Leaving Peakon without leaving Workday
What stays in Workday HCM, how CultureMonkey connects to it, and what the move means for your Workday license.
Separable
Can Peakon be dropped without leaving Workday?
- Peakon and Workday HCM are separable, and this is the short answer. Peakon can run as a standalone service and works with HR systems other than Workday. Replacing the engagement layer leaves your core HCM, payroll and reporting exactly where they are today.
- Workday stays your system of record throughout the move. Employee records, the org hierarchy, payroll and absence all stay where they are. CultureMonkey reads what it needs from Workday and writes nothing back.
- The two systems end up doing two different jobs, not competing. Workday holds the record of who works here. The engagement platform asks them how it is going and routes what comes back. Neither replaces the other.
Two systems, two jobs
Not a comparison. A division of labour, with one employee feed between them.
Workday HCM- Who works here, and in what team
- Hire, transfer and termination dates
- Payroll, benefits and absence
- The org hierarchy everything else reads
CultureMonkey- Asks how the work is actually going
- Holds the answers, anonymously where set
- Turns feedback into actions with an owner
- Reports the trend by team and location
Neither system needs the other’s job. The only thing that passes between them is a one-way employee feed, which is why the engagement layer can be replaced on its own.
Field mapping
What your Workday report returns, and where it lands
20 standard mapping fields, plus unlimited custom attributes you define yourself. Seven must be mapped for a Workday sync: First Name, Last Name, Email Address, Employee ID, External ID, Team Name and Location Name. Anything you do not map is simply not pulled across.
Integration
How does CultureMonkey connect to Workday?
- CultureMonkey connects through a Workday custom report published as a web service. It is authenticated with a service account. Your Workday admin builds and publishes the report, you submit the account details through a secure link, and our team maps the fields it returns.
- Syncs run twice weekly by default, one way, and never write back. Accounts with daily sync refresh once a day instead. Workday remains the system of record, and no edit made in CultureMonkey is ever pushed into it.
- CultureMonkey only ever sees what your Workday report returns. If a department, location or group is missing from the report, it will not appear here. Map date of separation to the active flag and job status, or leavers stay active.
Admin steps
What does the Workday admin need to do?
- The Workday admin builds one report, and that is the integration. The report lists your workers and the fields to sync, and it must include first name, email address, team and location for every active worker.
- A service account and a secure link complete the setup. Publish the report as a web service, use a dedicated integration service account, and share both through the secure link our team provides. We map the fields with you.
- Not ready yet? Start with a CSV and switch later. A one-time CSV upload gets your first survey out without waiting for the report. Admins can sign in with SAML single sign-on from day one.
Step by step: Connect Workday to CultureMonkey.
License
What happens to the bundled Workday license?
- Ask whether Peakon can be dropped on its own at renewal. Employee Voice often sits inside a wider, multi-year Workday agreement. Get the answer in writing, for the next renewal and the one after.
- If the module runs on, use that time for the export. Keeping Peakon live until its committed term ends gives your team time to export properly, which is the one task with a deadline nobody controls.
- Start the contract conversation before the technical one. Your true exit date sets how much history to export, when your first CultureMonkey survey runs, and when leadership sees the trend continue.
Scope
What moves to CultureMonkey, and what stays in Workday?
- CultureMonkey runs seven lifecycle stages off two dates on the employee record. Onboarding, Adaptation, Productivity, Comfort, Growth, Burnout and Wellness, and Separation, driven by date of joining and date of separation.
- It is a daily date check, not a webhook. Nothing fires the moment a record changes in Workday. Each day the platform looks at the dates it holds and issues whatever is due, which is why the sync cadence matters.
- What stays in Workday is anything that is a record, not a question. Payroll, absence, compensation and the org hierarchy itself. The engagement platform reads the hierarchy; it never becomes the place you maintain it.
Still weighing the field? Our roundup of Peakon alternatives compares it. Everything on this page holds whichever platform you choose.
FAQ
Other questions about Peakon and Workday
The Workday question
What an IT or Workday team asks before a review.
Can you leave Workday Peakon and stay on Workday?
Yes. Peakon can run as a standalone service and works with HR systems other than Workday, so the two are separable. Replacing the engagement layer leaves your core HCM, payroll and reporting untouched. A new engagement platform reads employee data out of Workday through a custom report, so Workday remains your system of record throughout.
How does CultureMonkey connect to Workday?
Through a Workday custom report published as a web service, authenticated with a service account. Your Workday admin builds and publishes the report, you submit the service-account details through a secure link, and our team sets up the connection. Syncs run twice weekly by default, daily on accounts with daily sync, one way only.
Does anything get written back into Workday?
No. The sync is one way. Workday stays the system of record, and no change made inside CultureMonkey is pushed back into it. That is usually the first question an IT or Workday team asks.
What if we cannot exit our Workday license early?
If engagement sits inside a multi-year bundled agreement, you may not be able to. Ask whether the engagement module can be dropped separately at renewal, since the answer decides whether your timeline is set by your own readiness or by a contract date.
Is Peakon the same thing as Workday Peakon?
They are the same product. Peakon was acquired by Workday and is now sold as Workday Peakon Employee Voice, so older and newer material use different names for one platform. When comparing documentation, check the date rather than the name on it.
Plan the Workday connection with our team.
Bring your Workday admin and the fields you report by. We will map them with you and plan the first sync before your first survey.
4.7 / 5 on G2