Overview

PeopleSpark aimed to foster happier work environments by enabling startups and corporations to retain their talent. Their goal was achieved through consistent touch points using simple surveys focused on mental health, motivation, and overall happiness.

Problem

The abundance of data highlights that employee retention is a significant concern for both startups and large corporations. Predictions indicated that the turnover rate would rise from 20.6% to 23.4% by 2020 (source: The Hay Group).

Solutions

To foster and assess employee happiness, an app was designed with a focus on the positive relationship between regular employee-manager conversations and employee retention. This approach emphasizes the importance of quantifiable data gathered through weekly or bi-weekly "check-in" forms, rather than relying solely on a single annual performance review with HR, to gauge employee happiness.

Research objectives

From a manager's perspective:

• Identiy the pain points that create a disconnect with current employees and how to develop a delightful and simple survey experience.

• Identify what meaningful information (data) to collect from employees and when to collect it, that could foster retention.

From an employee's perspective:

• Determine what specific pain points that create a disconnect with managers and how to develop a delightful and simple survey experience.

• Understand what’s the right way to create an experience that contributes to happiness and engagement vs just creating "one more thing to do".

Research findings

I interviewed 9 people between the ages of 22 and 44, who were mostly female, this is what I learned:

• Users wanted anonymity in fear of repercussions when being too honest. 

• A mobile app as most of their check ins happen during Friday, when they’re mostly on the go.

• The HR participants want a tool that can integrate with other popular HR software such as Bamboo HR. 

• Executives and CEO participants couldn’t emphasize enough the importance of an app that can create comprehensive and user friendly data from each submitted form to measure trends and quantify employee happiness.

Understanding the journey

An effective way to on-board HR folks and simplifying the way employees created weekly "Check-ins" was critical to offer a delightful experience both.

Rapid sketching as a conduit to well-structured wireframes

Formulating ideas on paper via rapid sketching based on the research developed, was a critical conduit for building the more well-structured wireframes that followed. 

Rapid sketching for PeopleSpark's app.

Exploring low fidelity wireframes in black and white, prior to testing 

These wireframes gave me an opportunity to address privacy concerns for employees, as well as what's important and what's not to HR when using the app. 

Establishing PeopleSpark's brand guide

The below designs showcases Fuzzco's brand guide for PeopleSpark, where I had an opportunity to present my own ideas as well. This foundation was key to a cohesive visual design language for the app.

Visual Design Incorporation

Below are a few screens showcasing both desktop and mobile designs, with visual design incorporated.

PeopleSpark's website

In addition to working on PeopleSpark app, and contributing on branding, I was tasked with designing PeopleSpark's website designs as well. Below are some images from those designs.

Reflections

Upon product launch, the product was received quite well, and user growth on average was steady between 4 to 6% on a month-to-month basis. Users requested a faster mobile experience and batch importing for HR departments.

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