Stuart Hazell (Director, Talent Acquisition Brand & Attraction) from Workday was blunt about the challenge: generic recruitment marketing wasn’t working. Workday needed to attract specialised talent across Sales, Engineering, Customer Experience & Consulting, and Early Careers. But every competitor was fishing in the same pond.

“This level of innovation – especially in how tailored and experiential it is – is a first for Workday, and I believe a big leap for talent branding more broadly.”

He’d already launched Workday’s overarching “Why Workday” EVP, but recognised that wasn’t enough:

“The talent value proposition work is now the next step on our brand journey. Building out the brand direction and messaging for the attraction of Sales, Engineering, Consulting and Early Career talent.”

Workday wanted four distinct Talent Brands that would speak authentically to each audience while staying true to the Workday brand. Not variations of the same message—genuinely different approaches for genuinely different people.

We knew the usual employer branding playbook wouldn’t cut it. This required something new.

We built our Global TVP Approach around a simple principle: understand the people you want to attract before you try to attract them.

Research Foundation:

• 24 interviews with employees, recruiters, and hiring managers
• Analysis of Workday’s own Peakon employee listening data
• Link Humans ‘Employer Brand Index’ (EBI) research across 16 employer attributes
• Competitor analysis to find the gaps in the market

The research revealed distinct motivations for each group. We established 6 ‘big themes’ for each audience and distilled them into actionable next steps for the Talent Value Proposition. Salespeople cared about integrity and meaningful client relationships. Engineers wanted to build, not just maintain systems. Consultants valued bringing their authentic expertise to challenging problems. Early career talent sought rapid skill development and team integration.

Using our Talent Value Proposition framework, we created four positioning territories:

1. Sales: “We do sales. But we make it brighter.”
   Focus on integrity over quick wins, relationships over transactions.
2. Engineering: “Building, not just maintaining.”
   Innovation over maintenance, collaboration over isolation.
3. Customer Experience & Consulting: “Come as you are. As you were.”
   Authentic expertise meets collaborative success.
4. Early Careers: “Where ‘me’ becomes ‘we’.”
   Individual growth through team contribution.

Most employer branding feels like marketing committee output. This project succeeded because it started with genuine employee experiences and expanded from there.

We organised shoots across Pleasanton, London, and Dublin. Over 100 Workmates participated, sharing their real experiences rather than corporate talking points.

“This isn’t just a refresh of messaging. It’s a reimagining of how we show up to the world,”

Instead of telling engineers they’d “work on cutting-edge technology,” we showed them collaborating in scrum meetings. Instead of promising salespeople “unlimited earning potential,” we focused on selling with integrity.

The collaboration was genuine too. Stuart noted:

“Throughout the journey, our leadership and Workmates acted as sounding boards, helping to shape the messaging and visuals at every major milestone.”

The launch delivered four distinct talent brands that feel authentically crafted for their audiences while clearly belonging to Workday.

• Four research-backed Talent Value Propositions
• Targeted Talent Brands and campaigns for each audience
• Content library featuring authentic employee stories
• Strategic framework for ongoing recruitment marketing
• Clear differentiation in competitive talent markets

This wasn’t a typical client-agency relationship. We worked as an extension of Stuart’s team, testing ideas, gathering feedback, and refining approaches together.

“And to our incredible creative collaborators at Atomic – thank you for walking with us every step of the way and raising the bar for what’s possible.”

The project succeeded because both teams pushed each other. Workday brought deep employee insights and market knowledge. We brought an external perspective and strategic frameworks. Together, we created something neither could have built alone.

Stuart sees this as just the beginning:

“This launch is the start of something much bigger – a more authentic, impactful way of expressing what makes Workday special to each audience we want to reach.”

The project proves you can speak to different audiences in their own language without losing brand coherence. It just requires more work, better research, and commitment to authenticity over convenience.

More than updating its recruitment marketing approach, Workday has set a new standard for how enterprise software companies can compete for specialised talent.