Workday Brings Sana Self-Service Agent for HR and Finance Into Microsoft 365 Copilot
Rhea-AI Summary
Workday (NASDAQ: WDAY) announced that its Sana Self-Service Agent is now available within Microsoft 365 Copilot. Employees and managers can ask natural-language HR and finance questions and complete tasks, such as checking time off, viewing payslips, approving timesheets, and managing expenses, without leaving Microsoft 365.
According to Workday, all interactions run through Workday’s existing approvals, business rules, and role-based permissions, helping organizations maintain security, compliance, and governance while monitoring agent usage and adoption. The Self-Service Agent is offered as a single app in the Microsoft Marketplace and requires no additional licensing.
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News Market Reaction – WDAY
In the May 13 session, WDAY declined 1.79%, reflecting a mild negative market reaction.
Data tracked by StockTitan Argus on the day of publication.
Key Figures
Historical Context
| Date | Event | Sentiment | 24h Move | Catalyst |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 01 | Earnings date set | Neutral | +3.7% | Announced timing and webcast details for fiscal 2027 Q1 earnings release. |
| Apr 30 | Partner expansion | Positive | -0.0% | Jade Global named Workday partner to deliver end-to-end Workday services. |
| Apr 28 | AI HR solution | Positive | +2.8% | Launched PAR Agent to modernize federal HR with faster PAR cycles and savings. |
| Apr 21 | AI-first deployment | Positive | -2.2% | EZE Cloud completed rapid multi-country deployment of Workday HCM and Finance. |
| Apr 16 | AI recognition launch | Positive | +0.6% | Introduced AI-enabled recognition and rewards solution with Achievers to boost engagement. |
24h Move is the share-price change in the day after each event; other market factors may also have contributed.
Recent AI and partnership announcements have produced mixed reactions, with several positive-sounding releases followed by both gains and modest pullbacks.
Over the last month, Workday has highlighted steady strategic progress. An Apr 16 AI-powered recognition and rewards launch and an Apr 21 AI-first deployment with EZE Cloud expanded its ecosystem focus. On Apr 28, Workday Government unveiled a PAR Agent with meaningful efficiency and cost benefits, followed by a Apr 30 partner announcement with Jade Global. Most recently, a May 1 notice set expectations for fiscal 2027 Q1 results on May 21, 2026. Today’s Copilot integration fits this ongoing AI and workflow-automation narrative.
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AI-generated analysis. How Rhea-AI works. Not financial advice.
Sana Self-Service Agent from Workday is Now Available in Copilot, Enabling Employees to Get Answers and Take Action Without Leaving Their Flow of Work
Today, employees and managers often jump between email, chat, portals, and help desks just to handle everyday questions about pay, time off, expenses, or team changes. That kind of back‑and‑forth slows people down and pushes more work onto HR and finance teams.
Sana from Workday, Workday's agentic AI platform, connects an organization's people and money data, context, policies, and processes in Workday and puts them to work. It powers AI agents that complete tasks, improve processes, and keep humans in the loop. With the Self-Service Agent now in Microsoft 365 Copilot, employees can tap into that intelligence to take action on a wide range of everyday needs directly from Microsoft 365.
Employees already working in Microsoft 365 can, for example, ask how much vacation they have left and then request time off, check the status of an expense, see what they need to do for an upcoming review, or look up company policies such as family leave, all in natural language. When a request involves Workday data or processes, Microsoft 365 Copilot securely connects to the Self-Service Agent, which completes the task in Workday using the organization's existing approvals, policies, and business rules, then returns the results in Copilot.
"People shouldn't have to jump between systems just to get a simple HR or finance answer," said Joel Hellermark, Sana general manager, Workday. "With our Self‑Service Agent in Microsoft 365 Copilot, Workday quietly does the hard work in the background, so answers simply appear where people already are."
Complete Everyday HR and Finance Tasks in Seconds
With Self-Service Agent in Microsoft 365 Copilot, every employee and manager can manage everyday HR and finance needs in seconds. For example:
- Employees can check time‑off balances, update personal information, view payslips, review tax withholding information, or request leave.
- Managers can review team goals, approve timesheets in bulk, start a performance review for an employee, or submit payroll input.
- Finance leaders or users can ask about expense and travel policies, check eligibility for items like corporate cards, and be guided to create the appropriate request or case when action is needed.
