Texas Roadhouse + Commit

Texas Roadhouse is a national restaurant chain with 600+ locations and a workforce of over 100,000 employees. With 2,000 new hires every week, speed and simplicity are critical to keeping operations running smoothly.

In June 2024, after an 18-month Workday implementation, Texas Roadhouse was excited to modernize HR operations across its nationwide footprint. However, off-the-shelf Workday capabilities were not sufficient due to the complex needs of a high-turnover, hourly workforce.

Recruiting Pain Points & Out-of-the-Box Limitations

The standard Workday onboarding flow, built for desktop users, didn’t fit Texas Roadhouse’s high-volume, mobile-first, multi-state environment. It required too many clicks, unclear field labels, and disconnected workflows—slowing down managers and confusing new hires.

Mandy Kramer, a long-time TXRH veteran with experience in both restaurant operations and HR technology, felt this pain acutely.

 “It took three clicks just to add your Social Security Number,” Mandy said. “That’s crazy.”

The inefficiency was more than a minor frustration—it caused delays in onboarding completion, burdened HR teams with additional administrative tasks, and created a poor first impression for new hires. Many new employees, some entering the workforce for the first time, struggled to navigate unclear field labels and multiple screens.

Enter Workday Extend

Recognizing that the out-of-the-box Workday solution was insufficient, Texas Roadhouse partnered with Commit Consulting, a trusted Workday expert familiar with the company’s unique operational challenges. The Commit team knew Workday Extend would allow the level of flexibility and scalability needed by a large, national chain.

Workday Extend allows companies to build custom applications directly inside their Workday tenant—creating tailored, mobile-friendly experiences that go beyond native functionality.

Commit’s Approach

Together, we explored how to tailor onboarding to the realities of Texas Roadhouse’s workforce. Joe Monaghan, Commit’s VP of HR Innovation and Digital Enablement spearheaded our cross-functional team to really home in on Texas Roadhouse’s day-to-day onboarding needs and how they worked in real time.

“We weren’t just thinking about software,” Joe said. “We were thinking about managers who are running shifts, hiring someone on the spot, and needing that person ready to go.”

One of the key innovations was a streamlined interface that combined fragmented tasks into a single workflow, using familiar custom labels and grouping related information on the same screen. Visual progress bars gave new hires a clear sense of accomplishment, while behind-the-scenes automation ensured steps triggered in logical order, reducing confusion and errors.

Blending strategy with on-the-ground know-how, we partnered with Texas Roadhouse HR leaders to:

The Results

The results were impressive and immediate: onboarding efficiency improved by 40%, paperwork completion rates rose significantly in pilot stores, and support tickets dropped. Most importantly, new hires and restaurant managers alike embraced the simplified, mobile-friendly experience.

“Even small friction points multiply quickly when you hire 2,000 people a week. This app made onboarding clearer, faster, and easier for everyone,” Mandy said. The new lightweight, intuitive custom onboarding app built with Workday Extend:

Looking Ahead

Building on this success, Texas Roadhouse is now expanding their use of Workday Extend across other HR functions such as payroll, requisitions, and job changes — laying the groundwork for a scalable and user-friendly HR platform that truly supports their workforce.