Whittlesea & Ipswich councils adopt Workday to streamline HR

The City of Whittlesea has selected Workday Human Capital Management (HCM) as its single system for human resources management, consolidating multiple platforms into one to improve operations and employee experience.

The council, which serves a growing and diverse community of approximately 240,000 residents in Melbourne's north, has set out to replace seven different HR systems with an integrated solution. This move is expected to streamline the management and delivery of essential services such as waste collection, community support, parks, and infrastructure management. More than 1,300 people are currently employed by the City of Whittlesea to provide these services.

The City of Whittlesea becomes the first council in Australia to select Workday as its platform for human capital management, a decision that was quickly followed by Ipswich City Council in Queensland.

HR consolidation

The city's leadership identified the need for a consolidated HR system to enhance organisational efficiency and to create what it describes as an "irresistible employee experience". The decision to adopt Workday HCM supports this objective by removing the complexity of managing multiple systems for different HR processes across the employee journey.

Key intended benefits of the move to Workday HCM include streamlined operations through reduced administrative tasks, stronger workforce planning from improved visibility over the employee lifecycle, and greater data accuracy with a single source of truth. The system is also expected to bolster data security and help automate compliance management.

"The City of Whittlesea was looking to consolidate our people management systems and provide a seamless experience for our employees across recruitment, training and workforce planning. We wanted to improve the accuracy of our data and reporting functionality, to support better decision making and transparency, as well as enhanced productivity for our employees. We aim to make this a reality through our partnership with Workday," said City of Whittlesea Chief People Officer Sharon Durantini.

The new system is expected to free up valuable time for staff and management, enabling them to focus on strategic projects and innovation in service delivery.

Workday perspective

Jo-Anne Ruhl, Vice President and Managing Director of Workday Australia and New Zealand, outlined the significance of the City of Whittlesea's adoption of Workday HCM in the context of ongoing growth and the evolving needs of municipal services.

"With the City of Whittlesea predicted to continue growing rapidly well into the future, it's essential that its employees are equipped with the right tools to continue delivering essential services to residents, businesses, and the broader community. The Workday platform is uniquely positioned to help empower government organisations of all sizes to adapt and thrive in the changing world of work. As the first council in Australia to officially select Workday for HCM, we are excited to see what the City of Whittlesea achieves and how it blazes a trail for other public sector entities."

Similar move in Ipswich

Ipswich City Council in Queensland has also chosen Workday HCM, together with Cognizant, as a core part of a five-year technology transformation programme. The council, responsible for a population of more than 256,000 and managing more than AUD $4.1 billion in infrastructure assets, plans to automate and streamline its HR and payroll processes with this upgrade.

Cognizant will implement Workday HCM to provide Ipswich City Council with a scalable, data-driven technology solution. The council aims to boost efficiency, reduce manual errors, and benefit from improved data security and regulatory compliance.

The collaboration will allow the Ipswich team to manage all people processes within a single system, leveraging intelligent automation, embedded AI capabilities, and real-time data across the employee lifecycle.

"This transformation in payroll and HR processes will help drive better value for money, more integrated service delivery and an improved customer experience. It is crucial that the council's operations keep pace with community expectations and are fit for purpose to ensure we can continue to deliver services as efficiently as possible," said Sonia Cooper, Chief Executive Officer at Ipswich City Council.

The City of Whittlesea covers approximately 490 square kilometres and is one of Melbourne's largest municipalities. The Whittlesea council's transition to a single human capital management system forms part of a broader trend among Australian councils to modernise and digitise their people management and service delivery operations in response to population growth and changing administrative demands.