CoCreating Employee Growth for Holistic Wellbeing
Empowering People Operations to co-create growth and wellbeing plans for their employees
Project Overview
Duration
15 weeks (Jan '23 - May '23)
Region
Small and Mid Size Tech and Design Companies in US
Team
Anwesha Sengupta
Noopur Ambre
My Role
Foundational Research, Landscape Analysis, Insights Mapping, Product Strategy, Storytelling
Methodologies Used
PESTLE Framework, Competitor Landscape Analysis, A/B Testing, Affinity Mapping, User Journey Mapping, Futures Wheel, Product Prototyping, Stakeholder Workshop, Strategy Roadmap
Project Goal
The purpose of our project is to empower People Operations to create a positive employee experience. We recognized that traditional HR systems are rapidly becoming obsolete, lacking the ability to foster meaningful conversations and relationships between employees and leadership. CoSpark fills this gap by providing a co-creation platform, personalized development paths, visualized employee journeys, and community building features.
Project Impact
With CoSpark, we aim to transform the way employees and organizations interact. Employees will feel valued, supported, and empowered not only in their professional growth but also in their personal development. The holistic approach to growth and wellbeing would lead to higher retention rates, increased job satisfaction, and improved overall organizational performance.
My Learnings
Throughout the course of our capstone project, I personally experienced tremendous growth as a designer and strategist. I learned the importance of employing speculative design frameworks to anticipate the trajectory of user needs and product goals.
Engaging in the iterative prototyping process with stakeholders allowed me to refine my skills in gathering diverse perspectives and iterating on designs to achieve optimal outcomes.
However, the most transformative aspect was the realization of the immense value of co-creation workshops. By actively involving HR, Managers and Employees in the design process, I witnessed the power of open dialogue, ownership, and valuable feedback. This experience enhanced my ability to facilitate collaborative sessions, understand the needs of various stakeholders, and create more relevant and impactful solutions.
Presenting CoSpark
A platform built on the belief that every employee deserves to feel valued and supported not just in their professional growth but also their personal growth journey.
Process Overview
My Contribution
Opportunity Definition: I took the lead in designing co-creation workshops, which involved crafting stimuli, recruiting stakeholders, and facilitating engaging sessions.
Concept Development: I played a crucial role in brand strategy. One of my contributions was designing and implementing a concept feedback survey, which allowed us to gather valuable insights from stakeholders.
Product Strategy: To shape an effective product strategy, I utilized speculative frameworks like the futures wheel. Through iterative refinement, I actively incorporated stakeholder feedback, ensuring that the prototype evolved into a user-centric solution.
Phase 1 - Defining the Opportunity
Foundation Research Findings
The post-pandemic hybrid workplace has highlighted the need for organizations to adapt to the dynamic and personal needs of employees going through transitions.
The existing systems around HR are rapidly becoming redundant, and there is a rise in the need for a system that enables spaces for conversation and fosters relationships between employees and leadership.
63% of workers who quit a job in 2021 said no opportunities for advancement was a major reason behind their decision.
Pre-pandemic employee development was an underserved need that became even more challenging during COVID-19. Providing growth opportunities can boost retention, job satisfaction, and engagement for a more productive workforce.
2. Empower People Operations in their role of Employee Wellbeing
Employees who are not engaged or who are actively disengaged cost the world $7.8 trillion in lost productivity.
People Ops can play a crucial role in fostering employee productivity and career development. Personalized solutions can boost engagement, leading to a profitable and productive workforce from onboarding to offboarding.
Defining the Problem Space
1. Approach Employee wellbeing through the lens of growth and development
3. Focus on small to midsize organizations in the field of Design and Tech, located in the US
Organizations that fall under the small to mid-sized category often need a more apparent distinction between HR and People Operations roles. This deficiency can result in a suboptimal growth and development structure stifling progress.
The field of tech and design are booming, with a lot of small organizations working towards impactful goals. This is the space where our platform could make the most impact.
The difference between HR and People Ops
HR typically focuses on administrative tasks and compliance, while People Operations focuses on creating a positive employee experience through engagement, development, and culture-building.
The future of People Ops
The future of People Operations lies in achieving employee well-being through co-creation, involving employees in designing and implementing workplace policies and initiatives.
