Beyond Configuration: Building a Custom Talent Assessment Hub with Workday Extend

Executive Summary

In the competitive technology sector, retaining top talent is often more challenging—and more valuable—than recruitment. A leading US-based technology firm with over 10,000 employees partnered with OnoeX to solve a critical visibility gap in their talent management strategy. By deploying a custom Workday Extend solution, we transformed fragmented data into a unified "Talent Assessment Hub," empowering leadership to proactively identify and retain high-value employees without leaving their secure HR ecosystem.

The Client

The client is a major player in the technology industry, employing a large workforce of specialized engineers and leaders. Operating in a sector where "talent wars" are constant, their ability to identify flight risks and nurture high-potential employees is a direct driver of their competitive advantage.

The Problem: The "Retention Blind Spot"

Despite having a robust HRIS foundation, the client faced a significant strategic challenge: their standard performance review cycles were too rigid and retrospective. They needed a more dynamic way to evaluate talent across four specific, custom dimensions that standard tools didn't natively group together:

1. Performance Trend: Is the employee trending upwards or plateauing?

2. Behavioral Alignment: Are they modeling core company values (e.g., "Integrity First," "Safety Always")?

3. Loss Impact: How severely would the business be impacted if this specific individual left tomorrow?

4. Flight Risk: What is the immediate likelihood of this employee resigning?

This critical data was often trapped in offline spreadsheets or disparate systems, creating a "blind spot" for HR Business Partners. Leadership lacked a consolidated, real-time heatmap of where their organization was most vulnerable.

The Solution: The OnoeX Talent Assessment Hub

OnoeX designed and built a bespoke application that sits seamlessly on top of the client’s existing Workday tenant. This solution effectively bridged the gap between standard HRIS capabilities and the client’s unique strategic needs.

1. A Unified Manager Workspace

We created a centralized dashboard where managers can view their entire reporting hierarchy—both direct and indirect reports—in a single pane of glass. Instead of navigating multiple menus, managers can launch assessments, view history, and update ratings instantly.

2. Visualizing Risk and Impact

Data is only useful if it tells a story. The application includes custom visualization cards that categorize employees by risk level. HR leaders can now pull up specific views for "Low Performers" or "High Flight Risks," allowing them to prioritize interventions where they are needed most. For example, a "Loss Impact" chart allows executives to instantly see how many mission-critical roles are currently held by employees with high flight risk.

3. Intelligent Automation

To eliminate administrative overhead, we implemented background automation that monitors the workforce. When new employees are hired or reach a specific tenure milestone, the system automatically identifies them and initializes the necessary assessment workflows. This ensures that no employee "slips through the cracks" during review cycles.

Business Impact

The deployment of the Talent Assessment Hub delivered immediate strategic value:

• Data Security & Compliance: By building this custom tool inside Workday, sensitive data regarding "Flight Risk" never leaves the secure tenant. It eliminates the security risks associated with emailing spreadsheets or using third-party tools.

• Proactive Retention: HRBPs shifted from reactive "exit interviews" to proactive "stay interviews." With clear visibility into "Loss Impact," they can now allocate retention budgets to the employees who matter most to business continuity.

• Zero-Training Adoption: Because the application uses the same design language as the core HRIS, managers required virtually no training to start using it, resulting in high adoption rates across the enterprise.

Lessons for Future Clients

For enterprise leaders considering similar innovations, this project highlights three key takeaways:

1. Don't Settle for Spreadsheets: If your unique business process doesn't fit the standard box, building a custom extension is often more secure and efficient than reverting to manual processes.

2. User Experience Drives Data Quality: When tools are easy to use and integrated into the daily workflow, managers provide more accurate and timely data.

3. Security is Paramount: For sensitive data like attrition risk, keeping the data within your primary system of record is the only way to ensure strict access governance.

OnoeX specializes in bridging the gap between complex business requirements and technical execution. We help enterprises unlock the full potential of their Workday investment through intelligent, custom-built solutions.

Is your organization facing a unique HR challenge? Contact OnoeX today to discuss how we can extend your capabilities.