Who is the organizer of the #HRvsVirus Hackathon?

The #HRvsVirus Hackathon is organized by the HR.Hackathon Alliance, a global community of Human Resources professionals who believe in the power of design thinking to solve our most pressing workplace challenges.

Who participateD in the Hackathon?

We had 130 registered participants including twenty mentors and moderators. Participants were designers, academics, data scientists, business leaders, and HR professionals from countries across the world, including Argentina, Brazil, Dubai, England, Germany, Ireland, and the United States of America.

Which Challenges were hacked?

There were eight challenges submitted in advance to the Hackathon. Of those, participants selected these five to hack during the event:

  1. How might we make more meaningful connections with our teams and employees during social distancing?

  2. How might we re-employ, redeploy or tap into a new pool of HR -related people and skills?

  3. How might we develop protocols and technology to facilitate employees returning to work from isolation that will ensure safety for all?

  4. How might we create a meaningful and impactful onboarding experience that helps our talent truly be welcomed & be able to hit the virtual ground running?

  5. How might we address anxiety in the workplace, especially around COVID-19?

What WAS the high-level schedule for the Hackathon?

The #HRvsVirus Hackathon ran from April 17 – 19, 2020. Participants had 72 hours to build solutions to work-related challenges caused by the COVID-19 crisis. We kicked off on Friday at 9am CST and closed on Sunday at midnight CST with the final submission of solutions.

Why did the hackathon run for 72 hours?

Our live HR.Hackathon events only last two hours and result in a high level concept poster. We felt that this was the ultimate challenge and should require more time and effort to come up with solutions of which some can benefit the global community immediately. We also wanted global teams who would be working across time zones to have the opportunity to come up with meaningful solutions. Symbolically, 72 hours is the time frame that a person must be symptom-free in order to be released from home isolation after having suffered from COVID-19 [Note: This does not constitute as medical advice and might change as we learn more about the virus. Please consult with your local health officials on current guidance.]

How does a virtual Hackathon work?          

The #HRvsVirus Hackathon was conducted entirely virtually. We used Slack for team collaboration, Zoom Video for daily check in calls, and Google Docs to capture each team’s project documentation. Teams leveraged additional virtual design thinking tools such as Mural and Miro to facilitate their research and ideation processes.

Which solutions CAME OUT OF THE HACKATHON?

There were five solutions created by #HRvsVirus Hackathon participants:

  1. An Interactive Virtual Onboarding Journey Map

  2. Open Space - A Platform to Maintain Meaningful Work Connections

  3. Tap In! Tap Out! - A Language Concept for Leaders and Employees to Manage COVID-19 Related Anxiety in the Workplace

  4. Design Thinking for Career Development for Those who Experience Crisis-Related Lay-Offs

  5. ONN (Our New Normal) App which Facilitates Safe Return to Work from Isolation

HOW MAY I USE THESE SOLUTIONS?

#HRvsVirus Hackathon solutions were designed by volunteers to benefit the social good. They are made available for free to the public. Key work processes and documents are shared as part of each case study so you can leverage them to support implementation inside your own organization. At the very least, we hope these solutions inspire you to create your own. It would be wonderful if you shared back how you used them by tagging us #HRvsVirus or sending us a quick success story.

I HAVE TECHNOLOGY, FUNDING, OR OTHER RESOURCES and would like to support solution enablement. how can i help?

Fantastic! We are in the process of building a coalition for solution enablement. Please indicate your support here.

WHERE CAN I SUBMIT OTHER WORK-Related covid19 solutions?

Over the last few weeks, many people have already started to work on solutions that address key workplace challenges caused by COVID-19. We have the utmost respect for those of you who are spearheading these efforts! Please add your initiative to this open source list so we can make them available to the public.

I would like to write an article about the #HRvsVirus Hackathon. Whom should i contact?

Please stop by our press page to get started.