Workday

After many years in enterprise software and corporate America in general, I was starting to lose faith that there were any really great companies (or ideas) out there. Joining Workday two years ago changed my mind about everything that a corporation can be. I wake up every morning excited to get to work and feel fulfilled by my job. I have no desire to move into management, but that decision has been respected, and I have been consistently rewarded for being a top individual contributor.

I feel fortunate to work with fantastic people on all levels of the organization. My peers in sales are excellent, and they respect the value that I bring to the company. My direct management has always been very supportive of my work and me as a person. I feel this is a company where people genuinely care about the people that they work with, and that starts at the top with Dave Duffield and Aneel Bhusri.

One of the exciting things about my job is that I work with many different companies (in pre-sales) helping them understand the value of Workday. I get to experience the corporate culture of these companies as we go through the sales process. How do they treat vendors? How do they talk to each other? I get to see these aspects and many more as part of the sales cycle. That has given me a deep appreciation for just how few companies are like Workday in how they treat employees. I feel very lucky to be a part of building such a great organization.

I work from home on the days I am not traveling, and I feel well integrated even though I am in the field. My work-life balance is respected by both my peers and management. I recently took a week off during the busiest time of the quarter, and my management didn't complain.

We have been trying to hire an additional person in my position for over a year now and still have not found someone who can satisfy all the requirements. This means that I've been very busy (and getting busier). My management has gone out of their way to ensure I don't get overworked, but at some point, we just need more people to do the job.

I am also still somewhat confused about our commission compensation, how it is calculated, and how long it takes for us to get our compensation plans. I understand we are a growing company, but for variable compensation to be a motivator, the plans need to be clear and delivered on a timely basis.

Because the company is still relatively young and growing fast, some of our internal processes are not fully matured. Things like performance reviews are not conducted on a regular basis (even though I get regular informal feedback on my performance). I think for some this may be frustrating because they need more consistent "official" feedback. I suspect this is particularly true for younger workers who are looking to constantly improve their performance. I hope this is something that can be addressed as we continue to grow.