workpadi hrms
designing a customisable human resource management saas partner for streamlined employee management and engagement
Product Strategy
Product design
email tempalates
role
product designer
duration
8 Weeks
industry
B2B SaaS
tools
Figma
Miro
Project Overview
In addressing critical HR challenges, Workpadi stands as a powerful Human Resource Management System, offering customisable and intentionally-tailored people solutions to streamline complex processes. Tackling issues like leave management and employee self-service bottlenecks, Workpadi introduces modules that automate workflows, centralize employee data, and simplify onboarding/offboarding.
It resolves the fragmentation of HR tasks with efficient Task Management and provides data-driven insights through HR Analytics. Workpadi emerges as the go-to HRMS, empowering businesses of all sizes to overcome operational hurdles, save time, and foster compliance, ushering in a new era of streamlined and efficient HR management. In the grand scheme, workpadi is looking to introduce other customisable modules for talent, workforce, performance and finance management but for this build, we stuck to general and core hr features.
One thing that makes workpadi standout in terms of design and meeting business goals is its customisability. Every module we identified and designed, we made customisable. What that means is, down to the smallest detail, companies can define their situations and setup their Workpadi around them - quite challenging to design, yet exciting. Let's delve into how we did it.
Problem Discovery
I worked very closely with my product manager and we saw that businesses often grapple with challenges that hinder operational efficiency. Workpadi emerges as a strategic solution to tackle these issues head-on, providing tailored modules to streamline processes. Let's delve into the problems we identified and explore how Workpadi alleviates these challenges, fostering a more efficient and cohesive HR environment.
Fragmented HR Workflows
Traditional HR workflows often suffer from fragmentation, causing inefficiencies in processes. Manual handling of tasks leads to delays, miscommunications, and a lack of unified data. Studies show that 65% of small businesses experience delays in HR processes, impacting overall productivity.
Disorganised Employee Data
Dispersed employee data across various systems or files creates challenges in tracking performance, employee history, and other crucial information. About 50% of small businesses struggle with disorganised employee data, impacting decision-making and strategic HR planning.
Inefficient Onboarding and Offboarding
When we think of the terms onboarding or offboarding, they sound tedious, meanwhile atomically they're just definite tasks designed to flow in a specific order. Tools designed for this can significantly improve people experiences.
Limited HR Solutions for Small Teams
Accoriding to ADP, 70% of small businesses put cumbersome hr tasks in untrained hands, leaving room for inefficiencies that can rather be handled by tailored tools to manage HR tasks and boost their potential for growth and organisational development.
In addessing these problems, we thought it would be worthwhile going from a bottom-up approach - considering the challenges faced by small businesses first and fine-tuning the solutions to fit medium and large businesses.
The process
I am of the opinion that UX design is dynamic so based on the problem we were trying to solve and the contraints we had to work with, we capitalised on our strengths while still striving to meet high ux research and design standards.
From the onset, I and my product manager started picking out each module and we defined how we were going to do research per module. Given the nature of Workpadi and the market we were building for, we needed to get information directly from people that practice what we were building for; HR Professionals. We reached out to a couple HR profesionnals with the aim of understanding three major things;
- How certian processes work generally speaking in terms of flows, constraint and challenges they often face running these processes.
- The standards of these processes in the overall HR space. We did this to ensure we were meeting the right needs and solving problems without significantly changing existing workflows.
- Lastly, we wanted to find out what they may like to see in workpadi and how these features will help them meet their objectives better.
Competitive Analysis
What is UX research for a new product without running a good competitive analysis? the hr services space is broad but not withstanding, we set our analysis objectives right before considering our potential competitors. We did this to make sure we did not get lost in information. We considered hr systems that are built primarily for the nigerian and african market first then we went on to consider products that are used globally.
STRENGTHS
- Built for the Nigerian Market
- Steady growing customer base
- Integrates other 3rd party productivity platforms
- Payment rails for Payroll administration
STRENGTHS
- Full suite of HRM tools
- Used globally across multiple continents
- Integrates with 3rd Party applcations
- Robust analytics service
OPPORTUNITIES
- Fully Customisable
- Can be used by companies of any size
- Cost-effective pricing system
- Potential to include featues across all employee cycle stages
- Built for the African Market
User Personnas
Personnas define the classes and demography of users we could potentially serve with our product. Althouth we had a rough idea, it was good to document them.
