Business
Designing an HR App for the Millennials
It was the smart application of design thinking that converted Airbnb, an almost bankrupt company into a successful worldwide venture. The new design is simple, yet completely user centric. The best part about the Airbnb app experience is the way they hold your hand through the whole booking process.
It’s a great example of how a design-based approach can avoid a crisis and make the customers fall in love with your product and re-invent your business.
Design thinking is not just an option; it’s a necessity. The perfect process to offer simple HR solutions is through codified-creativity.
The fact is, most businesses work in a safe environment with pre-decided models. The scope is already limited and without a proper “design philosophy”, the complex issues will always remain unresolved.
Just like any other industry, functional design is at the center of every HR technology solutions. The ‘war for talent’ is increasing with time and companies are trying to become extra-productive.
Let the design thinking work for your product ( and your customers), removing the unnecessary workplace complexity!
Have a look at a few valuable lessons that completely changed our design philosophy:
- Don’t use a lot where a little will do
Especially when you consider that simplicity is also a major attribute that defines millennials. We don’t tell users how things are and what they need to do next. Instead, the whole process moves forward organically.
- Unification can solve most design problems
For everything to work perfectly, the visual style, interaction methods, and information architecture should be unified. The eventual target is to reduce the number of steps for the end users and save their time. These are also some basic attributes that millennials desire and expect in a functional app. By working on this, we were able to:
- Kill the passwords and use other modes of authentication.
- Unify all the multiple entry points.
- Create an inclusive workspace.
We believe most things should be available with a single tap, making it easy to participate. We planned our design according to the degree of importance of information. Once the priorities are set, working on a unified design is not difficult.
- Mobile first for mobile natives
Millennials engage with products and services in a personalized manner. This is a technologically stimulated generation which believes in mobile first solutions. Being able to conduct business while on the go is a crucial feature. That’s why we designed the app to provide the instant immediacy on all fronts.
Needless to say, a resourceful app should offer an enriching experience filled with human connections to generate fresh ideas. The only way you can achieve this is by putting your creativity to work. The idea is to simplify and automate. “It’s no longer about transaction – It’s about interaction”
This is the age of employee-centric solutions and organizations are looking for customized cloud-based HR solutions for sourcing, recruitment, performance, and employee engagement.
I can promise that you should expect more innovations in future as well. Stay ready for the next level people management systems. As they say, the disruption has already started. Are you ready for the shift!
By Vivek Sethi, AVP – Product Management, PeopleStrong
