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Managing an enterprise with a large number of employees can be difficult, especially during unexpected events such as pandemics, natural disasters etc. Current products and services regarding this issue have been designed to only meet the needs of the current covid crisis.
What Could Have Been
Perhaps due to the speed at which many of these products came to life, my team and I (3 UX/UI students) came to realize quickly that most of the digital tools made to simplify communication between employees and employers during these uncertain times actually had the opposite effect.
"The core feature of the app doesn't work yet." -employee review of health and safety app with rating
"Terrible app! - Info gets lost and then reappears." -employee review of health and safety app with rating
"Needs a lot of work."
-employer review of health and safety app with rating
Thinking Big
After discovering the market inefficiency, my team and I set a big goal: create a system of flexible tools that allow companies to respond to a number of unfolding crises without alienating or unduly burdening employees.
Shared Values
Following research into enterprise management software, we decided this project would be a great fit within the Honeywell Forge suite of products. In the companies own words:
"Honeywell Forge is Enterprise Performance Management apps that deliver value in days and delivers a system of record that is always up-to-date. It is a persona-based solution that can be tailored to a particular role within the organization. It uses real-time data to benchmark performance against best practice models, identifying new opportunities."
We felt that these values perfectly encompassed our area of opportunity- provide real time updates, allow companies to tailor their experience to their individual needs, and improve companies overall work flow. We also saw Forge's use of mobile to computer connectivity as a great fit for our products platform.
Qualitative Findings
We interviewed five individuals who currently participate in company wellness checks.
Some people had positive things to say:
...“It shows me that [my company] is taking this very seriously.”
Others did not:
...“I don't trust that my immediate supervisor and department will keep my information confidential; I also don't trust that my immediate supervisor and department do the necessary work to know and enforce basic safety practices.”
Although we cannot directly change a company's culture, we learned that the tone of the product would play a big part in its success or failure. Continued competitor analysis would confirm this, as many critical reviewers pointed to a level of disconnect between them and their employers through use of a wellness app.
Ideation and Testing
From the data we collected above and from survey data, we developed two user personas with unique flows.
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Following user testing of a web portal prototype for employers and a questionnaire mobile app prototype for employees, we made design decisions based on the feedback we received about the features and functions of the two prototypes:
Employer web portal:
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Allow employers to tailor appearance of platform to company branding
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Allow employer to choose questions and frequency of questionnaire
Employee mobile app:
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Use animated icons to add sense of delight to an otherwise formal experience
The ability for employers to customize the appearance of our product to their company's brand standard was crucial in helping remove the disconnect when using a product like this. Because of this, we chose to build out our prototypes to the style of Lufthansa- a German airline company that currently uses the Honeywell Forge suite of products.
What is Honeywell Forge BE READY?
Our product, BE READY, is an employee/employer communication system we’ve created as part of the Honeywell Forge suite of products, designed to help manage employee wellness. While we can’t predict future events, we can help companies prepare for and manage unforeseen crises.
Current Prototypes
Employer web portal dashboard
Employee wellness check-in mobile app
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We also made a bootstrap informational landing page.
Moving Forward
Since we were only given 3 weeks to complete this project, I feel there are some aspects of it that could use revisiting and refinement. As a whole, we were able to implement many user interface quality of life improvements over competitor products, but the overall outcome of the project feels somewhat predictable. As one of our T.A.'s put it, it's lacking an "aha" moment. Is there a simpler way for employers to receive the data from the check-ins? Can we make the employee's experience more streamlined? I believe expanding on our research could yield more interesting findings and a more thoughtful product.
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