Nextep - Co-Design Report

Co-design sessions

Offboarding & Ageing

Co-Design Report

Idil Koรง Margherita Polo Giulia Sala Ran Wang

POLITECNICO DI MILANO Master in Product Service System Design Product Service System Design Studio A.Y. 2018/2019

Contents 1. Initial concepts

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2. Co-design sessions

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3. Revised concept

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Research Insights A good offboarding process can: For HR •

• • • •

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Expand talent pool attraction through positive former employee references; improving employer brand Clear misunderstandings Provide constructive feedback Minimize security threats Create network building opportunities

For Employees • • •

Minimize emotional impact ex. anger, resentment, worry, anxiety Provide a smoother transition from the status quo Cultivate the feeling of appreciation

Layoffs are underrated 5

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1.

Initial concepts

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Initial concepts

Focus Based on the research, different types of offboarding were discovered. It was decided to select one of them as a focus: Layoff. A layoff is termination of employment that is not necessarily related to bad performance but to mostly due to external factors.

In this specific case of offboarding the relationship between the company and the employee

The influencing factors of layoffd were selected with the respective options; from the combination of these it was possible to generate a future scenario.

monetary

INCENTIVES

individual

LAY OFF

feeling inadeguate

problematic

recession

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remains intact: therefore both parties struggle in the process of leaving. Nevertheless, it is acknowledged that the laid off employee is the weakest link or the most costly.

PSYCHOLOGICAL IMPACT LEAVING PROCEDURE TERMINATION REASONS

non monetary

collective

feeling resentful

painless

insufficency

Initial concepts

A solution that...

MONETARY

...reward employee for giving constructive feedbacks

...pay employee to give informations or advices to other employees

FEELING RESENTFUL

FEELING INADEQUATE

...give free psychological support to reduce their unhappiness

...provide training to the employee to improve himself

NON MONETARY

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Initial concepts

Design question

How might we reduce the emotional impact of the layoff process for employees and facilitate their reinstatement into the job market?

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Initial concepts

Aim of the concept Starting from the insights emerged during the research, it was accentuated that companies usually underestimate the impact of offboarding, both for employees and their employer branding. Companies that let go of employees, think that money can compensate for the emotional damage that has been created on the employees.

A good employer should care about the massive anxiety caused by the fear of unemployment.

Considering all of this, the service project proposed aims to help laid off employees to be reinserted in the job market through reskilling programs.

The aimed service concept should provide employees with better opportunities for their new career and let them feel valued and appreciated for their efforts, resulting in better reputation for the company.

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Initial concepts

1. Concept Idea The first idea was developed to respond to the need of reskilling and reinstatement in the job market. The service was based on the creation of a network of companies and on the exchange of knowledge between these enterprises. In this case, laid off employees could attend different courses provided by employees of other companies and build new skills. In order to facilitate the cycle, incoming employees that want to benefit from this learning service must sign in the employment contracts the obligation to hold the lectures at least once a month.

Provided job Reskilling/Upskilling Information New skills Layoff

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Company A

Employee

Initial concepts

Company B

Company C

Laid off employee Employee

Laid off employee

Company D

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Initial concepts

2.Concept Idea The analysis of the first concept clarified that the interaction between companies and employees was too complicated and that a change in the contracts was unrealistic. A new brainstorming was hed to simplify the service structure and come up with a new one that provided trainings to laid off employees financed by external actors. The government was introduced into the service concept to collaborate with companies to give trainings to laid off employees. This eliminated the necessity of coorporate investment on departing employees and interactions became simpler. The companies merely performed as an actor in promoting these trainings to their aid off employees. The motive for the government in this service was the opportunity to reduce unemployment rate.

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Government

Initial concepts

Company A

Company B

Laid off employee

New skills Provided job Service Feedback Money Layoff

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Co-design sessions

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Co-design sessions

2.

Co-design sessions

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Co-design sessions

Aim of co-design sessions 1

Which trainings fit which platforms the best?

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What are the emotional issues that arise during layoffs?

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Which actors can be chosen to collaborate to facilitate trainings?

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How can laid-off employees become attractive in the job market?

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How is the notice period utilized from the HR and employee perspective?

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Are employees genuinely interested in improving their skills?

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Co-design sessions

Agenda of co-design sessions The agenda of the co-design sessions included two separate sessions, the first one with two HR specialists at Feltrinelli RED, and the second one with two employees at one participant’s house.

