For global automotive supplier Cooper Standard, change is constant. With a workforce of over 22,000 employees across manufacturing and corporate sites, the company must adapt quickly to market shifts and workforce demands.
“Macroeconomic volatility creates an evolving landscape in automotive,” says Kate Litchford, Senior Manager, HRIS at Cooper Standard. “It impacts production volumes and workforce levels, so we’ve focused on building flexibility and data reliability. With leaner resources, our priority is continuous improvement and driving greater efficiencies.”
In this environment, Cooper Standard turned to Workday Human Capital Management (HCM) to bring structure and agility to its HR operations. Since implementation, Workday has become the foundation of the company’s global HR ecosystem, helping teams make faster, data-driven decisions while managing change across a complex global workforce.
Driving insight, integration, and impact.
When Cooper Standard implemented Workday, the goal was to centralize workforce data and improve accessibility for HR and business leaders. “We moved to Workday to gain better data visibility,” says Litchford. “Our CHRO prioritizes metrics on a monthly, quarterly, and annual basis and values having centralized, accurate people data. We’ve now established that by having a single source of truth across the organization.”
As senior manager, Litchford oversees the HR technology landscape, global process alignment, and system integrations. “I manage the HRIS team and our HR tech stack, engaging with HR partners, directors, recruiters, and teams globally,” she explains. “We use Workday as the system of record and support numerous integrations, including Active Directory, our employee mobile app and our careers website.”
This integrated environment ensures that accurate, timely data drives decision-making. “Fast access to accurate data supports decisions like HR partner ratios and workload distribution,” Litchford adds. “If accountability metrics dip in a region, we analyze coverage and can reassign HR support in Workday quickly, improving responsiveness immediately.”
Workday gives us the visibility to act quickly and make informed decisions across our global workforce.
Senior Manager, HRIS
Improving the employee experience.
For a company with both desk-based and non-desk employees, ease of use is critical. “Many employees interact with Workday only a few times a year, so we simplified the process,” says Litchford. “The new Goals experience in Workday was a big improvement; we adopted it quickly. Reporting helps track progress, and the talent team is very happy with the streamlined process.”
That focus on usability and accurate data has strengthened ownership across the business. “We run monthly accountability metrics from Workday to track timeliness and data quality,” Litchford notes. These practices have helped standardize how HR teams operate globally, making performance tracking and workforce planning more consistent.
A global mindset with strong support from Poland.
Cooper Standard’s HR transformation is built on a global strategy that emphasizes shared standards rather than isolated localized approaches. “We aim for global process and solution adoption rather than regional silos,” says Litchford. “There may be local nuances, but broadly Poland uses the same Workday footprint as other regions.”
That’s important because Poland plays a vital role in this global model. “We have corporate offices, a large Shared Services hub for finance and HR in Bielsko-Biała, IT staff for EMEA support, and multiple manufacturing plants,” Litchford explains. “Poland became a strategic hiring location; teams there support global finance, procurement, and HR. Collaboration has been excellent.”
With operations spanning multiple countries, maintaining compliance and adapting to evolving regulations remain key priorities. “We have confidence that Workday will develop solutions for compliance issues, such as pay equity regulations, as part of their regular upgrade cycle or sooner if necessary,” says Litchford. “This approach allows us to rely on Workday’s expertise rather than creating custom solutions.”
By leveraging Workday’s continuous innovation, Cooper Standard minimizes manual interventions and focuses its HR teams on strategy, not system maintenance. “Fast access to accurate data supports decisions,” Litchford reiterates, underscoring how visibility fuels workforce agility.
With Workday, our team in Poland plays a key role in supporting global HR, finance, and data visibility. Workday also helps ensure teams across all countries follow the same global processes and stay connected.
Senior Manager, HRIS
Accelerating innovation through skills and AI.
Looking ahead, Cooper Standard strives to build on its HR transformation by expanding its use of Workday to enhance efficiency and engagement. “We’re now prioritizing our skills-first strategy, aiming to use this approach for internal hiring and profiles, and generally maturing our skills capabilities,” noted Litchford.
AI is another area of growing focus. “We’ve begun turning on AI functionality in Workday,” she explains. “Cooper Standard has an internal AI Council overseeing AI strategy across the company. We’re briefing them on upcoming Workday AI features and opportunities. Responsible AI and using only Workday and accurate data are important principles.”
A strong partnership remains key to progress. “Given our lean resourcing, we value partners whose surface features we can enable quickly to maximize ROI,” says Litchford. “We rely on Workday to highlight opportunities we might miss. That guidance helps us unlock new efficiencies.”
As the company continues its digital journey, Litchford reflects on the mindset driving Cooper Standard’s success. “We’re proud of the progress we’ve made with Workday, but even more excited about what’s ahead. Our focus remains on innovation, collaboration, and continuous improvement.”