As the company grows dramatically in a short period of time, the executives started noticing the need for creating a structured company-wide onboarding process to ensure the delivery of essential messages from the founders.
The very first version of a company-wide onboarding process
The awareness of the need for consistent in-house evaluation and research
The increased awareness and favoritism of design research especially among managers
ONBOARDING PROCESS
MY ROLE
SERVICE DESIGNER
I was involved in the project from ideation, discovery, ideation, research to design for 2 months as a lead service designer while managing the project.
I worked closely with stakeholders (2 CEOs) and an HR manager while mentoring an intern along the journey.
I executed a stakeholder interview, (in-person & remote) in-depth interviews, surveys, and journey mapping.
I used InVision, Illustrator, Aurelius, and MS office in this project.
MAIN CHALLENGES
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This was the very first qualitative research done in the company. And the stakeholders were not familiar with the concept of qualitative research. The company was also run in a very fast manner. It was a big challenge to get buy-ins for the qualitative research methodology and journey mapping as they were perceived “time-consuming”.
EVERYONE'S FROM EVERYWHERE!
GIVE ME NUMBER, GRAPH, SOMETHING I'M USED TO.
Cultural difference. As the company had employees from different cultures, there was an extra matter to keep in mind as research was being done, understanding the cultural different and how it plays while they are being interviewed or taking survey.
KICKOFF
I conducted stakeholder interviews to clarify the ultimate object of the project by helping a stakeholder envision the desired future direction and goals of the company. I put expected results into numbers to speak the stakeholders' language.
IN-DEPTH INTERVIEW
METHODOLOGY
Moderated 1-on-1, face-to-face in-depth interviews with managers to evaluate the current situation from recruiting to resignation in order to understand the whole journey of the managers and the employees.
Moderated 1-on-1, face-to-face in-depth interviews with new employees to evaluate the current process and understand how it is working from a different point of view.
DISCOVERY
Moderated 1-on-1, face-to-face in-depth interviews with 15 managers to evaluate the current situation from recruiting to resignation in order to understand the whole journey of the managers and the employees.
Moderated 1-on-1, face-to-face in-depth interviews with 11 new employees to evaluate the current process and understand how it is working from a different point of view.
NEXT STEP
While a lot of great insights were revealed during the interview, I decided to perform a round of company-wide survey to 1) ensure insights are valid, 2) uncover potential extra findings and 3) get numbers for stakeholders to speak their language.
SURVEY
METHODOLOGY
Executed a company-wide survey to validify the findings from qualitative research as the stakeholders were more used to seeing data through numbers.
The survey was written in English and Spanish and sent via a company communication channel (slack). The participation was nudged by a researcher (me), HR staff, and their managers while ensuring the anonymity of the response resulting 90% of response rate.
KEY INSIGHTS
Throughout the interviews and the survey, I identified 6 key insights.
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A lack of clarification in the role during information delivery between HR and managers often causes missing information for new hires.
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Not everyone feels included or cared during the onboarding process.
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New hires often feel lost due to a lack of clarity in their responsibilities.
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The current education/training process was found not compatible with some of the new hires’ way of learning.
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Managers need to be more aware of their abilities, goals, and interests.
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Teammates reported their craving for more regular feedback.
JOURNEY MAPPING
I held 2 journey mapping sessions. One with stakeholder and another one with the HR manager and other managers to help them understand pain points, emotions, thoughts, and channels of different role players during the onboarding process. It provided them a chance to see the process in a holistic view and build empathy for their teammates. Sessions were held in person on a whiteboard with stickies and later documented digitally by me.
WHAT'S NEW?
DELIVERY
Delivered the findings through 2 rounds of presentation. The more detailed final report with the execution plan and explanation of the plan was sent after the presentation. The following are the example slides from the presentation.
Insight with an explanation. Added a quote to create a story & empathy and survey data to support the qualitative findings.
Quote from a reliable source to earn credibility from audiences who aren't familiar with qualitative design research.
Walkthrough of new onboarding process while highlighting different role players.