It was important to note that while personnas may represent Workpadi users, there may however be some edge-cases that might go unnoticed, so we took note of that to ensure we were not blind sided. Besides, the goal was to make workpadi completely customisable.
We need an efficient way of managing our employees without having to restructure our workforce, just plug-and-play.
name
Emma Thompson
age
32 Years old
Occupation
HR Administrator in a Tech Company
Goals
- Streamline leave request and approval processes.
- Ensure accurate and timely payroll management.
- Centralise and organise employee data for easy access.
Frustrations
- Manual and time-consuming HR workflows
- Challenges in payroll calculations and compliance
- Disorganised employee data and tracking
Motivation
Working in an early-stage company requires the need to get HR right from the jump. We need to enhance our HR processes early for a more efficient workflow.
My company is not so big but I still need a way to manage all of my employees without having to use large HR tools.
name
Alex Rodriguez
age
43 Years old
Occupation
Small Business Owner
Goals
- Access a user-friendly HRMS for small teams.
- Optimize HR processes without extensive costs.
- Simplify onboarding and offboarding for a growing team.
Frustrations
- Limited resources for HR management.
- Need for scalable and cost-effective HR solutions.
- Time-consuming onboarding and offboarding procedures.
Motivation
Small business, big dreams, HR shouldn't be a hurdle. i want to achieve efficient HR processes with something small and does not break the bank to foster business growth.
Data handling and manipulation is good for employees. everyone should access what they need when they need it.
name
Adetayo Gabriel
age
37 Years old
Occupation
HR Manager in Manufacturing
Goals
- Streamline and automate leave approval workflows.
- Improve payroll accuracy and efficiency
- Access comprehensive HR analytics for strategic planning
- Give employees access to self-service
Frustrations
- Coordinating complex leave approval workflows
- Ensuring accurate payroll calculations for a large workforce
- Limited insights from HR analytics for decision-making
Motivation
My organisation is quite large but i want to give my employees the best experience to allow me enhance HR processes for strategic and long-term organisational planning.
What the personnas revealed
- Most people are already used to the idea of HR systems, so going by Jakob's law, we had to identify and maintain standards around requirements, flows and functionalities - of course with room for improving efficiency.
- We need to make workpadi as modular as possible. What this meant was that we needed to break the full roadmap of workpadi down into functional modules that can stand-alone and still be valuable.
- This breakdown is necessary because not all companies will require all the modules for their business.
- It proved the entire essense of Workpadi, the need to ensure that companies of all sizes can use Workpadi and define it to suit their organisational circumstances.
- Beyond design, our focus extends to preparing objectives for training users and onboarding companies. This involves equipping HR professionals with the necessary skills to effectively utilize Workpadi.
Sitemap, Userflows and Wireframes
To properly layout information on Workpadi, we started off by re-identifying all the modules we will be including in the roadmap, including modules that will not be released just yet.
After this, we used a technique called Card Sorting to categorise the modules based on our understanding and also based on mental models. This exercise was carried out with everyone on the team to avoid biases. We successfully categorised all the modules such that they could be stand-alone and we grouped them under master modules.
Then came userflows. We solved most problems on a module basis and we also ensured that we identifed data that were not entirely independent in each module to avoid any issues in the future. For each flow we did, we rapidly came up with wireframes just to keep things moving and to keep information fresh in out minds.
Style Guide and Component Library
We realised the need to work towards having a design system for Workpadi so we started with a style guide based on the requirements we identified and the brand guidelines.
Solution & Final Designs
Dashboard States and Navigation
As an HR Admin or employee, I aim to seamlessly access all available modules from the dashboard without disrupting my mental model. The navigation should provide clarity, ensuring that the arrangement aligns intuitively with my workflow. Additionally, I desire an insightful overview of employee status and crucial information. Through this, I can efficiently manage tasks and stay informed.
Drag or Swipe for more >>>
Company Setup and Approvals
As an HR Admin, I aspire to effortlessly set up and personalize Workpadi to align with the unique needs of my organisation. The Company Setup and Approvals feature should empower me to customize workflows, defining who holds the authority to approve specific actions within the organisation.