For organizations already using Microsoft 365 Copilot, turning on the Self‑Service Agent is a simple configuration step, not a new project the team has to staff. The Self-Service Agent is available as a single app in the Microsoft Marketplace. There's no separate login, no new deployment, and no additional licensing requirement.
"Microsoft 365 Copilot is designed to help people stay in the flow of work while getting more done with less friction," said Srini Raghavan, Corporate Vice President, Microsoft 365 Ecosystem at Microsoft. "With Workday's Sana Self-Service Agent integrated into Microsoft 365 Copilot, employees can access HR and finance support in the tools they use every day, while organizations retain the same policies, controls, and governance they already rely on with Workday."
Grounding Every AI Interaction in Workday's Security, Policies, and Guardrails
Workday operates at the heart of HR and Finance, where trust, accuracy, and auditability are non‑negotiable. Its underlying business processes are deterministic by design, with clear starts and finishes, approvals, and controls that deliver consistent, auditable outcomes, while modern AI is probabilistic, reasoning and recommending based on patterns and likelihoods. By tightly coupling Sana's agentic intelligence with Workday's deterministic rails, Workday safely powers the agentic future of HR and Finance: AI agents that automate more of the work, while organizations maintain the security, compliance, and governance they depend on.
With the Self-Service Agent in Copilot, every interaction runs through Workday, so customers keep full control over their data, policies, and processes. Responses follow each organization's role-based permissions, and every action respects existing approvals and business rules. Organizations also get clear visibility into how the agent is being used, so they can monitor adoption and confirm it's working as intended. While user interactions with the Self-Service Agent appear as activity history in Copilot, the underlying Workday data and transactions stay within the Workday trusted system.
Workday is increasingly focused on interoperable agent‑to‑agent solutions that drive adoption of AI assistants across ecosystems. Sana from Workday provides the reasoning and guardrails that let these agents work together across platforms, so organizations can coordinate work between assistants while maintaining control over how their data is used.
"Direct Supply is an employee-owned company focused on helping prepare our nation for the needs of an aging population. As we advance that mission, we are building a modern, AI-enabled workplace that helps our Partners and leaders operate with greater agility, clarity, and impact," said Sarah Rolfs, SVP, HR & Transformation, Direct Supply. "Our partnership with Workday is an important part of our broader AI-first strategy, helping bring key actions and insights into the flow of work - enabling faster decisions, stronger organizational outcomes, and greater value for the customers and communities we serve."
Availability
Sana Self-Service Agent in Microsoft 365 Copilot is generally available today for eligible Workday and Microsoft customers.
For more information
Learn more about how Workday built Sana Self-Service Agent in Microsoft 365 Copilot here.
About Workday
Workday is the enterprise AI platform for managing people, money, and agents. Workday unifies HR and Finance on one intelligent platform with AI at the core to empower people at every level with the clarity, confidence, and insights they need to adapt quickly, make better decisions, and deliver outcomes that matter. Workday is used by more than 11,500 organizations around the world and across industries – from medium-sized businesses to more than
© 2026 Workday, Inc. All rights reserved. Workday and the Workday logo are trademarks of Workday, Inc. All other brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements including, among other things, statements regarding Workday's plans, beliefs, and expectations. These forward-looking statements are based only on currently available information and our current beliefs, expectations, and assumptions. Because forward-looking statements relate to the future, they are subject to inherent risks, uncertainties, assumptions, and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict and many of which are outside of our control. If the risks materialize, assumptions prove incorrect, or we experience unexpected changes in circumstances, actual results could differ materially from the results implied by these forward-looking statements, and therefore you should not rely on any forward-looking statements. Risks include, but are not limited to, risks described in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including our most recent report on Form 10-Q or Form 10-K and other reports that we have filed and will file with the SEC from time to time, which could cause actual results to vary from expectations. Workday assumes no obligation to, and does not currently intend to, update any such forward-looking statements after the date of this release, except as required by law.
Any unreleased services, features, or functions referenced in this document, our website, or other press releases or public statements that are not currently available are subject to change at Workday's discretion and may not be delivered as planned or at all. Customers who purchase Workday services should make their purchase decisions based upon services, features, and functions that are currently available.
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SOURCE Workday, Inc.