Workday Down? Outage Drags Into Saturday as Backup Test Glitch Locks Workers Out of Payroll

PLEASANTON, Calif. — Workday, the human resources and payroll software used by millions of employees worldwide, remained down for some customers Saturday after a problem during a test of its backup systems forced the company to take parts of its service offline.

The outage began Friday afternoon. It left workers at affected employers unable to log in, clock in and out, check pay information, request time off or manage benefits. As of about 6:30 a.m. ET Saturday, Workday had not announced that service was restored or given a timeline for recovery.

Users trying to log in were met with a message reading "Workday is currently unavailable."

Backup test goes wrong

The Pleasanton, California-based company said the disruption began after it discovered a problem while testing its backup systems. It said it had placed some systems into maintenance mode while it worked on a fix.

According to customer notices shared by universities and IT administrators, Workday said disaster-recovery services had unexpectedly connected to its live production databases. The company said that left some data "in an inconsistent state," which could cause errors when users try to reach their accounts and make jobs, integrations and tasks fail.

In a statement to San Francisco TV station KRON4, Workday said: "Some of our customers are experiencing a service disruption and we're working urgently to investigate and resolve the issue. We sincerely apologize for the challenges this is causing impacted customers."

Workday said it was investigating the best way to restore service and would provide updates every 30 minutes.

Thousands of reports

Outage tracker Downdetector said user reports of problems with Workday began at about 3:45 p.m. EST Friday. By that afternoon, the site had logged more than 2,900 reports. Reports later tapered off as the U.S. workday ended, but complaints continued into Saturday.

On Downdetector and social media, workers said they could not reach timesheets or log hours. One user in Nebraska reported that the clock-in system was down for an entire company, leaving staff unable to clock out, change their status or submit time.

Who is affected

Workday has not said how many customers were affected. The company says more than 11,500 organizations worldwide use its software to manage hiring, payroll, benefits, time tracking and other HR tasks.

Its clients include large retailers, financial firms and government agencies. A source told the outlet The Newsground that Walmart, Target, Chipotle and Skechers were among the companies affected. Those companies have not commented publicly.

Universities that rely on Workday told staff and students that the system was unavailable and that automated jobs tied to it would be rerun once service returns.

Timing raises payroll concerns

The outage struck at the end of the workweek, a busy period for timekeeping and payroll processing. Hourly workers who clock in and out through Workday faced uncertainty about whether their hours would be recorded correctly.

HR and IT departments have been advised to track hours manually where needed, delay non-urgent tasks, and check data carefully once the system comes back, given Workday's warning about inconsistent data.

Experts say employees should keep their own records of hours worked during the outage, to help correct any payroll errors later.

Not a cyberattack, so far

Workday has attributed the problem to its disaster-recovery testing and has not indicated any malicious activity. Disaster-recovery tests are meant to make sure backup systems can take over if primary systems fail. In this case, the backup environment appears to have interfered with live customer data.

Technology analysts said the incident highlights the risks of testing on systems connected to production environments, and the importance of strict separation between backup and live data.

Part of a turbulent week

The Workday disruption came during a week of major technology failures in the United States. A global Microsoft outage disrupted Outlook, Teams and other Microsoft 365 services for more than a day. A nationwide ground stop by the Federal Aviation Administration, which officials blamed on aging technology, led to thousands of flight cancellations Friday.

The incidents have renewed concerns about how much businesses depend on a small number of cloud software providers for critical operations.

What employees can do

Until Workday confirms that service is fully restored, affected workers are advised to:

• Keep personal records of hours worked, time-off requests and other HR tasks during the outage.
• Follow employer guidance, since many HR departments are issuing manual workarounds.
• Avoid repeated login attempts or resubmissions, which could create duplicate entries once systems return.
• Check pay stubs carefully on the next payday for any errors.
• Contact HR or payroll teams if problems persist after service is restored.

Workday has not said when full service will return or whether any customer data was permanently affected. The company is expected to provide further updates as recovery continues.

Workday's last major disruption was in 2024, when an unplanned service interruption hit production tenants in one of its data centers.