The goal of this project was to create a solution to improve employee’s work-life balance after the pandemic blurred the balance between work and home life.
Initial background research helped define the problem space and present potential business opportunities. Investment had increased dramatically with almost half of business putting more money towards well-being budgets. This meant that nearly all employees had access to solutions yet only 1/5 were participating in them. How would we encourage participation?
I was in charge of research for the project. We conducted;
Background Research: 10 case study review to define the problem space and theoretical solutions.
User Interviews: 5 participants who are currently working from home.
Business Model Research: A competitive analysis of 5 companies who directly and indirectly compete.
User Testing: 5 users dive into the prototype to test and review our solution to help our iterating.
We identified two user types.
User A had control of their schedule but would burn out quickly from a lack of human connection and the ability to disconnect after work.
User B had a complex schedule based on responsibilities and was unable to effectively separate work and life. Their schedule had to be flexible and they often were forced into working late into the evening.
Users sought out 4 things consistently.
1. Flexibility
2. Time management help
3. Connection to hobbies/fun
4. Human connection and socialization.
A key factor found in all of our participants was that the company they worked for had a huge role in determining their work-life balance. We knew that we needed to build a business side in our solution. Often the disconnect between the company and staff led to unhappiness and caused unnecessary issues such as sudden turnover and loss of employee investment.
