HR in a Box, Reimagining HR
Objective: The goal of the project was to offer simplified, cost-effective, and relevant HR functions to help small businesses and start-ups in Dubai. Entrepreneurs are very busy building their businesses and teams. Being compliant with the UAE law and tackling all the HR needs becomes part of their growing list of things to do. Often this is put on the back burner, and it becomes a hindrance to smooth business operations and people management. Thus, the clients (S&K Consulting) wanted to think outside of the box, to empower SME’s and Startups to protect and manage their business and employees correctly right from the start.
Process: User Research, Interviews, Analysis and Synthesis, Insight Generation and Ideation with Co-creation Workshops, Design Directions, Prototype Testing, Marketing Strategy, Brochure and Website Design.
Solution: HR in a Box was created to provide entrepreneurs with a go-to resource for every required HR document that is simple to use, compliant with the UAE labor law, and developed by experienced HR professionals. The documents are personalized for the customer’s business so what they receive is a complete box set of documents for the entire employee journey i.e., from hire to retire. The service also includes a one-to-one training and document orientation session to familiarise them with the contents of the box.
Learnings: There is an urgent need to simplify HR for business owners and employees so that they can see the value of having HR practices in place. Creating individual documents is time-consuming and outsourcing HR is expensive. The volume of various HR documents required is overwhelming and business owners were not able to understand and interpret HR documents available as a free resource. They were unable to find a reliable single source to access professional HR Documents. Access to a trusted source to refer and ask questions about compliances and best practices would exceed their expectations and give them peace of mind about running their business correctly.
Time: 12 weeks
Role: Lead Design Strategist and Service Designer, UX/ UI Designer
Secondary Research
Understanding the Changing Landscape, Dubai
UAE ranks 11th in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business and 25th in Starting a Business List for 2019.
Over 90% of businesses are small and medium-sized.
Early-stage startups make for nearly 50% of all companies registered in Dubai.
These ventures have an estimated contribution of over 47% to UAE’s annual GDP.
55% of people start a business because they want to be their own boss.
Millennials and Gen-Zers are 188% more likely to start a business.
Insights
Dubai is the start-up capital in the MENA region
Strategic location and stability
Digital transformation & entrepreneurial ecosystem
Strong support & multi-cultural environment
Diverse funding sources & access to talent
Numerous free zones & government initiatives for start-ups
Opportunity
Understanding how start-ups/ small businesses in Dubai manage their HR. Reimagine the experience of implementing good HR practices in start-ups and SME’s.
The Big Vision
Change the landscape of HR in the GCC, one business at a time. Establish SNK as a forward-thinking and innovative company in the HR space.
The How
Path to achieve the vision and deliver a unique brand & experience that customers find inexpensive, useful, relevant, and builds trust in the SNK brand.
How might we reimagine the experience of implementing good HR practices in start-ups and small businesses to make it inexpensive, relevant, and user-friendly?
Primary Research
Methods used: Interviews, 5 Why’s, Personas, User Journey Map, Empathy Map, Co-creation Workshops, Brainstorming, Crazy 8’s.
There’s no better way to understand the hopes, desires, and aspirations of those you’re designing for than by talking with them directly. I interviewed business owners and entrepreneurs across diverse businesses, employee sizes, and years in business. The main purpose of the interviews was to obtain specific qualitative information about how they managed their HR needs themselves (or otherwise) as entrepreneurs or small business owners, how did they seek help to the problems they faced (more specific to HR needs), were they compliant, and how to they keep abreast with policy and regulation changes.
Persona Development
I developed personas to bring out the common pain-points that came through via the interviews with entrepreneurs and business owners. These were used to in the co-creation workshops to provide the client and their team with a shared understanding of their users in terms of their goals and unmet needs and perception of HR.
Co-creation Workshop
The intent of the workshop was “…matching what’s needed with what’s possible to create value.” – Roy Sandbach. I conducted and facilitated a 2-day workshop to gather insights and co-create out-of-the-box solutions.
Insights
We gathered and grouped the insight to find reoccurring themes, pain points, opportunity spaces, and gaps where S&K could provide early interventions to help businesses set a strong HR foundation.
SME / entrepreneurs don’t seem to trust consultants but at the same time know they need help.
Problems with employee retention and people management are a recurring theme.
They understand each company is unique and want to build a positive company culture.
Entrepreneurs understand the power of streamlined processes, but executing them is time-consuming.
SME’s tend to handle people’s issues when they arrive on an individual basis without documentation.
Due to the large ex-pat population in Dubai, they also face cross-culture challenges.
Reasons to think about their HR needs
We also listed the values and benefits that S&K could provide to empower entrepreneurs to protect, manage and grow their business.
Become a Trusted Employer & Create a Positive Employee Experience
Uncertainty has crept in and they want to Protect their Business
Want to ensure they are Compliant with UAE Labour Law
Improve Operational Efficiency & Provide Guidelines
Reduce Employee Turnover & Employee Grievances
Set Clear Standards & Expectations for All
Reframing the Ask
Armed with real-life insights we framed point of view statements and How Might We Statements to help us brainstorm to collectively generate as many ideas and potential solutions as possible.
Selected How Might We’s
HMW make HR appealing to small business?
HMW help small businesses keep their employees happy?
HMW give foresight to small businesses to protect themselves?
Ideation
We used the Crazy 8 method to ideate different out the box solutions.
Design
We analysed our research to understand the pain points in further detail and create a simple solution. HR in a Box was then created to provide entrepreneurs with a go-to resource for every required HR document from hire to retire; that is simple to use, compliant with the UAE labour law and developed by experienced HR professionals. We also wanted to create a personalised user experience so that the customers are at ease, can decide if this is the right product for their business and maintain the human connection in a Human Resources product. This would also help build trust in the S&K brand for a long-term engagement in the future.
Framework for Contextualizing
HR in a Box
Product Concept
Product Content
User Journey Map
We mapped out the user journey that small business owners go through while deciding on an HR service. This helped us reimage our service offering.
Business Owner – Current State
Business Owner – Future State Experience
Business Owner – Experience with HR in a Box
Touchpoints
Website: We added a Resource Library 3 months prior to the launch of HR in a Box. This helped us gauge the user demand and response to the documents we were creating. It also gave us a database of potential clients.
Website: We designed and added HR in a Box to the S&K website.
Brochure: We designed a brochure explaining the contents of HR in a Box for circulation.
