UBC students, faculty, staff, and others will soon see some changes to how they navigate Workday, as well as minor updates to the homepage. As of February 2, 2026:*
- A new sidebar will provide easy access to applications and other resources from any page.
- Applications will be automatically organized into categories for improved navigation.
- Some common tasks, based on your role at UBC, will now appear on your homepage.
See below for more details on these upcoming changes.
Example View: UBC employee
Above is an example of what a UBC employee would see on their updated homepage. Note: Faculty and staff will see different categories and applications depending on their security roles in Workday.
New Sidebar
The sidebar provides a faster way to access applications and other resources. Using hover functionality, faculty, staff, and students will be able to quickly see a list of applications and select which one to open.
Using the new sidebar is recommended, but there will be an option to hide the sidebar and continue to use the Workday menu.
Application Categories
All applications will now be automatically organized into categories to help make applications easier to find. Students, faculty, and staff can customize their sidebar and menu by changing the order of categories and/or the order of applications within a category, based on their preferences.
Categories include Personal (for students, faculty, and staff), Student (for students), and Team (for Managers and HR roles). There are no changes to the applications themselves, or to who can access them.
Access to Tasks on the Homepage
Students, faculty, and staff will now have quick access to common tasks through their Workday homepage. The tasks they see will depend on who they are (e.g. student) and their role at UBC (e.g. Manager). These and other tasks can also still be found through search, applications, etc.
Other Changes
- Shortcuts will now be found through the Saved icon (sidebar) or Saved section (menu).
- Your Top Apps will no longer appear on the Workday homepage, but faculty, staff, and students can ‘pin’ up to four applications to the top of the sidebar or the menu for fast access.
- The Recruiting sidebar (used by Primary Recruiters who do hiring) will no longer appear, but recruiters can still find information on job requisitions and candidates in the Recruiting app
*Timing and details of these updates is subject to change.
More Information and Next Steps
This new functionality was made available through a previous Workday release. As part of our commitment to continuous improvement, the ISC regularly works with our partners (Enrolment Services, Central HR, etc.) to make changes that deliver value to UBC as well as the faculty, staff, and students who use Workday.
Additional details – as well as updated guides and resources for students and employees – will be shared when these updates go live through a community-wide announcement on the Workday homepage.
A summary of these updates and resources will also be published in Workday This Week for faculty and staff.
If you have any questions about these upcoming changes, submit a Workday support request or contact us.