An examination of how transparency in performance reviews, career paths, and compensation fosters trust, accountability, and a culture of continuous improvement.
Chris Ernst
Chief Learning Officer
Workday
Organizations on the quest for competitive advantages can head down complex paths of technological innovation and strategic shifts. Yet, many overlook a powerful, often underestimated lever for success: transparency.
It's a personal passion of mine to understand how we can build more high performance, human-centric workplaces. Throughout my career and the work of establishing Workday’s Talent Philosophy, transparency was a recurring theme—one that yields tremendous value for the employee, and ultimately, the business.
When talking about transparency in talent management, we're talking about open communication around performance, clear pathways for career growth, and equitable, understandable compensation structures.
We'll take a deeper dive into the different elements of transparancy to examine how they help drive business success, and how they work together to create a culture of continuous improvement.
Report
For decades, performance reviews have been clouded in a foggy veil of mystery, with employees feeling like they're on the receiving end of a catch-all observation rather than an objective, tailored assessment.
For a number of reasons, like discomfort with confrontation and lack of training on how to deliver constructive criticism, managers often would reserve feedback for a once a year conversation in a formal setting. Not only is this ineffective for the employee, it also puts all of the responsibility and pressure on the manager.
The result was unnecessary anxiety for the manager and their teams, delayed rather than timely feedback, and a missed opportunity for genuine development.
But what happens when the fog is cleared? When we make the criteria explicit, the feedback ongoing throughout the year, and the process a collaborative dialogue rather than a one-way pronouncement? Our employees at Workday shared the following sentiment:
“I see check-ins as an investment in yourself, your relationship with your people leader, and your overall career.”
“Innately, people want to understand how they’re measured, how they’re doing, and what their leader’s perspective of their performance is. This new approach meets those needs.”
“The new cycle of goal setting, check-ins, and calibration has been powerful for driving accountability for both high performers and folks who are trending downward.”
“I feel a difference in the workforce. People will happily come up to you and give you feedback - good or bad - at every level.”
“These conversations for me to step back and think critically about my career. That in itself has been a huge benefit for me.”
As Roxanne Henselman, our VP of Talent Management & Development and a valued member of my team here at Workday, aptly puts it, "Employees crave feedback, they want to know where they stand; being transparent with them about how they’re performing helps build trust and alignment."
This isn't just an anecdotal observation; it's rooted in data. Deloitte reported that 86% of workers and 74% of leaders surveyed report that an increasing focus on trust and transparency in the relationship between workers and the organization is very or critically important.
When individuals understand the "why" behind an evaluation and have consistent, clear insights into their progress or potential areas to improve, they're far more likely to embrace constructive criticism and actively seek ways to develop.
"Employees crave feedback, they want to know where they stand; being transparent with them about how they are performing helps build trust and alignment."
Roxanne Henselman
VP of Talent Management and Talent Development, Workday
At Workday, we're actively embracing this philosophy. Roxanne highlighted our approach in a recent discussion, explaining "We’ve enabled people leaders on how to assess performance and potential, as well as how to communicate these ratings to their direct reports. We also educate all our employees on the frameworks we’re using so they know how they’re being evaluated and can knowledgeably participate in the discussion."
This proactive education, coupled with capture of assessment results in worker profiles, eliminates ambiguity. It ensures that conversations are grounded in shared understanding, leading to a work environment where performance reviews are less about grading and more about developing.
That's the power of transparency.
An employee’s career path should have clarity about how to advance, what skills they need to acquire, and what opportunities exist. Advancement should not feel like a maze that employees need to navigate blindfolded. A lack of clarity can lead to disengagement, high turnover, and internal talent feeling undervalued.
Transparency in career paths should clearly outline the skills, experiences, and competencies required for different roles within an employee’s organization. It means providing tools and resources for employees to assess their current capabilities against future aspirations and offering targeted learning opportunities to bridge those gaps.
It's about empowering individuals to own their development journey, rather than leaving it to chance or the whim of a job opening.
In an effort to bring this empowerment to life, we took a unique approach that puts the employee in the driver’s seat through “gigs”. Gigs are a way for employees to expand past their everyday role by picking up projects on a different team. This allowed employees to experience other aspects of the company that they previously didn’t have visibility into.
The best part? It has a measurable impact.
We've hosted over 5,000 gigs across the company and the results have been remarkable with a 42% increase in internal mobility, a 33% decrease in attrition, and an 11% increase in career growth sentiment.
"Transparency supports greater trust, more meaningful conversations and greater alignment between our employees and our people leaders."
Roxanne Henselman
VP of Talent Management and Talent Development, Workday
Consider the psychological impact: when an employee can see a clear trajectory, are encouraged to experience different facets of the business, and when they understand what it takes to get from point A to point B, they are far more likely to invest in their own growth. It cultivates a sense of agency over themselves, translating into both high engagement and performance.
For talent professionals, there are benefits, too, because this transparency enables more strategic talent planning. We can identify skill gaps across the organization, proactively develop training programs, and ensure that our talent pipeline is robust and ready for future challenges.
Perhaps the most sensitive area where transparency can make a profound difference is compensation.
Traditionally, pay has been one of the most gatekept conversations within organizations. This often breeds suspicion, fosters a sense of uncertainty, and contributes to pay gaps.
While full salary disclosure may not be the immediate answer for every organization, a move toward greater compensation clarity is imperative. This means being transparent about how pay decisions are made—the factors considered, the salary bands for different roles, and the criteria for bonuses and raises.
It’s about demystifying the compensation process and explaining the rationale behind pay differentials.
When employees understand the logic behind their compensation, it allows for more meaningful discussions about performance and its direct link to rewards. It also empowers employees to advocate for themselves based on clear criteria or for them to offer up underutilized—and potentially untapped—skills.
For organizations, this shift toward transparency in compensation can lead to greater pay equity, improved employee morale, and a stronger employer perception—which in turn, helps the bottom line. It signals a commitment to fairness and meritocracy, which are increasingly important to today's workforce.
At Workday, our commitment to transparency isn't just an aspirational statement; it's woven into the fabric of our talent philosophy as one of the six dimensions.
True transparency isn't just about revealing information; it's about actively listening to your people, responding to their need for clarity, and then communicating that you followed up on their feedback.
At Workday, our commitment to transparency isn't just an aspirational statement; it's woven into the fabric of our talent philosophy.
This journey toward greater clarity is something I've personally championed and was privileged to see come to fruition, as detailed in our work with the Talent Strategy Group. With transparency at its core, we implemented a matrix for assessing performance and potential.
Both employees and managers understood the criteria, how the assessments were made, and how these evaluations translated into development opportunities and career trajectories.
The goal was to eliminate ambiguity and provide a clear, shared language for talent discussions, and the results were clear: Perceptions of individual career growth were improved, contributing to a 35% decrease in the number of employees who were dissatisfied with their growth and career path.
Ultimately, the power of transparency lies in its ability to develop trust with our workforce. When employees understand where they are, where they're going, and how they're valued, trust is reinforced and they have forward momentum for their careers.
This fosters a culture where feedback is celebrated, development is prioritized, and accountability is a shared responsibility—not a punitive measure.
As talent and people leaders, it's our responsibility to champion this shift. It means challenging old ways of doing things, equipping our leaders with the skills and confidence to have open conversations, and leveraging technology to facilitate clear, accessible information.
So, I challenge you: where can you pull back the curtain in your organization? Where can you shed light on processes that have traditionally been opaque? The journey toward greater transparency may have its challenges, but the destination—a truly empowered and thriving workforce—is well worth the effort.
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