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AutoMeetic

Optimizing Hybrid Workplace Scheduling with an Incentive System

U of Washington ｜ 2022 (10 Weeks)
Project Overview
Team
Responsibilities
  • AutoMeetic is an effective incentive system for seamless shared workplace scheduling with consideration of the organization's goals, employee preferences, and operational requirements. The main objective is to provide a smooth and productive workflow for hybrid workers.
  • Me: UX Researcher & Designer
  • Chia-Wei Chang: UX Researcher & Designer
  • Darius Rose: UX Researcher & Business Specialist
  • User Research
  • UX Design (Mobile App)
  • Usability Testing & Evaluation
01 BACKGROUND

‍How It Started

Hybrid work has become a post-pandemic trend and a priority for employees [1][2]. We are interested in the impact of hybrid work on carbon emissions and the environment. Hybrid work mode has helped reduce carbon footprint. Atlassian, Autodesk, Meta, and others have reduced emissions by 30% or more by moving to remote and hybrid work modes. However, employers’ and employees’ different anticipations of hybrid work cause friction in the purpose of using an office.

Why do hybrid workers need an office? [2]
02 DESIGN QUESTION

“How can hybrid workers in the U.S. coordinate schedules in a shared workspace to limit energy usage at work?”

03 QUAL RESEARCH

‍Field Observation

Through on-site observation in a shared workspace, we wanted to identify outstanding details about work coordination, record how often tech workers meet with their teams in person, interview hybrid workers about their team coordination and related concerns, and note the movement of workers if we would be able to observe in open office spaces.

Field study at WeWork, Oct 25 2022
Raw notes & affinity diagram
Key Findings
04 QUANT RESEARCH

Hybrid Work Survey

We focused on workers employed in a hybrid capacity – those who are fully remote or fully onsite were excluded. We concentrated on workers with 3 months or more of hybrid work experience so they can speak from experience on certain aspects of hybrid work.

Our survey consisted of 11 mandatory questions and 3 optional questions, which allowed respondents to add more context if desired. Two of our questions helped us to filter our results: whether the respondent is a hybrid worker and how much experience they have in a hybrid role. We used:

  • Multiple Choice *4
  • Short Answer *2
  • Long Answer *3
  • Likert Scale *1
  • Ranking *2
  • Checkbox *2
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeb5rqWlOvLtCb3QLd8NCUv968MsfWYd7s2FkRDC86hTQI1Hg/viewform

Key Findings

Based on our exclusion criteria, including legal working age, hybrid work experience of more than 3 months, and office located in the US, we ended up with 63 responses, among which 44 were valid.

‍Demographic Characteristics

Respondents were aged between 23 and 58, with a median age of 30.

Respondents’ offices were basically located in urban and suburban areas in the US.

Most (84.2%) respondents had more than 12 months of hybrid work experience.

‍Flexible Schedule

Most (75.0%) of them were not required to be in the office at all.

“Free food, snacks, and drinks” was the top driver for hybrid workers to go to the office

Private meeting rooms were in the shortest supply

Personal-focused work V.S. Teamwork

Hybrid workers prefer personal offices for their focused personal work.

Private meeting rooms and common work areas are top-ranked choices for teamwork.

05 REQUIREMENTS

A Triangulated System

User

Hybrid work can increase employee motivation

Workers highly desire hybrid work and anticipate increased hybrid work in the future [1][3].

Meeting rooms are in shortage

Hybrid workers need meeting rooms, but heavy demand makes availability a challenge.

Business

Executives want to invest in hybrid work solutions

Over 60% of execs plan to invest in virtual collaboration tools, while around 50% aim for hoteling apps and shared office spaces [2].

Reduce cost by automated energy consumption

Opportunities exist for companies to enhance energy consumption automation, thereby lowering costs.

Technology

Better technology solutions to be developed for electricity usage

Commercial buildings cause 35% of US electricity use and 16% of CO2 emissions. Improved technology in businesses can greatly help [4].

Stakeholders

We listed potential stakeholders with high relevance and classified them using Power-Interest stakeholder analysis. Based on the screening results, we believe the following are our key stakeholders:

‍

  • Hybrid Work Model Companies‍
  • Leadership
  • Hybrid Workers
  • Facility Managers
  • Financial Managers‍
  • Investors
  • Government‍
  • Department of Energy
  • Environmental Protection Agency

Core Users

Personas

High-Priority Design Requirements

User
Client needs for face-to-face meetings and collaboration

Justification: according to the survey, most employees choose to work in the office for face-to-face meetings and collaboration.

