Work place wellness tracker

Tackling Workplace Wellness

COMPANY

RTI

ROLE

UX Researcher
UX/UI Designer

EXPERTISE

UX/UI Design

Duration

8 Months

Project description

In my last year at Sheridan College, I had the privilege to collaborate with RTI alongside fellow student designers and RTI Executives. Together, our goal was to conduct research and devise a solution to address workplace wellness issues, resulting in the creation of Collabo. Collabo is a multifunctional tool that measures employee wellness and productivity, serving as a project management tool for employees and a communication platform between employees and management.

Meet the team

Challenge

How might we revolutionize workplace well-being in order to fundamentally increase employee satisfaction and retention?

Research

In the dynamic landscape of modern workplaces, challenges like burnout, mental health strains, and toxic cultures have become significant roadblocks. Picture this: stressed employees, worn out by burnout, navigating a culture that lacks trust and support. It's a scenario where value is overlooked, and morale takes a hit.

For Business Owners and Beyond, this isn't just a staff issue; it's a challenge for business owners too. The workplace isn't just a physical space; it's an ecosystem that needs to thrive.

Surprisingly, 53% of American employers are on board with mental health programs, an essential step given the projected market boom to a whopping USD 80.64 billion by 2027. And here's a real game-changer: health assessment tools, once implemented, have amped up productivity while cutting down on those dreaded absent days.

Unveiling the Opportunity Space

At the heart of Collabo's design journey, our team faced a pivotal question: How can a tool be a productivity ally without compromising mental well-being and privacy?

User Journey Harmony

We meticulously mapped the user journey phases—each a chapter in Collabo's story. From task management to wellness surveys, we ensured that every interaction was a mindful step in the user's experience

Privacy Preserved

A paramount concern was privacy. Collabo was conceived as a guardian, not an intruder. We championed a design that empowers users without breaching their personal space.

Micro-management Shield

Simultaneously, Collabo stood against micro-management, emphasizing trust and open communication. It offered visibility without crossing the line into intrusive oversight.

User-Centric Essence

This delicate dance between productivity and well-being formed Collabo's user-centric essence. It wasn't just a tool; it was a companion, recognizing the human nuances of work.

Employee User Journey
The employee user journey involves navigating tasks, monitoring project progress, addressing wellness concerns, and engaging in communication. Feelings range from initial curiosity and relief when tasks are clear, to potential intimidation or anxiety depending on the workload and progress. The experience aims to be informative and foster involvement, but can be marred by overwhelming negative feedback or setbacks. The user journey can be improved with better filtering, incentives, issue tracking, and more organized communication channels.
Manager User Journey
The manager's user journey encompasses assigning tasks, monitoring progress, addressing productivity, and communicating about project concerns. Their feelings range from initial curiosity and relief when tasks are clear, to pride in task completion and happiness that wellness is being considered. However, managers may also experience feeling overwhelmed, feel the pressure of keeping up with the project, or feel frustrated when team members are not performing up to standard. The journey can be enhanced with features that allow them to provide anonymous feedback and options for flagging issues for later review.
Employee User Journey
The employee user journey involves navigating tasks, monitoring project progress, addressing wellness concerns, and engaging in communication. Feelings range from initial curiosity and relief when tasks are clear, to potential intimidation or anxiety depending on the workload and progress. The experience aims to be informative and foster involvement, but can be marred by overwhelming negative feedback or setbacks. The user journey can be improved with better filtering, incentives, issue tracking, and more organized communication channels.
Manager User Journey
The manager's user journey encompasses assigning tasks, monitoring progress, addressing productivity, and communicating about project concerns. Their feelings range from initial curiosity and relief when tasks are clear, to pride in task completion and happiness that wellness is being considered. However, managers may also experience feeling overwhelmed, feel the pressure of keeping up with the project, or feel frustrated when team members are not performing up to standard. The journey can be enhanced with features that allow them to provide anonymous feedback and options for flagging issues for later review.
Employee User Journey
The employee user journey involves navigating tasks, monitoring project progress, addressing wellness concerns, and engaging in communication. Feelings range from initial curiosity and relief when tasks are clear, to potential intimidation or anxiety depending on the workload and progress. The experience aims to be informative and foster involvement, but can be marred by overwhelming negative feedback or setbacks. The user journey can be improved with better filtering, incentives, issue tracking, and more organized communication channels.
Manager User Journey
The manager's user journey encompasses assigning tasks, monitoring progress, addressing productivity, and communicating about project concerns. Their feelings range from initial curiosity and relief when tasks are clear, to pride in task completion and happiness that wellness is being considered. However, managers may also experience feeling overwhelmed, feel the pressure of keeping up with the project, or feel frustrated when team members are not performing up to standard. The journey can be enhanced with features that allow them to provide anonymous feedback and options for flagging issues for later review.
Employee User Journey
The employee user journey involves navigating tasks, monitoring project progress, addressing wellness concerns, and engaging in communication. Feelings range from initial curiosity and relief when tasks are clear, to potential intimidation or anxiety depending on the workload and progress. The experience aims to be informative and foster involvement, but can be marred by overwhelming negative feedback or setbacks. The user journey can be improved with better filtering, incentives, issue tracking, and more organized communication channels.
Manager User Journey
The manager's user journey encompasses assigning tasks, monitoring progress, addressing productivity, and communicating about project concerns. Their feelings range from initial curiosity and relief when tasks are clear, to pride in task completion and happiness that wellness is being considered. However, managers may also experience feeling overwhelmed, feel the pressure of keeping up with the project, or feel frustrated when team members are not performing up to standard. The journey can be enhanced with features that allow them to provide anonymous feedback and options for flagging issues for later review.

Design

In the captivating choreography of Collabo's design, we intricately weave together user journey phases, seamlessly enabling users to effortlessly navigate tasks, participate in surveys with real-time feedback to project managers, and engage in elegant communication, fostering a collaborative and supportive atmosphere—a symphony of simplicity and efficiency redefining the landscape of user-centric project management.

User Journey Validation

Pros:

Collabo emerges as a versatile, user-friendly platform that seamlessly integrates intuitive design, adaptive functionality, and continuous improvement, delivering an efficient project management experience with embedded wellness and productivity surveys across diverse work environments.

Cons

Collabo presents challenges in user adoption due to its complex interface and potential feature overload, which may intimidate new users. The platform's comprehensive approach raises privacy concerns, particularly around wellness data collection, while its current customization options might not fully accommodate highly specialized organizational workflows. Despite these limitations, the tool's versatility and potential for improvement suggest that these drawbacks can be addressed through strategic refinement and user-centric design.

In Conclution

In the production phase, we presumed that Collabo's organizational structure and project layouts would prove effective across various business sectors. In the subsequent stage, we planned to execute user testing involving employees and supervisors across diverse work settings. This approach aimed to unearth vital insights into the efficacy of our design in different environments, pinpointing areas requiring adjustment for industry-specific optimization.

For the next part of this project, we are looking to:

• Assess the frequency of employee engagement with post-project mental health surveys.
• Evaluate the evolving willingness of employees to participate in surveys over time.
• Capture shifts in employee sentiment before and after survey participation.
• Investigate employees' perceptions of the survey questions' effectiveness in expressing emotional states.
• Acknowledge the potential limitations of Collabo as a standalone organizational tool.
• Explore the integration of Collabo functionalities as plugins for other tools.
• Recognize the strategic value of plugin integration in terms of time-saving, trust-building, and enhanced accessibility.