Our role as designers was to provoke thoughts, let conversations start, steer reasoning about different topics, and envisioning and developing different options.

The prticipants were asked to take part in different small activities involving writing their

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thoughts, chosing and evaluating alternatives, brainstorming and recalling feelings and emotions.

Both the co-design sessions where structured with the same warm up activity in the very beginning and a similar conclusion.

In the end of both co-design sessions some little gifts box were provided as rewards.

Co-design sessions

EMPLOYEES

HR

1 hour

WARM UP Yes, BUT... Yes, AND...

Hire, Layoff

Questionnaire map

Choose the medium

Emotional journey Expectations VS Reality

Pick a partner CONCLUSION Suggestions REWARD

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Co-design sessions

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Co-design sessions

Participants

Barbara Viamin Group HR training Manager @ Prada

Lorena Marscheroni Social Health Professional @ Hospital

Marilena Barbalinardo HR Recruiter @ Adami & Associati

Roberta Ajello Interior Designer @ Cazzaniga & Cazzaniga Arredamenti

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Co-Design Sessions

HR

Boundary Object The boundary object is a moving box, a caracaturized symbol of being laid off. To support our idea, inside we put personal stationary objects. We increased the interaction with the boundary object by putting our co-design tools inside it as well.

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EMPLOYEE

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Co-design sessions

HR

EMPLOYEE

Warm up Yes, BUT...

Yes, AND...

AIM To warm up and provoke creative thinking while simultaneously understanding the emotional impact farewells can create. The tool allowed to compare the difference between a closed and open perspective.

HOW IT WORKS We gave the participants the sentence “Farewells are important...” and asked them first to complete it with “Yes, BUT...”, then with “Yes, AND...”.

DURATION 10 minutes MATERIAL Paper and Post-it OUTCOMES The tool helped start the conversation between the participants and understand the emotional side of farewells.

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Co-design sessions

WEAKNESSESS The participants found it a bit challenging to generate of a large number of sentences.

OPPORTUNITIES To facilitate the start of the brainstorming we designers could have also participated in completing the sentence.

A better structured sentence could have improved the experience and triggered creativity.

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HR

Co-design sessions

1 Hire, Layoff st

AIM To understand what kind of qualities an ideal employee possesses in the eyes of HR, and which are more important than others. The tool allowed a reflection about hard skills, soft skills and personality.

HOW IT WORKS Participants were asked to analyze a set of simplified personas with different levels of hard skills, soft skills and personality. After they were asked to hire one of them and to lay off another one and explain their choices.

DURATION 15 minutes MATERIAL Persona cards, model OUTCOMES We understood how difficult it can be to compare different skills of employees when there is no criteria of requirements.

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Co-design sessions

WEAKNESSESS Hiring or laying off someone without thinking of a specific position was difficult because each job requires a specific set of skills. Towards the end of the tool we defined a managerial position with our participants and chose employees to hire & layoff according to the requirements of the position.

OPPORTUNITIES Pre-defining job positions and company cultures would have made the tools very effective in the case of a specific recruitment to understand which qualities HR prioritize.

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HR

Co-design sessions

2 Choose the medium nd

AIM Obtaining a better grasp of what kinds of skills could be taught it which kinds of platforms; from digital to inperson trainings.

HOW IT WORKS We provided our participants with a large list of training examples varying from soft to hard skills, and asked them to locate them under which platform they thought would be the most effective to teach them.

DURATION 15 minutes MATERIAL Cards and paper OUTCOMES Even though most of the skills are better taught in person, our participants helped us understand that because it can be very costly we compromized on some skills that could be taught in alternative manners. The tool also allowed a more general conversation on how to learn new abilities, especially soft skills, as well as empathy.

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Co-design sessions

WEAKNESSESS Even though some skill were chosen predominantly categorized under the same platform, the way people would like to learn is still a subjective matter.

OPPORTUNITIES Introducing the cost factor would have made the tools more realistic and effective.

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EMPLOYEE

Co-design sessions

1 Questionnaire map st

AIM To understand the layoff process from the perspective of employees, if and when they are willing to participate in reskilling activities and if yes, in which kinds.

HOW IT WORKS We asked them to select paths in the map and fill in blanks that were left empty for them to decide on their actions.

DURATION 10 minutes MATERIAL Paper OUTCOMES Employees wish to reskill themselves specifically before being laid off. The kinds of skills they would like to improve depend on the job position and age. The duration they want to receive the training can vary from being really compressed to an extended period of time.

