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IBM Kenexa vs Workday comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 4, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

IBM Kenexa
Ranking in Benefits Administration
16th
Ranking in Talent Management
17th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
5.3
Number of Reviews
30
Ranking in other categories
Applicant Tracking and Recruiting Software (10th)
Workday
Ranking in Benefits Administration
1st
Ranking in Talent Management
1st
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
59
Ranking in other categories
Cloud HCM (1st), Talent Acquisition (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Benefits Administration category, the mindshare of IBM Kenexa is 1.8%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Workday is 10.0%, down from 19.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Benefits Administration Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Workday10.0%
IBM Kenexa1.8%
Other88.2%
Benefits Administration
 

Featured Reviews

Karan Grover - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Manager at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Suitable for larger-scale companies aiming to streamline and automate their processes digitally
The deployment of the solution took between six to eight months. When we introduced BrassRing at my company, we encountered several challenges. First, moving data from our old system to BrassRing was tough because it needed reformatting. Second, connecting BrassRing with our HR data was tricky due to manual processes for roles and departments. Third, setting up the workflow in BrassRing was complex. Fourth, configuring user access and approval levels was a detailed task. We also had to manage the change process, including running both old and new systems in parallel, communicating changes, and training users. Lastly, monitoring and reporting were needed to ensure data accuracy and proper system usage once everything was in place. We had a team of six to eight people managing the project from our side during the BrassRing deployment. I'm not sure about the size of the BrassRing team, and we also had our own technical team, which had three to four members. The solution required maintenance, particularly from my side as the administrator. Maintenance responsibilities were divided into two parts: some tasks we, as end-users, could control, while others were the responsibility of the BrassRing team. Payment-related tasks were a regular part of our responsibilities. I wasn't the only person maintaining the solution. There were three power users from Infosys, each responsible for a specific geography. My counterpart managed it in the US, and I, along with my colleague in India, managed it for other geographies.
Eslam Abo Elnaga - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior people and systems analyst at B_labs & Mylo
Has improved HR process efficiency through intuitive workflows and responsive support
There is something that could be improved in Workday, specifically in the time tracking module. While I am not working on Workday now, I was a regional HRIS working for Egypt, Malta, India, and China. I mention these countries to relate to high population countries and companies. In our company, we use assigned work schedules for our teams. Because we work with the time tracking module, we need to assign shifts. In the manufacturing industry, we might need to change shifts every day or week. Manufacturing teams are huge, approximately 50 to 200 people in one team. If this team has one leader, the leader needs to assign a work schedule for each person individually. While there is mass upload functionality where we can load shifts for all people or specific groups, we need to select multiple people and assign them to a schedule from the interface itself. I have requested this functionality many times. When extracting business processes awaiting actions report, I can select different processes in one box, hit okay, and the report comes up. However, the same functionality does not work for work schedule assigning. If implemented, it would help many people in companies with high populations and big teams.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"I just think it's a good tool, with great flexibility."
"For us in particular, I love how configurable the system is; I can use the same technology for different parts of my business."
"The most valuable features are that we can upload documents and download them on demand, whether it is joining documents, employment screening, or your employment history, and it's easy enough to upload, find, and retrieve whatever you are looking for."
"Overall, from a recruiter's perspective, it is an excellent product and is probably one of the best recruitment products out there in terms of usability, ease of understanding, and management of large applicant pools."
"The most important features are that the instrument can be customized, that we can get important and relevant data about our employees, and the responsiveness of our client team from IBM has been phenomenal."
"Now, having provided this, amongst many other things, we have a much closer relationship to the business."
"I think the advantage of Kenexa is the degree to which we can configure to meet our specific needs."
"The most valuable features are that we can upload documents and download them on demand."
"Everything is in Workday as far as personnel is concerned."
"It is easy to use and straightforward."
"It's easy to set up."
"It is easy to use and straightforward."
"The GUI is beautiful and we don't need to provide much training for the users because it is easy to navigate."
"The software is easy to learn and use. When compared to SAP HR and SAP HCM, the tool is easy to access and understand. We have a hierarchy and structural connectivity in Workday. There is a certification for the solution and when we do it, we become the certified partners of the company"
"In terms of customization, while it may not be fully customizable, you can configure the features based on the foundation that Workday offers. This allows you to take the basic features and tailor them to the specific needs of your company or business. It provides a lot of configuration flexibility."
"Between risk reduction, audit reduction and knowing that in many ways we can stop thinking about HR as an issue to solve, we have seen great value."
 