Why is it essential to empower People Ops?
Personalization is a critical factor in driving employee engagement. By empowering People Ops, the workplace can tailor solutions to individual employee needs, leading to higher levels of engagement and job satisfaction.
Stakeholder Workshops
How does People Operations fit in?
Mapping the existing Landscape
We analyzed competitors across various categories and identified primary competitors in performance management, secondary competitors in operations, and analogous players in hospitality, brick and mortar stores, help desk, and healthcare (Pictal Health) to draw parallels to the hybrid workforce.
We assessed our competitors using a 2 x 2 matrix based on the level of personalization and responsibility. The y-axis represents the organization’s engagement, while the x-axis signifies employee autonomy.
Conclusions from the Landscape Analysis
Phase 2 - Concept Development
CoSpark's visual style is unlike other corporate brands, breaking the trend of clinical and formal designs by incorporating a playful and light approach that reflects the brand's personality and values.
This approach sets CoSpark apart from competitors by creating a warm and welcoming environment that fosters creativity and co-creation regarding growth and development. We aimed to create a sense of approachability and inclusivity for both People Ops and employees which encourages them to engage in collaboration.
Brand Positioning
Building CoSpark
During the concept ideation phase, we began by identifying the two primary objectives we sought to accomplish: promoting co-creation and employee growth.
We then began to break down these objectives further and noticed four key themes that emerged - co-creation of growth plans, accounting for life transitions, a need for visualizing progress and connectedness, and alignment.
These themes became the foundation for the product's differentiators, creating a unique and compelling value proposition that fills the gap of one-size fits all approach that currently exists in the market today.
On fleshing out the four key themes, we arrived at the following unique selling points:
Phase 3 - Prototype Development
Prototype Design
User flow helps imagine and map out how the co-creation of the learning plan, the inputs from the employees and the role of people ops. It visualized the path that employees would take and co-spark would play a role in this. By testing the user flow, we aimed to evaluate how users would interact with the platform and identify any areas where the flow could be improved to create a more streamlined and intuitive experience.
The reason behind testing:
Understanding if the flow is intuitive enough for the employees
Understanding value and process of different steps - trying to eliminate creating just another point of friction in tedious HR processes
Pathfinder is the first step in the process. It is the initial data input by employees to help them find their learning styles and various priorities.
The reason behind testing:
If the activities and the length of the activities are engaging enough for the employees
If the purpose and goals of this stage are clear enough.
If the visualized result and output is helpful - plotted on effort v impact graph with a percentage preference.
Timeline is the generated output from the 1st phase entered by the employees and then refined by the people ops after the co-creation conversations.
Here employees get an overview of their life events divided into stressors and energizers, a breakdown of main goals - for work and beyond work, and a small step wise break down of their main goals.
The reason behind testing:
If the visualization is valuable for the employees
If the 3 phases covered are comprehensive enough or if there is a need for further breakdown
Prototype Testing and Synthesis
For this prototype test, the features serve as the initial steps in the user journey.
During the test, we guided the participants through the process that People Ops and employees will follow when using the platform.
Following are the three important aspects of the platform we asked them to focus on:
Methodology
Objective: For this prototype test, the features serve as the initial steps in the user journey. To understand if the user flow, initial data input and co-creation framework is easy to understand and navigate
Synthesis of Learnings from Prototype Test
Co-creation framework is a tool for people ops to co-create and brainstorm with employees by using these conversation cards, designed to guide them through each of the five stages of the process - from identifying strengths and career aspirations, to testing and refining growth plan ideas. Each card has a data collection section with visualized output.
The reason behind testing:
If the steps of the activities help in well rounded data collection
If the activities are providing value in terms of being a refinement after Phase 1
Participants: 8 respondents, Managers, Employees, and HR from Tech backgrounds of mid-large size companies recruited through personal networks and prior connection.
Data Collection: A walkthrough of the features broken down in 4 stages and represented through visual mockups. Data collection was done through semi- structured interview following a testing matrix format
Phase 4 - Product Strategy
Desired Outcome of User Interaction
Based on the prototype test, we updated the user flow and defined it in more depth.
