How might we develop protocols and technology to facilitate employees returning to work from isolation that will ensure safety for all?
SOLUTION: OUR NEW NORMAL (ONN)
Employees will be returning to the office in a working world with a whole new set of concerns
around workplace safety and care. We have developed a mobile app that companies provide
for their employees so they can obtain key information about their workplace, including metrics on building occupancy, COVID infection rates and incidences, and cleaning information for common areas. In addition, users can drill down to interactive floor maps and conference rooms to see how the occupancy looks in specific areas. Employees can also sign up to receive social distancing alerts that will create and enforce social distancing norms by giving feedback when they are too close to others or crowding meeting rooms and common areas.
WHAT WE LEARNed DURING DISCOVERY
We discussed the inspiration behind the challenge and set a guiding principle that the
solution must make people feel safe at work.
As employees, we are all stakeholders, so we discussed our own concerns and also
shared articles and research that may address relevant aspects of this challenge.
In our new world, HR needs to focus on taking care of the whole human (health, family,
safety, accommodation) and not just their performance, benefits and job duties.
HR needs to be agile and adapt to situations that will frequently change while making
employees feel informed and heard.
WHAT WE brainstormed DURING IDEATION
We used a Mural board to conduct a virtual ideation session. We then used design
thinking methods to cluster the solution ideas into 5-8 consolidated ideas. As a team we
discussed these ideas to make sure they reflected our best thinking. We voted for the
option we felt the strongest for as addressing the needs of our target population.
We had the following awesome ideas:
Re-Deployment App for managers and employees (our solution)
Design a VR Office Space
Create a published infographic of workplace prevention standards
Develop “Clean” App to assess cleanliness of Office
Create an employee wellness guide
Wellness support App
Voice of employee App for leadership
Create a desktop app for daily employee updates
We used the voting feature in Mural to align on our preferred solution.
The Solution We Designed
This solution is an app that allows a user to:
quickly assess the social distancing status and decide if they want to work from
home or work in a different location within the building that day.get lunch, take bio breaks and hold meetings when areas are the least crowded.
opt in to audible alerts that create and enforce social distancing norms to
ensure an environment where giving people space is the default behavior.
This solution makes employees feel like they are in control of their movements and are
not being blindsided by situations where they don’t feel comfortable. It also automates
some of the awkward situations that would otherwise force someone to tell another
person they are too close or to tell a crowd to dissipate.
Our solution is ultimately an app that employees would have on their phone. We were
not able to develop a working prototype, but rather we focused on a simple wire frame
so that we could more fully consider the functionality. Our powerpoint is in the link
above.
What’s next? Our solution needs further design, user testing and app development to be ready for
users.
Our solution is outlined in this Powerpoint.
The Design Team
Nancy Harris, Christine Hill, Halima K. McWilliams, Raju Khotwad, Carolyn Walsh, Peter Dessain