Workday is single-handedly giving me an ulcer. I’m graduating soon, so scheduling on time and getting in the rest of my required classes is crucial. A week ago, I had my appointment to schedule, and my dreaded registration time arrived. Unfortunately I had no choice but to crack open my laptop and begrudgingly boot up Workday; otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to graduate.
A little context for those unfamiliar: Workday is a software specifically designed for employees, with tools that allow users to log their time, view their tax documents and even apply for jobs.
Last spring, LSU decided to make a massive transition where all students were mandated to schedule classes and accept financial aid awards on Workday moving forward.
It hasn’t even been a full year of this madness, and it continues to be the most pointless implementation I’ve experienced in all my years at LSU.
Advisors and professors are instructed to redirect students with questions to online tutorials — videos that don’t really work for me, as I retain information best face to face. Meeting with a person is critical for me, as it is for many of my peers.
Honestly, I just don’t feel it’s my responsibility to relearn a new website with unhelpful techniques, especially when I never asked for an “upgrade.” The resources designed to assist students with the transition are flawed, and the academic advisors are equally as frustrated and unhelpful. After all, I was so used to myLSU, as I had used it for years of my college career.
If Workday were actually easier than the old myLSU extension, I would have no issues, since I never had issues with myLSU. I am not a needy student; I can find answers for myself. But working with Workday is no smooth sailing. Currently, I’m not even registered as a full-time student for the spring because Workday has a number of errors that won’t allow me to add the classes I know I need and am qualified to take.
Recently, I had the most useless Zoom meeting with my advisor, which left me emotional and frustrated. I don’t know what’s worse: having to deal with Workday or dealing with academic advisors talking down to me and being entirely unpleasant. I think the transition has been difficult for everyone, but I draw the line when advisors get frustrated with students — almost as if they applied for the job, interviewed, got hired and now, all of the sudden, are irritated when they have to work with students. Which is their job.
I’ve heard a refreshing amount of chatter from peers and co-workers who are experiencing the same grief with Workday. If it were total user error, I would acknowledge personally being technologically challenged. I would do what I needed to do in order to make my time easier using the platform. But the issue is: it’s not user error.
Why would I want to make scheduling — an already very stressful endeavor — any harder on myself by struggling with Workday? Why would I make it harder on myself by asking what feel like dumb questions to my advisors and the LSU staff?
My concerns are similar to everyone else’s, which says much more about Workday than it does about the students who are struggling with using it.
I’m completely done with the Workday shift LSU has made. You would think our school would listen to its students, but let’s be real: lately, all LSU seems to care about is managing contraflow. I can only hold on to the joy of graduating in May — if I can actually schedule and register for the semester. Fingers crossed.
Blair Bernard is a 21-year-old theatre major from Lafayette, La.
