The Compliance Iceberg: Are you ready for the wave of global privacy laws in Workday?

In our last post, we uncovered the hidden compliance risks lurking in Workday lower environments—the parts of your system often overlooked, but just as vulnerable.

While many organisations work tirelessly to keep their production environments secure, lower environments like development, testing, and training often become breeding grounds for privacy breaches and regulatory exposure. Now, with an unprecedented surge in global and regional data privacy laws, the compliance iceberg is growing even larger, extending well below the surface. If you’re a CIO, CHRO, or head of systems or HRIS, especially in a regulated industry or a region with strict privacy laws, this is the time to pay close attention.

Regional data privacy laws: Rising fast, getting tougher

Since GDPR reshaped privacy worldwide in 2018, the number of countries with comprehensive data protection laws has more than doubled. Today, approximately 75-80% of countries worldwide have enacted privacy regulations, many modeled on the GDPR’s strict principles.

These laws often demand:
• Individual rights like access, correction, deletion, portability
• Explicit consent especially for sensitive data
• Privacy impact assessments (PIAs) for high-risk processing
• Severe penalties, often tied to global revenue

It’s not just Europe. The regulatory net is tightening everywhere:

It’s not just production: Why lower environments are the hidden danger

Most compliance teams and Workday admins naturally zero in on production. But here’s the risk:
• Up to 60% of data breaches trace back to non-production environments.
• 82% of organisations identify lower environments as their biggest vulnerability for data exposure.

Why? Lower environments often:
• Use real, unmasked personal data cloned from production for testing, training, or development
• Have weaker controls and lighter monitoring
• Allow broader access, including by third parties or consultants

Privacy laws and regulators don’t care whether a breach happens in production or QA. Your liability applies wherever personal data lives.

Regional regulators are watching

Enforcement agencies globally are making it crystal clear: non-production environments are not exempt.

• Quebec’s Law 25 requires demonstrable safeguards across all systems.
• California’s CPRA and Virginia’s VCDPA demand accountability for internal and vendor data handling.
• Australia’s new Privacy Act reforms tighten governance across all environments.
• Even HIPAA explicitly mandates protections for PHI in development and testing environments.

Failing here means more than fines. It can derail Workday transformation projects, damage employee trust, and put your leadership team under the microscope.

See how leading organisations protect Workday data and stay compliant

Across industries, organisations are taking proactive steps to secure their Workday environments and meet growing regulatory demands. Here are just a few examples: