Embracing a Skills-Based Approach in Hiring With Workday Chief People Officer Ashley Goldsmith

In this episode of Redefining HR, I’m joined by Workday’s chief people officer, Ashley Goldsmith. Ashley and I discuss how she’s helped scale Workday, the skills HR teams need to grow and much more.

Ashley has been in HR throughout her career. In her role at Workday, Ashley oversees many of the everyday people functions for her workmates worldwide, including the company’s belonging, diversity and global impact. And now, going into her tenth year with Workday next year, she is excited about the changes coming to HR. 

This episode is the season finale of Redefining HR. In January, for season nine, we’re evolving this podcast into Redefining Work. I’m excited for Ashley to help us close out season eight and be a part of this special milestone for Redefining HR.

You can also listen/share the episode directly syndicated on any of these channels: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | TuneIn

Creating a Skills-Based Talent Strategy

One of the most significant trends in HR today is the shift in hiring approach. Many HR leaders and companies are embracing skills-based hiring instead of traditional roles-based approaches. And companies like Workday see this as a positive shift. 

“I think it has such a power to change how we think about talent across the globe,” Ashley says. “Like many companies, we’re evolving the way we think about talent from that primary focus on a specific role or what we see in a resume, what we see from an educational background, to focusing on individual skills.”

Workday’s people analytics team is one department where Ashley and her team have used the skills-based approach to set employees up for success. Ashley’s team wanted to identify skills consistently throughout the hiring process, but those skills weren’t as predictable as they wanted. 

“We had too many competencies that we were interviewing against. We had 31, and the data was showing that that was not leading us where we needed to go,” she says. “So we’ve reduced that to nine core skills, Workday core skills … like empathy, curiosity and accountability.”

“And I think that’s a perfect example of how you can take this concept of skills and start to put it in and get it deeper into the organization,” Ashley continues.

Helping Leaders Embrace the Skills-Based Approach

The skills-based approach can be challenging. Ashley thinks it’s less about resistance from leaders and more about getting used to a new way of thinking.

Ashley’s team is helping managers and leaders retrain their thinking in several ways, including a new internal concept called gigs. Gigs are “short-term assignments where a workmate can go and get exposure to different parts of the business and try out some new skills,” Ashley says.

These gig assignments are skills-based, which helps managers shape what they’re looking for, then find the employee who’s the best match. Ashley shares the example of a product manager who needed to add functionality quickly and needed to find an internal resource.

“He created a gig, identified the skills that he needed and also the ones that would be developed there. And this early-career female engineer jumped at that opportunity. And so she got to work on this,” Ashley says. “And when it was done, she had learned this new language. The product manager had this new feature.”

Encouraging Creativity and Innovation In HR

At Workday, encouraging learning, creativity and innovation is essential. And Ashley knows that leaders set the example. 

“As leaders, we can talk about what we’ve learned, what we’re trying new, how we’re learning from others,” she says. “And I think that if you do that publicly, that says that even somebody who’s reached a higher level in their career than maybe an early-career person is still learning, growing, trying something new.”

Ashley and her team leverage this by using the resources available, including working groups led by Cornell’s Center for Advanced HR Studies and an internal HR program called the WOW US Award program that Ashley and her team started. 

“WOW is ‘Workday On Workday’ … and it’s all about having a recognition platform for people who are doing something really creative, in our case with Workday’s technology,” she says.

People honored with these awards get a public forum to be recognized, explain what they did and share how it helps Workday succeed. Those moments encourage employees to step out of their comfort zone and try something new. 

“You bring some excitement, you bring a little humor, and you bring a big spotlight to people who are doing something new and different,” Ashley says. “You always need to be thinking, extending, learning, growing. ‘Cause life is changing, and we need to make sure we’re doing that, too.”

People in This Episode

• Ashley Goldsmith: LinkedIn