Workday CEO Anil Bhusri has positioned artificial intelligence as a key growth area for the company, despite recent stock declines across the software sector driven by fears AI could disrupt the industry. The comments came during the company's earnings call on Tuesday, following the release of its January-ended quarterly results.
While reporting revenue and net-income growth for the quarter, Workday's shares fell approximately 10% after it projected slower subscription revenue growth for the upcoming fiscal year than Wall Street analysts had anticipated. A company spokesperson clarified that Bhusri's remarks concerned industry-level shifts, not plans to replace Workday or its customers' employees.
AI Focus Amid Market Uncertainty
Bhusri stated that Workday is working to "improve business process execution for our customers at a lower cost." He directly linked this goal to AI, asking, "What can agents do to replace human labour?" He added that the company must figure out "what we're going to do with those humans that are displaced" in the longer term.
The CEO attributed the cautious revenue outlook to the fact that the AI products currently under development are not expected to generate meaningful revenue until later in the financial year. This stock drop is part of a broader selloff that began in early February, affecting other firms like LegalZoom, Thomson Reuters, and Okta.
Leadership and Strategic Realignment
Earlier in February, Workday announced it was laying off around 400 employees to realign resources with its top priorities. Shortly after, Anil Bhusri was renamed CEO, succeeding Carl Eschenbach. Bhusri, who has held the CEO role three times previously, told analysts he tends to set guidance conservatively. "I do try to be conservative on the guide and then beat it," he said.
During the earnings call, the company emphasised its investments in agentic AI products to expand its footprint in human resources and finance software, rather than directly addressing the market's concerns about AI-driven disruption.