Improving the employee experience
How we designed interventions to improve the employee experience for a global manufacturer.
Context & Objectives
Over a three-month period, our team at Hellon undertook a project with a global manufacturer in the UK, aiming to foster a more employee-centric and customer-centric culture. The project sought to garner alignment among senior leadership on the direction of change, communicate this vision effectively to employees, and implement ‘quick wins’ to demonstrate the initiative’s viability. This project built on from previous work by Hellon which had identified several opportunities and weaknesses in the organisation’s processes, structures and culture.
Role
I worked in a team with a senior and a mid-weight service designer. We collaborated closely with UK senior leadership in the client organisation.
My role consisted of:
- Co-planning and assisting in facilitating client workshops
- Co-writing interview guides and co-leading interviews with internal stakeholders
- Co-creating a gap analysis document
- Co-writing, commissioning and presenting content to socialise with and gain feedback from the organisation’s employees
- Co-planning pilot activities
- Co-writing the final report
Approach
A. I began by co-planning and co-facilitating a workshop with the client’s senior leadership team. The purpose of the workshop was to align on a vision for customer experience and employee experience.
B. I wrote interview guides and co-led interviews with internal stakeholders. I then used this data to co-write a gap analysis document which aimed to set out the steps required to support the client with their transformation.
C. I co-wrote a video script explaining the transformation agenda and supported in commissioning an animator and voice-over artist. I then co-planned and facilitated three socialisations sessions where the transformation initiatives were shared with employees for their feedback.
D. I co-planned and conducted piloting and research activities that were held at the client’s head office. This included ad-hoc interviews, observations, graffiti walls, a workshop and pre-post studies.
E. Finally, I co-analysed the research and pilot findings and co-wrote the final report with recommendations for the client.
Outputs
The output was a final report, a gap analysis document, a socialisation presentation and video and a pilot study design.
Impact
Our research found that the organisation’s market position could be strengthened by making improvements to culture and processes. By aligning senior leadership and employees around a transformation agenda, our project paved the way for tangible actions to drive organisational change.
Reflections
Resource constraints necessitated a condensed piloting phase. In an ideal scenario, allocating more time and resources to this phase would have enabled a more robust demonstration of transformational impact.
If you are interested in any of my work, feel free to get in touch with me at peter77waters@gmail.com or connect on LinkedIn.
