Monthly Industry Pulse

Workday Continues Expansion, ADP Acquires Pequity, UKG Launches New Tools & More Industry News

November mirrors the defining shifts of 2025, from strategic growth driving consolidation across HR tech, wellness, and benefits, to AI maturing from a promising technology to a pillar of innovation and efficiency.
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As the final quarter of 2025 unfolds, November shows an industry accelerating toward consolidation and innovation.

Strategic growth remains at the forefront, leaving fewer independent industry players. The line between what were once distinct “traditional” categories is becoming more blurred in favor of integrated solutions. 

Meanwhile, AI continues to mature rapidly, unlocking new possibilities for automation and data-driven decision-making.

ADP Strengthens Compensation Planning with Pequity Acquisition

November opened with news of ADP’s expansion of its compensation technology portfolio with the acquisition of Pequity, a fast-growing software provider known for its flexible and automation-driven compensation planning tools.

The deal, announced on October 29, is expected to strengthen ADP’s global offering at a time when employers are navigating pay transparency laws and a growing need for improved insights and analytics.

Sreeni Kutam, president of Global Product and Innovation at ADP, said that the combined expertise of both companies will “further innovate and address the evolving compensation management landscape.”

This acquisition brings Pequity’s flexible configurations, AI-enhanced insights, budgeting and scenario planning tools, and HCM ecosystem integrations into ADP’s portfolio. With these additions, the company will offer more flexible, data-driven solutions to its mid-size, enterprise, and multinational clients.

Read the full press release here: ADP Acquires Pequity

UKG Launches New Tools Following Chattr Acquisition

Following a rebrand last month, UKG sustained its focus on strategic growth throughout November.

The company announced two major additions to its workforce platform: Rapid Hire and Dynamic Labor Management, designed to strengthen the connection between labor planning and daily operations.

The launch is anchored by UKG’s recent acquisition of Chattr, a high-volume hiring startup whose technology now powers Rapid Hire. Its conversational, mobile-first solution automates administrative tasks and cuts down frontline hiring times.

Complementing this, the company also introduced Dynamic Labor Management. This real-time analytics tool identifies staffing gaps and recommends immediate adjustments based on demand data, scheduling rules, skills, and compliance requirements.

Both products enhance UKG’s Workforce Operating Platform, which spans long-term planning, hiring, scheduling, and global payroll services.

Rapid Hire is currently available, while Dynamic Labor Management is scheduled to launch in early 2026.

Read the full press release here: UKG Transforms Real-Time Labor and Staffing Strategies by Launching Rapid Hire and Dynamic Labor Management

Payscale Redefines Compensation Intelligence with AI

Building on the momentum of innovation across the industry, Payscale introduced two new compensation intelligence solutions.

The first, Smart Price, leverages agentic AI and Payscale Verse, a proprietary dataset that combines verified HR-reported data with machine learning, to deliver faster and more reliable job pricing.

“Whether you’re a tenured compensation professional or an HR leader juggling performance, development, and compensation, Smart Price helps you spend less time pricing so you can spend more time emphasizing the value of compensation,” said Payscale Chief Product Officer Peh Teh.

Their second tool, Payscale Compass, is a first-of-its-kind executive intelligence solution. It translates compensation data into executive insight, helping HR and finance leaders evaluate pay investments, competitiveness, workforce health, and pay architecture. Moreover, the tool generates a clear scorecard that shows how compensation decisions affect organizational outcomes.

“Both Smart Price and Compass are steps in Payscale’s journey to make compensation intelligence accessible to everyone, not just compensation pros, and to communicate the outcomes of compensation in a language leadership understands,” Teh added. 

“These innovations lay the groundwork for what’s next — using AI to deliver pricing intelligence at scale, automatically surfacing high-quality job matches across entire catalogs to make pay decisions faster, fairer, and more consistent.”

Read the full press release here: Payscale Redefines Compensation Intelligence with Innovative AI Solutions that Transform Job Pricing and Prove ROI

Workday Continues Its Expansion Through Workday GO and New Acquisition

Workday continues its accelerated expansion, following a year marked by major acquisitions, including Sana for $1.1 billion and Paradox, along with a steady rollout of AI-driven capabilities across its platform.

In November, the company secured another significant deal and expanded its features, strengthening its position in HR and workforce technology.

One of the most notable developments was the expansion of Workday GO, its all-in-one HR and finance solution for mid-sized companies.

A key addition is Workday GO Global Payroll, a new, end-to-end payroll system that allows businesses to hire and pay workers across multiple countries through a single platform. Supported by an expanded partnership with Remote, the feature is expected to simplify the process of navigating different payroll systems and compliance rules.

The company is also launching the Workday GO Partner Network, a centralized ecosystem of payroll, benefits, and deployment partners.

As part of the expansion, Workday introduced its Deployment Agent, an AI-powered assistant directly available to Workday GO customers, as well as Illuminate agents, to help them reduce manual work and improve efficiency.

This expansion comes alongside the company’s ongoing M&A activity, as it signed a definitive agreement to buy Pipedream. It’s an integration platform for AI agents with over 3,000 pre-built connectors to the most widely used business applications.

With this latest deal, Workday continues to build its end-to-end AI agent platform, bringing together the intelligence, orchestration, and connectivity required to turn insight into action.

Read the full press release here: Workday Expands Workday GO, the All-in-One “Workday for All” Solution, to Support Businesses of All Sizes

CuraLinc Strengthens Support for Complex Mental Health Care

We wrap up this month with news of CuraLinc making significant strides in mental health care.

The company recently announced a redesign of its digital experience and the launch of SupportLinc+, an advanced care suite for complex behavioral health needs.

The new experience promises faster, more personalized access to care, AI-driven guidance, and interactive tools that support progress between sessions. An updated client portal also provides HR and benefits leaders with real-time reporting and population insights.

SupportLinc+ extends CuraLinc’s existing EAP to high-acuity cases, offering rapid psychiatric access, longitudinal care for substance use disorders, and an AI care companion, which enhances human care and support.

Both updates are designed to help employers manage behavioral health challenges more effectively, delivering clinically appropriate care and measurable business impact.

Read the full press release here: CuraLinc Advances Clinically Appropriate Mental Health Care with New Digital Experience and Complex MHSA Support

Written by tamara jovanovska

Content Writer at Shortlister

HRIS Systems

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