Workday, Inc., a leader in AI-driven platforms for workforce and financial management, has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Paradox, a conversational AI platform that revolutionizes the candidate experience. This acquisition strengthens Workday’s ability to deliver an advanced talent acquisition suite, optimizing hiring for frontline and back-office roles across industries.
Workday acquires Paradox to bolster AI-powered talent acquisition.
Paradox’s AI enhances candidate experience with instant responses.
Acquisition targets high-volume hiring for 3 billion frontline workers.
70%+ candidate conversion rates, time-to-hire as low as 3.5 days.
Integrates with Workday Recruiting for end-to-end talent management.
Deal expected to close by October 31, 2025, pending approvals.
Paradox’s conversational AI platform, driven by its AI assistant Olivia, delivers personalized, high-touch candidate interactions at scale. Offering instant responses, self-scheduling, and 24/7 support, it transforms slow, manual recruiting processes into seamless conversations. With over 189 million AI-assisted candidate interactions, Paradox achieves candidate conversion rates above 70% and reduces time-to-hire to as little as 3.5 days, particularly for high-volume frontline roles.
The acquisition enhances Workday’s AI-powered talent acquisition suite, enabling efficient hiring across full-time and contingent roles. By integrating Paradox’s conversational AI with Workday Recruiting and HiredScore’s talent discovery tools, Workday offers a unified platform for attracting, engaging, and onboarding talent. “Hiring is one of the most critical moments in the employee experience, yet too often it’s slowed down by outdated processes and disconnected tools,” said Gerrit Kazmaier, president, Product & Technology, Workday.
Targeting industries with nearly 3 billion frontline workers globally, Paradox’s expertise addresses the unique challenges of high-volume hiring. “Workday’s acquisition of Paradox is a highly strategic move,” said Josh Bersin, global industry analyst and CEO, The Josh Bersin Company. “This establishes Workday as a leader in high-volume, front-line hiring, which covers 70% of the jobs in the world.” The acquisition positions Workday to serve sectors like retail, healthcare, and hospitality effectively.
Early adopters like Chipotle have seen significant benefits from Paradox’s technology. “Our partnership with Paradox has already delivered significant improvements, reducing our time-to-hire by 75%, from 12 days to 4, and doubling applicant flow,” said Ilene Eskenazi, chief human resources officer, Chipotle. As part of Workday, Paradox’s capabilities will scale further, helping organizations streamline hiring and enhance candidate experiences. “From day one, our mission has been to help our customers’ recruiting and hiring teams spend more time with people and less time with software,” said Adam Godson, CEO, Paradox.
This acquisition marks a pivotal step for Workday in redefining talent acquisition. By leveraging Paradox’s AI-driven candidate experience, Workday empowers organizations to hire smarter, faster, and more effectively, setting a new standard in the recruitment industry.
Workday is the AI platform for managing people, money, and agents. The Workday platform is built with AI at the core to help customers elevate people, supercharge work, and move their business forever forward. Workday is used by more than 11,000 organizations around the world and across industries – from medium-sized businesses to more than 65% of the Fortune 500. For more information about Workday, visit workday.com.
Launched in 2016, Paradox built the first conversational recruiting platform – driven by its AI assistant Olivia – to help recruiting and hiring teams spend more time with people and less time with software. Serving global clients with hiring needs across frontline high-volume hourly and high-skilled professional roles, Paradox’s AI assistant does the work talent teams don’t have time for — streamlining tasks like screening for minimum qualifications, instantly scheduling interviews, answering common candidate questions, and more through simple, frictionless mobile-, chat-, and SMS-driven experiences. The company has been ranked one of the fastest growing companies in HR Tech by the Deloitte Fast 500, and has made the Inc. 5000 list five consecutive years. To learn more about Paradox’s product, visit www.Paradox.ai.
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