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People and Leave Setup
As an HR Admin, I need the People Setup feature in Workpadi to efficiently establish and customize our organisational structure. This includes setting up departments, designations, job titles, defining roles and reporting hierarchies, and creating custom fields to collect unique employee information. Additionally, I require the ability to configure leave schedules, allowing for streamlined leave application processes, defining constraints, and implementing overall controls for effective leave management.
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Workpadi People
As an HR Admin, the Workpadi People feature is critical for gaining a comprehensive overview of all employees within the organisation. I require seamless access to detailed employee information and the ability to navigate through their situations effortlessly. The feature should empower me with easy-to-use search, filter, and sort functionalities, ensuring efficient handling of large volumes of information.
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Workpadi People: Manage Employee
As an HR Admin, I need to view and edit employee details, track their activities, and assign on/offboarding tasks seamlessly. This feature should also allow quick actions like suspending or terminating employees, streamlining the personnel management process efficiently.
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Leave Request & Management
As an employee or HR Admin utilising Leave Requests & Management in Workpadi, I require the capability to not only submit and manage leave requests but also access a comprehensive overview of the leave situation across the organisation. This feature enhances transparency and facilitates better planning for both employees and administrators.
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Employee Self-service
As an employee utilising Employee Self-service in Workpadi, I seek the convenience of managing personal information, accessing pay stubs, and making requests to update my information. This feature empowers me to take control of my HR-related tasks, fostering efficiency and autonomy in managing my work-related information.
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Padi Docs: Document Management
As an employee or HR Admin, i need the ability to seamlessly add and share documents. This feature ensures efficient document management, allowing me to contribute and distribute organisation-related documents with ease.
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On/Offboarding and Task Management
As an HR Admin, i require a guide for the initial setup of the app, ensuring a smooth onboarding experience. As an employee, i should have a user-friendly form for data input, and a Kanban board to provide an organised view to manage all onboarding and offboarding tasks seamlessly. This feature enhances the efficiency of HR processes, promoting clarity and ease for both administrators and employees.
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Other Modules
At the start of this project we defined a roadmap that includes modules that support the entire employee lifecycle from hiring down to offboarding. Of these modules, we prioritised a set of modules for this release. We worked on other modules such as;
- onboarding for new companies and employees
- Calendars and Reminders
- Payroll, compensation setup and management[More details in the Workpadi Payroll case study]
- Reporting section for all activity on Workpadi
- Platform settings and configurations
- Pricing structure and Billing section
- notification module and activity monitor for employee logs
- and more...
Email Templates and communication assets
As a Workpadi user, HR admin or employee, transactional emails are necessary for timely communication on updates. When an action is taken, or an action is expected, they should receive well-crafted emails giving information on what is expected. I designed 40+ email templates for actions that require transactional emails and ensured they were well written with adequately directed messages.
Additionally, some assets were also required for auto-generated documents within the app, like paystubs and invoices. I designed these documents based on industry standards and ensured they had the right resolution for print media cases.
Challenges faced and takeaways
The initiation of the Workpadi project posed a some challenges Firstly, the project, as initially perceived at the time of problem discovery and architecting service design, it loomed as quite a sizeable undertaking. Secondly, being the sole designer on the team heightened the intricacies of project timeline management.
While communication remained fluid within our closely connected team, uncertainties surrounding the project created hurdles in accurately gauging timelines.
Not withstanding, these challenges drove I and the team to find solutions to how we looked at the project. We strictly approached it on a module by module basis and this helped. SOme other takeaways include;
- I recognised the need for indepth research especially when building for users with highly defined roles. Your aim should be to add little to no changes to their workflow.
- Recognise the importance of accurately gauging the scope of a project from the outset to avoid heightened expectations.
- I learned to appreciate the efficiency and effectiveness of communication within close-knit teams.
- Learned to embrace adaptability and flexibility as essential qualities in navigating unforeseen challenges.
- Commit to a process of continuous improvement, refining approaches based on project experiences.
Conclusion
Designing Workpadi HRMS was a profound journey, weaving creativity and functionality to redefine HR systems. As the sole designer, what initially seemed daunting turned into a rich learning experience. Communication thrived in our close-knit team, tackling uncertainties underscored adaptability and continuous improvement.
This journey not only birthed a robust HRMS but ingrained principles of holistic project management and user-centric design.
Workpadi HRMS stands as a testament to our commitment to innovative design, with heartfelt gratitude for the opportunity to contribute to this transformative project.
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