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MENTAL WELLBEING
MY ROLE
Research, Interviews, Analysis, Persona, Ideation and Prototyping
PROJECT GOAL
Create an internal app to improve the employees' mental wellbeing and to monitor their mental health condition
WHAT CAN WE DO TO IMPROVE THE MENTAL WELLBEING OF THE WORK PLACE?
STAGE 1
WHAT IS MENTAL HEALTH?
User Research
User Interviews
Competitor Analysis
STAGE 2
UNDERSTAND OUR USERS
Persona
Journey Maps
Empathy Mapping
STAGE 3
FLASH OUT SOLUTIONS
User Flow
Sketches + Wireframes
Prototype
MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES AFFECT 1 IN EVERY 5 AUSTRALIANS
To better understand the situation in Australia, a research was conducted to know how big the issue is. Solid figures were found on the reports from various NGOs and government organisations that mental health is now 1 of the leading causes of sickness absence and long-term work incapacity in Australia. 1 out of every 1,470 full-time employees claimed for a mental health condition every year, which costs $11 billion a year, and 91% of claims attributed to mental stress.
What is the stress level in the workplace?
First around of qualitative interview conducted with 6 interviewees, each with 10 - 15 questions, to understand about how stressful they feel at work and what did they do to tackle it. Here is what we found:
"NOT MY PROBLEM"
Most of the interviewees feel stress but not everyone found it a problem
"MORE THAN STRESS"
Lack of communication and lack of rest also affects mental status apart from stress
"READY FOR ACTION"
All interviewees were willing to take action or were already taking action to deal with stress related emotion
Dig deeper
After the 1st round of interview, we realised there is a limitation on the interview questions which focus only on stress. We were not getting to the underlying reasons for it, and behaviours resulting from it.
Hence we have revised our second round of interview questions to focus less on ‘stress’ but more on how they feel in the workplace, and what they do about it.
WORK LIFE BALANCE
People are well aware of their emotional status, and their mental wellbeing is affected by their work life and home life
"I have 2 bosses - one at work and one at home"
TRIED BUT FAILED
Most of the people are already trying different activities to improve their emotional status, even though it might not as effective as they wish
"I tried to meditate at home but I gave up quickly because I feel I don't have the skill to practice it"
ACTIONS ARE SIMPLE
Some of the most effective behaviours are very simple and easy to achieve
"Talking to colleagues can relax me because they understand what I am through"
OUT OF OFFICE
People are all facing time constrains. They are willing to try out more activities if the company organise the event, but preferably outside office
"I tried yoga in the conference room but I couldn't focus when I heard the noises outside"
We have realised that everyone is facing different but similar struggles in their daily lives, so we have created 2 Personas reflects the most common types of struggle
WENDY is single and new to the position as a trainee, she is eager to connect with her colleagues and being able to fit in.
ANNA is married with 2 kids. She is a manager of a team and constantly struggle to allocate time for her work and family.
WENDY
Management Trainee, 25
"I need to find a way to recharge and de-stress during my day."
NEEDS
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To fit in to the new work environment
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To bond with her colleagues
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To get personal satisfaction
PAIN POINTS
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Can't stop think about work
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Colleagues are on edge all the time because of stress work environment
IN COMMON
NEEDS
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They want to get professional pride from work
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They want to work in a friendly environment
PAIN POINTS
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They are too occupied by work
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They are both tired because of lack of good rest
ANNA
Channel Manager, 40
"I need to maintain balance between her work and home life."
NEEDS
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To build a harmonious work environment
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To benefit her team
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To maintain a good relationship with her kids and husband
PAIN POINTS
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To build a harmonious work environment
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To benefit her team
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To maintain a good relationship with her kids and husband
Key Objectives
By enabling the company to encourage their staff on improving their wellbeing, it would bring the benefit to both the company and the employee since they will eventually improve their performance.
The app aims at facilitate the communication between colleagues and management, as well as to encourage the employees to step out from the office during the day.
3 Criteria
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Empathy-building Encouraging existing tendencies to form social bonds and interactions
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Simple behaviours Easily achievable activities could be very effective
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Non prescriptive Staff have full control of their activities, no data of what they do would be collected
MoSCoW
MUST
SHOULD
COULD
WON'T
INITIAL PROTOTYPE
After running a user flow and a screen flow, we have prioritised the features and we have come up with an initial prototype
Personal profile
Every new employee has a personalised profile page where they are encouraged to add personal statement, interests & photos
Interest groups
Suggestions for activities based on their interests. Employees are encouraged to join and start their own groups
Suggested activities
Activities are arranged for all the employees to join. They could be simple activities such as a walk during lunch hour or arranged classes
Social challenge
Different social challenges are organised with an element of gamification in trying them all, and a system to invite colleagues along
TESTING and REFINEMENT
After the initial prototype, I ran 4 usability testing on the prototype to see if the users counter any difficulties. They were asked to complete a task to invite a colleague for a coffee run and then a run through of the app. Based on their testing results, I have refined the original design and improved the original prototype.
Check on User
All of the users appreciate the personalised profile but some of them found the suggested activities lack of updated personal touch. Since it is an app focus on emotional and physical support, it would make sense to have more personalised feature. So I have added 2 pages after signing in to check on the users' emotional condition and their needs of the day
Faster and Clearer
User found the activity page of the original version is distracting and not visually appealing. So I have decided to simplified the layout, to make "call to action" more direct and and the display of information clearer and less redundant
NEXT STEPS
QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH
We were only able to do qualitative research but ideally it will get a better sense of scale & severity of the issue if it is backed up with surveys
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
More scientific researches can be conducted on the correlation of a specific emotion with types of activities
USABILITY TESTING
There should be more prototype testing so we can be sure if the features and flow do make sense to most of the users