Editor’s note: We’d like to share the story of how UW Information Technology (UW-IT) and Workday, which provides HR and finance solutions to UW, have built a relationship over the past decade to collaborate on software accessibility and advance our respective Accessibility Programs together. UW-IT has entered into numerous partnerships with the private sector to improve the accessibility of widely used apps — ultimately benefiting not just UW but millions of users across the world. Learn how Workday and UW-IT worked together to bring accessibility to the next level. UW-IT and Workday collaborated on this story.
When the University of Washington selected Workday a decade ago to manage payroll and other critical tasks under Human Resources, accessibility experts determined the application needed more work to make it more functional for people with disabilities.
As UW accessibility experts pushed hard for a solution, Workday did not back away from the challenge.
“Accessibility, quite often, is not on everyone’s radar,” said Hadi Rangin, A UW Information Technology accessibility expert. “Some companies have not responded well when we push for answers, but Workday jumped at the chance to partner with us to improve their product,” he said.
UW-IT sent top executives and accessibility experts to Workday’s California offices to work out a solution and to express the University’s deep commitment to accessible products. And Workday responded with equal effort and priority.
“In 2018, when the University of Washington demanded that we up our game, one of our senior executives flew up to Washington State to understand the need and to express our commitment to accessibility,” said Mary Roemmélé, Workday’s Director of Product Accessibility.
Soon after those high-level meetings, Workday expanded its accessibility team to six people and struck up a solid working relationship with UW-IT accessibility experts to improve the usability of Workday tools for people with disabilities. Because Workday is a critical enterprise platform for UW, UW-IT leadership allocated resources for the partnership and prioritized the work.
As part of these efforts, Roemmélé joined Workday as an accessibility manager. Now Director of Product Accessibility, she is credited for taking Workday’s accessibility program to a higher level and fostering deeper relationships with institutions such as UW.
“We treasure customers like the University of Washington,” said Roemmélé. “They were an important voice and tailwind to making this program and our software what it is today.”
From UW’s perspective, the relationship with Workday has paid off in multiple ways.
“Over the years,” Rangin said, “UW-IT and UW’s Disability Service Offices have worked with Workday leadership, designers, development and accessibility teams to improve the accessibility and usability of this mission-critical software.”
These efforts have grown to reach other companies. Several former UW-IT students now work at several leading software providers that UW-IT collaborates with to improve accessibility in their products. One student is now an Accessibility Product Manager at Workday.
“The benefits from these collaborations have global impact,” Terrill Thompson, Manager of the IT Accessibility Team in UW-IT said. “Users worldwide can enjoy the accessibility enhancements that come out of UW-IT’s leadership and collaboration with Workday and other industry leaders.”
The relationship has evolved over the past decade. At Workday, accessibility is central to striving for the highest levels of customer and user satisfaction. The company is an advocate for inclusion and leader in the Information Technology Industry. Workday’s Accessibility team has evolved from a reactive to a proactive approach by:
- Improving the accessibility and usability of its products by prioritizing keyboard navigation, screen reader support, color contrast and alternative text for images.
- Recognizing that accessibility is everyone’s responsibility, engaging in upskilling colleagues with courses, feedback, and resources to better design, code, and test with accessibility in mind.
- Boosting communication and engagement with documentation, webinars, newsletters, and blogs.
- Participating in accessibility events and conferences as well as tech and product management conferences to mainstream the conversation. Most recently, seven teammates presented at the CSUN Assistive Technology Conference in March 2024.
Pandemic highlights need for accessible digital tools
When the COVID-19 pandemic moved our daily lives into a digital space, accessibility on the web became an urgent issue – apps lived and died by how accessible they were.
“There was no Plan B if your website didn’t work for people with disabilities,” Roemmélé said. “To build equity, it’s critical that people with disabilities have the same access to perform HR and finance tasks as everyone else. The new reality of virtual work shined a light on the importance of access and autonomy,” she said.
UW-IT leads a team of students who test, evaluate, and consult on the accessibility of software applications and other technologies for on-campus developers and third-party software vendors. When the pandemic hit, a lot of apps needed help and UW-IT was there to provide it. This proactive approach underscores the integral role UW-IT plays in the success of UW’s accessibility initiatives.
The pandemic also highlighted the importance of ensuring that products that are developed or purchased by UW are accessible to everyone. When buying or developing a product, UW-IT keeps at the forefront the needs of people who use assistive technology.
Today, accessibility is more salient than ever. Leaders like UW and Workday are working in lockstep to create a more accessible world.
Evolving the relationship
As Workday continues to improve the accessibility of its software, it’s also expanding its program to reach hearts and minds internally and within the global community. Some notable initiatives are the creation of Workday’s Accessibility Lab and the Accessibility Advisory Council.
The in-person Accessibility Lab is a series of experiential pods where colleagues and customers alike can engage in hands-on activities designed to showcase various assistive technologies and how they interact with Workday.
“We’ve gotten great feedback from execs and colleagues that the Accessibility Lab has been thought-provoking and memorable,” Roemmélé shared. The Lab creates a better understanding of how users with disabilities interact with the web and with Workday specifically.
From a national bank customer, “The Lab was fun to take part in and was very enlightening for our team. It really helped participants understand the experience of using assistive technology and why it is so important to adhere to the web content accessibility guidelines.”
UW-IT has also become an active member of Workday’s Accessibility Advisory Council. Workday selects Council participants that represent different industries, company sizes, roles, and geographies. The Council meets throughout the year to identify cross-industry accessibility challenges, collaborate on solutions, and stay abreast of industry trends.
“We’re excited by everything we accomplished in year one,” Roemmélé says. “A couple of the work streams we stood up are already bearing fruit. One example is the biannual Accessibility Roadmap we now publish to Workday’s customer site Community, in response to the Council’s request to see a consolidated report of all the great accessibility work being done across the org.”
“Another example is Workday Marketplace, which comprises apps from third-party software partners that was announced at Workday Rising last year,” Roemmélé said. “The Council asked for some basic accessibility info about those vendors to help with their due diligence. This is what we mean by the Council driving positive action at Workday — their insights have been invaluable.”
The Council meetings with Workday and other industry leaders have made it easier to advocate on behalf of the university and higher education in general, said Mary Mulvihill, UW-IT’s Director of Digital Accessibility.
“We advocate and fight hard for all our technology users, and it’s great to see that companies such as Workday care as much as we do,” Mulvihill said. “Thanks to these partnerships, UW has contributed to the advancement and innovation of accessibility in higher education and beyond.”
Mulvihill notes that making web content and mobile applications accessible has become more urgent to the university and other organizations which receive government funding since the Department of Justice published a new rule under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
“While the new ADA Digital Accessibility rule helps us focus and prioritize effort, the reason we do this work is to support the mission of the university: the preservation, advancement and dissemination of knowledge,” Mulvihill said.
“By sharing our knowledge and expertise with UW colleagues and business partners, we have global impact by making more inclusive digital information for education, health care and business.”
“Because accessibility is a shared responsibility, we will continue to partner with Workday and other companies to make digital content accessible for all,” Mulvihill continued.
More information:
Learn about UW’s efforts to comply with the new ADA Rule on Digital Accessibility and how you can have influence in making the world accessible for all.
Read how UW-IT worked with Trumba, the tool that powers the UW Calendar, to become more accessible.
Lessons learned from how UW-IT helped the University adapt to the pandemic as everyone went to remote study and work.
Discover how Workday is making its tools accessible to all.