Business
Inform key stakeholders of the huge benefits that the reform will bring

Justification: the executives and investors can significantly influence the success of our business.

Technology
Improve floor-planning and privacy of certain types of room

Justification: according to our observation, those employees working individually were keeping a distance from other people.

06 LOW-FI PROTOTYPE

How to Solve the Problem

‍User Scenario‍

‍

Beth is a software engineer whose office is located in Seattle, WA, and lives in Bellevue, WA. On a Friday morning, she was not sure if she should head out to her office although a phone room could provide more concentration on her personal-focused work. Therefore, she checked out the reservation system but found no room available. In fact, some phone rooms were booked by other people but nobody ever showed up or left the room ahead of schedule once they finished their work.

Core Tasks

‍

Therefore, here comes my solution where hybrid workers can reserve a room and release it once they no longer need it. Bonus points are awarded for this resource-saving behavior, which can be redeemed for snacks or other incentives.

  • Task 1A: Select a meeting room that can accommodate 6 people
  • Task 1B: Reserve the room for Nov 22, 2022 at 10am
  • Task 2: Check-in
  • Task 3: Release your room
  • Task 4: Check bonus points
  • Task 5: Redeem bonus points
Mobile Prototype
Physical Prototype
07 USABILITY TESTING

Utilizing Think Aloud

In the pursuit of usability evaluation, I recruited 4 participants and provided 6 tasks for them to test the user flow from reserving a meeting room to redeeming the points.

Prioritizing the Issues

Based on the 11 usability issues I identified through the testing, I set up evaluation metrics evaluating severity and scope, and concluded 3 issues of the highest priority.

How to Improve It

#1 Higher Booking Accuracy

‍

Before the iteration, users found it hard to book a room with both the right capacity and the right time. Some of them also failed to find a room for certain numbers of people.

Therefore, it would be helpful to provide a filter providing the specific capacity of a room and allow users to select time and capacity on the same page.

Before
After
#2 Clear Feedback

‍

Before the iteration, users were confused about whether they were successful in making the reservation.

Therefore, it was necessary to provide a toast to notify users of their success.

Before
After
#3 Better Accessibility

‍

Before the iteration, some users didn’t know how to scan the QR code.

Therefore, more concise UX writing should be provided to give users better access to physical operations.

Before
After
08 HI-FI PROTOTYPE
09 TAKEAWAYS

Real Data Can Deny Previous Assumptions


  • Gathering real data from users is challenging but valuable as it can provide insights beyond our initial research.
  • If given the chance, I'd conduct another survey to explore further details. For instance, the last survey revealed that young professionals are attracted to the office due to "equipment and tools." I'd like to delve deeper into the specific equipment and tools that appeal to them and how they are utilized in offices. This will help me propose workspace improvements if necessary.

Cultivating Respect and Transparency


  • Team members respecting each other can help keep everyone open to sharing their ideas.
  • Project collaboration tools are necessary to keep everyone on the same page - Figjam is our jam!
  • Clear and transparent communication is absolutely essential for success.

Embracing Curiosity and Open-Mindedness


  • Curiosity is vital for learning and growth. When I am genuinely interested in a topic, like studying hybrid workers and their work modes, I feel motivated to dedicate more time to research and exploration.
  • Staying open-minded allows for diverse ideas and perspectives from the group, which can lead to valuable insights. This enables me to adapt and refine my design questions as new information becomes available, ensuring a more comprehensive and accurate understanding of the subject.

Tricks for User Engagement


  • Providing some rewards can increase the response rate of the survey and make participants more motivated in the usability testing.
  • Think about how to use the data before designing a survey. It took me more time to analyze data because some questions could have been improved before the survey distribution and I could have saved more time by thinking more about the purpose of each question.
10 CITATIONS

[1] CONDECO Group, Hall & Partners. “Attitudes to Hybrid Working.” 2022. https://www.condecosoftware.com/modern-workplace/research/attitudes-to-hybrid-working-report-2022/

[2] PwC. “It’s time to reimagine where and how work will get done.” Jan 2021. https://www.pwc.com/us/en/services/consulting/business-transformation/library/covid-19-us-remote-work-survey.html

[3] Kolluru, Mythili, et al. “Post Covid-19 Work Strategies and Implications: Insight on Indian It Sector.” ECONOMICS, vol. 9, no. 2, 2021, pp. 49–72. https://doi.org/10.2478/eoik-2021-0014

[4] Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy. “About the Commercial Buildings Integration Program.” https://www.energy.gov/eere/buildings/about-commercial-buildings-integration-program

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