Workday Success Stories: Workday drastically reduces paper use

Prior to implementing Workday, WSU relied on paper-based processes to perform a broad range of business activities, contributing to considerable paper waste and reduced efficiency with lost forms and missing signatures. Since launch, we’ve been able to save money, time, and resources by eliminating paper from dozens of business processes.

Reducing the use of paper has a multitude of benefits, including:

  • Reduced costs. Paper is expensive to purchase, manage, and dispose of. By going paperless, WSU has reduced the costs associated with paper-driven processes.
  • Improved efficiency and reduced administrative burden. Workday has eliminated the need for employees to spend time producing, distributing, circulating, and storing paper forms and records. Workflows are streamlined, and potential mistakes can be corrected quickly, all in the same platform. Sensitive information is stored digitally, meaning important documents are routed only to those who need to see them.
  • Reduced waste. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, paper accounts for around 23% of waste generated in the United States per year, with 11% going directly to landfills. The switch to Workday has greatly reduced WSU’s contribution to these figures, helping us save the environment, as well as time and money.

So just how much paper has WSU saved since launch? While it can be difficult to calculate savings university-wide, here’s how switching to Workday has reduced paper use across three formerly paper-based processes:

  • In fiscal year 2018, 11,252 paper Effort Certifications were printed and mailed across the state. In fiscal year 2022, 100% of these forms were digital, reducing paper Effort Certifications to zero.
  • HRS Benefits estimates 30,000 pieces of paper each year are saved on enrollment activities previously completed on paper.
  • One Modernization analyst estimated that prior to Workday launch, about 45,000 sheets of paper were used each month to perform time and leave tracking for employees. Here’s what they had to say:

“If 8BillionTrees estimates that a single tree produces around 10,000 sheets of paper, between Workday launch and this coming October, WSU will have saved around 140 trees just by removing paper from time and absence tracking. That’s pretty cool.”

Moving toward environmentally-friendly practices is also important to university students, and prospective students, across the country. In a recent survey of college students by Inside Higher Ed:

  • 85% of students said it’s important for their campus to prioritize sustainability
  • 45% considered environmental sustainability in their college enrollment decision

By switching to Workday and paperless processes, WSU has made a key step toward adopting more environmentally-friendly ways of working.

Pretty cool, indeed.

This article is part of our Workday Success Stories series. Since the launch of Workday in 2020, we’ve been keeping track of the ways our new system has changed how we work at WSU. Each month leading up to the Elevating Cougs conference, we’re sharing a new story, highlighting how the hard work and perseverance of WSU staff and faculty university-wide has led to improvements across all Workday functional areas.

Interested in hearing more Workday Success Stories in the future? Sign up for the Elevating Cougs newsletter, or visit the Elevating Cougs page on the Modernization website.