Cons

"IBM Kenexa has a lot of room for improvement. The solution is not advancing anymore in terms of the user experience and in the workflows."
"Improved integrations: There are all kinds of issues with integrations, hires failing."
"It needs to update its reporting and analytics tools."
"There are tools that actually are not there where clients need them, especially the survey analytics to analyze verbatim in different languages."
"I would not recommend IBM Kenexa to others."
"I'm just taking over the account, so I'm still pretty new to the whole system."
"The user interface could do with an overhaul."
"If you happen to be an early adopter of enhancements, it can be a frustrating process, as it is hard to decipher together with their support whether an issue is a bug or working as intended (a change in the way something works)."
"Workday does have a community site where people can go on and off for suggestions. They call them Brainstorms, and you can vote them up. That is something that they do well, but oftentimes, they seem to be racing to deliver something based on what a competitor is delivering. For example, if they hear SAP has this new functionality and learning that's going to be coming out, they prioritize there, which makes sense, but unfortunately, some of these Brainstorms may get neglected where the product might not be improved as quickly or as needed for the customers. You might be waiting for a year or two to get a feature that you'd like released. They should pay more attention to customer feedback and ensure that customer feedback is an essential part of their product roadmap."
"There were a lot of issues. There were consistency or accuracy issues with the data we had, and every time we had to pull reports in Workday, it was difficult."
"I would be happy if it was faster. Currently, when I try to navigate within the solution itself, it is a bit slow in terms of the page load time."
"This solution could be made easier to use by continuing to release new improvements."
"The user interface could be better. Everything else was fine."
"The UI, UX (user experience) is very bad. It is not very interactive."
"My only suggestion might be to include a brief description of any new fields we introduce, making it easier for people to use them. Perhaps this is something they can consider implementing."
"Errors are not very clear in some cases. I've been experiencing some issues within the application that the error messages or what I needed to do were not very easily clear to me."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Kenexa was fairly priced. However, in 2019, before I left my previous organization, they significantly increased their pricing. It can be affordable, but their pricing is going up. It is not just licensing; it is how many applicants you have in your system on the database side."
"It's very, very expensive."
"With a bigger budget, I would recommend SAP."
"The pricing is good from an HR perspective, although management gets upset after spending $500,000 a year, every year."
"It has an annual subscription rate, but I'm not sure how it will work."
"It is on a yearly basis."
"Workday is moderately priced - I'd rate its pricing three out of five."
"The solution is flexible in terms of pricing."
"The pricing for this solution is fairly high. It is not affordable for small and mid-sized companies."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
11%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Healthcare Company
7%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
University
7%
Government
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise28
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business17
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise42
 

Questions from the Community

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What are the biggest differences between Workday, Oracle Cloud and SAP SuccessFactors?
Differences between Workday, Oracle Cloud,w and SAP SuccessFactors:w Oracle: "simple interface and deep customization to suit the purpose." SAP: Multiple functionalities that increase process effi...
How easy is to maintain Workday, Oracle Cloud, and SuccessFactors?
I implemented Workday in 2024 and without having previous Workday experience, it was very challenging. I spent most of 2025 putting out fires and cleaning up the business processes that came with l...
What do you like most about Workday?
I like its UI and UX. When we were using Oracle or SAP, the UI/UX wasn't very user-friendly for the employees.
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

IBM Smarter Workforce, Outstart
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Sweet Spot International (SSI), Leo Burnett Worldwide (LBW), Sika AG, Legacy Health, Apollo Group Inc., Regeneron, Transurban Group, National Health Service, New Zealand Police, Overland Footwear, Yealands, Johnson Controls, Allscripts, Kerry Foods, Masterpet, AMD, Balfour Beatty
AAA, Allied Global, Avago Technologies Limited, Aviva, Cardinal Health, CareFusion, Chiquita Brands International, Equifax, Flextronics, HP, Life Time Fitness, McKee Foods, MGM Resorts International, Sanofi, ServiceSource International, Symantec, TripAdvisor, Yahoo!
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Kenexa vs. Workday and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
893,221 professionals have used our research since 2012.