Rebooting and Redefining the Leave Management Experience
DELOITTE X SCADpro
A reboot is required to create a stress-free leave experience, integrating our existing capabilities into a single place for employees to access information before and during a leave of absence.
My Role
Brand Design Application, Prototype Development, Conceptual Design, Generative Research, Design Stategy
Timeline
10 weeks, Q2 2021
Deliverables
Synoptic Hub (executed on Webflow), Digital Prototype Walkthroughs (desktop + mobile), Interactive Prototypes
Introduction
Nine design practitioners across three continents. Two diversified project mentors. One account leader.
In my role, I oversaw the research analysis phases and carried over concept development using rapid prototyping to deliver to the leadership team 6+ digital prototype walkthroughs in both desktop and mobile. I solely built the process website as the team’s single UX designer for hand-off in Webflow.
Every year thousands of professionals initiate “leaves of absence” at Deloitte. Sometimes they are planned, like for pregnancy or sabbatical. Other times they are unplanned in the event of an accident or illness. While a multitude of resources exists, the process for taking leave can be disorienting.
Under the guidance of Deloitte services, our team worked to assist in the research and development of concepts for a leave management reboot that will positively affect Deloitte employees.
Industry
Consulting
Company Size
457,000+
My Role
Brand Design Application, Prototype Development, Conceptual Design, Generative Research, Design Strategy
Timeline
10 weeks, Q2 2021
Overview
Every year thousands of professionals initiate “leaves of absence” at Deloitte. The human resources team of four manually manages, processes, and tracks approximately 4,000 paid family. While a multitude of resources exists, the process for taking leave can be disorienting.
Solution
The team was tasked to create a stress-free leave experience, integrating Deloitte’s existing capabilities into a single system that allows employees to access information before and during a leave of absence.
The internal Deloitte team was able to move forward and present the solution to internal stakeholders.
Deliverables: Synoptic Hub (executed on Webflow), Digital Prototype Walkthroughs (desktop + mobile), Interactive Prototypes
3+
Main concepts for system consolidation
89%
User satisfaction tested with Deloitte employees
20+
Documentation, historical artifacts, and legal forms covered
How might we design a system that both caters to employees taking paid family leave and the leaves team?
Deloitte Leaves Source
One Place, One System. Endless Resources.
Going on leave has never been easier. DeloiteLeaveSource is a system designed to alleviate stress for Deloitte employees as they take their leave. Requesting leave has many connotations; for some, it’s easy and joyous, for others it’s one of the hardest things they’ve had to experience. Regardless of the situation, every employee should feel seen and taken care of.
A vision of how requesting leave should be. Following a Deloitte employee, we see how overwhelming requesting leave can be and introduce something new -DeloitteLeaveSource. A convenient, one stop shop portal that can be accessed on both desktop and mobile. Our system was designed to be stress-free, so employees can focus on what matters most.
Follow each of these journeys by selecting one of the below:
DESIGN PROCESS
Project Focus
Professionals giving birth, professionals bonding with a child through birth, adoption, or foster care, and professionals caring for a family member
High-level considerations:
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User experience for the professional before/during/after the leave
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Back-end management of the program for the Deloitte leaves team
Team Credit
In my role, I oversaw the research analysis phases and carried over concept development using rapid prototyping to deliver to the leadership team 6+ digital prototype walkthroughs in both desktop and mobile. I solely built the process website as the team’s single UX designer for hand-off in Webflow.
Measurable Impact
Taking from our identified research, I prioritized the business perspective in combination with the system requirements; this improved initial base designs from the stakeholder team, tied user expectations to the end-to-end experience, and organized a consolidated system that broke down the process in steps.
Research Constraints
Due to the sensitive nature of the topic and data of leaves within the firm, we were not able to access employees through traditional primary research methods, and instead got creative in our approach.
However, we were still able gather a significant amount of data through stakeholder alignment sessions with the client and materials to fully understand key insights. In our competitive analysis, we delved into features and focuses of different HR leave management programs in the current market.
Problem Statement
For the employee
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Understand the end-to-end journey for leave requests in various scenarios to uncover the current process flows
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Identify the current perception of the leave policies, forms, emails, and platforms
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What are the challenges, frustrations, and pain points within the process, tools, and platforms?
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Identify key interactions and touchpoints that stand out to the employee
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Understand how, when, and what kind of support employees require throughout the entire process
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Learn about the emotional outcomes and ideal user experience including features, navigation, and information architecture
For the leaves team
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Understand the current experience and the various tools the team utilizes to manage the paid family leave process
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Understand key touchpoints, and moments of interaction during the paid family leave process
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Identify opportunities for automation
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Understand how the talent team imagines the workflow and process to look like
Overview
The team was tasked to create a stress-free leave experience, integrating Deloitte’s existing capabilities into a single system that allows employees to access information before and during a leave of absence.
These sessions gave us the research we needed to move forward. We created a number of research models to refer to as we continued our sprint methodology and continually made changes to features of our design.
Secondary Research Topic Areas
Marketing Research Analysis (SWOT)
We researched the features and focuses of different HR leave management programs for inspiration and for potential opportunities. We compared the programs based on focus, flexibility, effort, and value. The final model compared the most important features: the complexity of the program, and the user of the program.
Deloitte Needs Insights
Ideal User Experience Framework (IUX)
We researched the features and focuses of different HR leave management programs for inspiration and for potential opportunities. We compared the programs based on focus, flexibility, effort, and value. The final model compared the most important features: the complexity of the program, and the user of the program.
Ideation Board
All options will include defined portfolio of options, integrations across technology and supporting technology for leaves.
Page Content Layouts
We utilized the process of organizing and labeling content intuitively so that those who navigate the system can find information quickly and complete the tasks at hand. This diagram shows a detailed layout of the portal, helping us account for every screen yet to be designed.
Concept Process Flows
We have spent time on research, and ideation, and received enough feedback to move in the right direction at this stage in the process. We had a general look and list of features, but the project lacked a cohesive look, feel, tone, and navigation that was tailored to the specific user.
We worked on information architecture that would guide the detailed and personalized functionality of the portal. We created three comprehensive process flows of leaves following the employee leaves team interaction to satisfy every current pain point.
We used our information, inspiration, and lo-fi sketches and translated them into a more sophisticated website portal version. These digital drawings are a few examples of various user interface looks and features.
Over 25 participants came to user testing our second user testing session for our mid-fidelity prototype, but we only had 4 groups of testers. To make the most of our time, we split up our group and approach. In break-out rooms, we had 4 participants in individual sessions, where they would follow the traditional user testing method, emphasizing each of 11 tasks.
Moving Into Development
✏️ My top 2 learnings from Deloitte - Leave Management
Multiple facets of the design problem and strategy need to be considered. In order to sell an idea, it must appeal to both the primary user and the secondary user. Concepts have to be addressed on an enterprise level quickly in order to gain altitude.
Clarify on agenda and meeting hygiene. Recaps are helpful in a long-term project when stakeholders are not always involved directly.