Solving the Retention Puzzle
Employee retention is a challenge in the workplace because important resources are difficult to find, resulting in decreased productivity and job satisfaction. With 38% of employees leaving within the first year (Pedagog), providing a positive experiences is essential. To bridge this gap, a user-friendly iOS app that improves access to company resources and promotes professional development will help in minimizing staff turnover rates and increasing employee job satisfaction.
Employees are having difficulty finding and gaining access to important company resources. This struggle has increased frustration, resulting in a decrease in overall productivity and an increase in employee turnover rates.
Proposing an mobile app to improve the employee experience. Through clear information architecture, the app will simplify onboarding, access to company news and resources, and career guidance, with the goal of reducing frustration and increasing overall employee satisfaction, engagement, and retention rates.
Results
Guided by employee interviews and business insights, creating a well-organized onboarding process, easy HR information access, and career development guidance would increase employee satisfaction, leading to an increase in business productivity and employee retention rate of around 90%. The success of creating an app to decrease employee frustrations was evident thorough usability testing, resulting in a more engaging and efficient employee experience. Users expressed appreciation for the resource, indicating its high potential value in their workplace.
01
Empathize
Market Research
Competitive Analysis
User Interviews
02
Define
User Personas
Affinity Mapping
POV/HMW Statements
03
Ideate
Brainstorm Sketches
Information Architecture
User/Task Flows
Low Fidelity Wireframes
Branding/UI Kit
High Fidelity Wireframes
04
Usability Testing
High Fidelity Prototype
Remote Usability Testing
Iterate
01 EMPATHIZE
According to Pedagog, the average employee tenure is 4.1 years, with varying tenures by age and gender, emphasizing the need for companies to adapt retention strategies to different demographics. The financial impact of turnover, costing approximately 33% of an employee's annual salary, underscores the importance of strong retention strategies, particularly addressing early employee departures within the first year of employment.
Additionally, business.adobe.com cited, 49% of people said “they’re likely to leave their current job if they’re unhappy or frustrated with workplace tech.”
5 remote interviews were conducted with employees that worked in startups or Fortune-500 companies.
The user pain points identified through remote interviews include the difficulty in finding and accessing company resources, a frustrating onboarding experience, and a lack of guidance in pursuing career growth, especially after 2-3 years within the company.
5 patterns emerged through the qualitative data, encompassing company account access, information organization, and career advancements.
These themes illuminated user pain points, emphasizing the need for a streamlined access to job tools, a more efficient onboarding process to alleviate frustration, and improved guidance in both information search functions and career opportunities.
When comparing competitors like Connectteam, Blink, and Workvivo, it's clear that existing solutions focus on various aspects of employee engagement and productivity. Importantly, none focuses only on onboarding and career development. Connectteam offers comprehensive employee management, Blink provides analytics to frontline workers, and Workvivo emphasizes social networking for engagement. This analysis highlights a unique need for our proposed solution, which targets to fill the gap in the critical areas of onboarding and career development.
02 DEFINE
The development of user personas was guided by research into competitors such as Connectteam, Blink, and Workvivo in order to focus on critical pain points in onboarding, career development, and important company information.
POV AND HMW
STATMENTS
Guided by user personas and competitive analysis in meeting employee needs, the "Point of View" statements are focused on simplifying onboarding and aligning with business expectations of employees.
The "How Might We" statements aim at providing easy access to HR information as well as career guidance and mentorship opportunities.
03 IDEATE
BRAINSTORMING
SOLUTIONS
The brainstorming session revealed several main considerations to help solve challenges for both the business and its employees. These included, onboarding checklists, request status updates, a organized information architecture, personalized dashboards, and a transparent career development plan.
FEATURE
PRIORITIZATION
Through the matrix, elements were discovered for the first release phase, aligning with both user and business priorities. This included features such as an onboarding checklist, an organizational chart for career advancement, a personalized dashboard, and internal job postings.
INFORMATION
ARCHITECTURE
While organizing the information, detailed contents were formed. This assisted in understanding what needed to be included in the design.
USER AND TASK
FLOWS
The user and task flows identified both first-time users navigating onboarding and those who have completed it.
Task flows, focusing on the user's happy path, were designed into two distinct scenarios:
Flow 1: First-time users undergoing onboarding
Flow 2: Long term employee looking for career guidance and resources
SKETCHING
While drawing solutions, I found how important of content when designing a full solution. This resulted in an awareness of the importance of merging role responsibilities, expectations, and internal job postings with role levels to improve the solution's performance.
LO-FI WIREFRAMES
During the creation of low-fidelity wireframes, additional research showed a more organized approach to presenting onboarding in four phases and understanding the value of both vertical and horizontal career paths. This influenced a solid foundation for a more effective and organized design approach.
LO-FI USABILITY TESTING
To confirm the direction of my designs, I added simple content to low-fidelity wireframes and created a basic click-through prototype for initial usability testing with two participants. Their feedback was necessary at this point, helping quickly change and adjust ideas while emphasizing user needs and goals.
3 important findings appeared, stating the necessity of a smooth onboarding content flow, clear step-by-step instructions, and a preference for quick-links to specific content on the dashboard page.
UI KIT
BRANDING
Before creating high-fidelity wireframes, a UI kit was carefully designed, with a particular focus on color for brand coherence and accessibility. A contrast checker was used to ensure best visibility, green was chosen because of its psychological link with prosperity and expansion. This color scheme was intended to improve the overall user experience and strengthen brand identification in the final design.
04 USABILITY TESTING
The
Experience
Usability testing provided useful feedback, including user preferences for new information and functionality. Due to a limited amount of time, I prioritized addressing the 3 most common insights shared by 50% of participants:
1. Design needs to be more “lively”
2. Vertical Career Path - needs to have a clearer identifier of what’s next
3. Confusion on the meaning of 2 weeks on the Getting started Onboarding page. Prefers to know the time
ITERATIONS
These key results guided the iterative improvements to the user experience, as shown in the following screens.
