of Workday.

As for the new primary button color option—you can change the button background, but not the text color. If your selected brand color is light (like our yellow here at Well Built Solutions), the white text will stay… white 👎 Thankfully, Workday does throw a soft error to warn you about proper contrast ratios.

Note: These changes apply to the web only—mobile isn’t included.

🔗 Release Note

[9]

Feature: Workday Writing Prompts for Rich Text Editor

Product: Workday AI

Setup Effort: Automatically Available

Targeted Production Date: September 20, 2025

Summary: Generative AI is introduced to your rich text editor fields across HCM, Time Tracking, Benefits, and Core Comp. After you’ve written text, you can use it as an editing tool to proofread, shorten (make your message more succinct), or adjust the tone to be more casual or formal. Within the release notes, there’s a full .doc of the tasks where this Feature is now available.

The truth is, this isn’t quite a game-changer Feature. It doesn’t offer much beyond what advanced AI tools already provide—and most tools goes further by generating content from scratch, tailored to your requirements and brand voice (depending on the specifics of your prompt). Workday’s version simply polishes what you’ve already written. Nevertheless, given all the AI hype, it’s worth calling out this evolution.

Notes: This Feature is automatically available, but you can opt-out at the very bottom of the page under the task Edit Tenant Setup - HCM.

🔗 Release Note

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