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Co-design sessions

WEAKNESSESS There wasn’t enough space to write complex thoughts.

They struggled to understand the difference between hard skills and soft skills.

OPPORTUNITIES We could have provided examples of hard skills and soft soft skills to remind them.

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EMPLOYEE

Co-design sessions

2 Emotional journey nd

AIM To investigate the different emotions experienced by employees during each step of the layoff process.

HOW IT WORKS We asked them to recall their offboarding experience, break it down to steps and identify each step with an emotion.

DURATION 10 minutes MATERIAL Stickers and paper OUTCOMES The tool allowed us to step into the shoes of laid off employees and we noticed there was a common pattern of steps during the process as well as the emotions.

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Co-design sessions

WEAKNESSESS The participants did not go into much detail when generating the steps, perhaps unsure of where to start.

Some emotions were lacking and the participants had to compose them on paper.

OPPORTUNITIES A better guidance could have improved the generation of the steps and a larger variety of emotions was necessary to express the complexity of the emotions felt during the process.

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EMPLOYEE

Co-design sessions

3 tool Expectation VS Reality rd

AIM To discover the latent desires, behaviours and responsibilities of laid off employees during three different phases and compare responses.

HOW IT WORKS Participants had to write down what they were expected to do, what they wish they could do and what they actually do, during initial, middle and final stages of the layoff process.

DURATION 15 minutes MATERIAL Paper and Post-it OUTCOMES The desires and reality are highly different and the tool supported the previous excercise on what an emotional journey layoffs can be.

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Co-design sessions

WEAKNESSESS The participant could not fully perceive the meaning of “What I am expected to do”.

OPPORTUNITIES A better translation would have made the task more clear.

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Co-design sessions

HR

EMPLOYEE

Last tool Pick a partner AIM To define and specify which are the orgazations that might be the best choices to collaborate with for our service idea.

HOW IT WORKS Provided our co-designers with a list of public institutions, trade unions and confederations then asked them to first write down the first word that comes to their mind when they think of it, then to categorize them in 3 boxes which were: “I have already worked with them”, “I would like to work with them”, “I would never work with them”.

DURATION 10 minutes MATERIAL Cards and boxes OUTCOMES Both HR and employees associated some organizations with political drives and conflicts and trade unions were avoided partners. Employees related INPS to retirement whereas HR express their interest to collaborate with them.

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Co-design sessions

WEAKNESSESS Organizations that work in the same field were hard to distinguish for both HR and employees.

OPPORTUNITIES There could have been more information about the structures of similar organizations to better express how they differ from each other.

Providing them with empty cards might have introduced unconsidered options of actors to collaborate with.

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Co-design sessions

HR

Final Suggestions AIM To see what HR would prioritize during the offboarding process if they were not limited in their actions.

HOW IT WORKS A list of three alternatives was listed to improve the offboarding experience, focused on the employee, and the HR were asked to put them in the order of importance, as well as a part to put down any final thoughts and feedback.

DURATION 5 minutes MATERIAL Paper OUTCOMES Both the participants selected the same order, so they proioritized helping the employees in acheiving a smoother transition, provided they are given the financial support to do so.

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Co-design sessions

EMPLOYEE

Final Suggestions AIM To understand which of the options employees would prioritize to acheive their ideal offboarding process.

HOW IT WORKS A list of alternatives was listed and the employees were asked to put them in the order or importance, as well as a part to put down any final thoughts and feedback.

DURATION 5 minutes MATERIAL Paper OUTCOMES Employees want to feel valued and appreciated for the time spent in the company through a reward that can rescue them from the burden of this stressfull period.

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Co-design sessions

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Co-design sessions

WEAKNESSESS The free suggestion part wasn’t stimulating enough.

OPPORTUNITIES The tool could have been more engaging and entertaining for the participants.

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Co-design sessions

HRs

Reward A reward was provided at the end of the co-design session as a thank you to the participants.

Inside the box the participants found a sweet, some tea and a music playlist.

After giving our presents, we asked for one final favour from our guest which was for them to give a short feedback on how they thought the co-design session went and we filmed them expressing their thoughts..

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EMPLOYEE

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Co-design sessions

“I enjoyed interacting with you guys, I enjoyed also the age gap, it gifted me a lot, because I am a little bit older than them!”

“I really enjoyed taking part in this codesign session, I think you have been very very creative, I hope this project will be a success!”

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Co-design sessions

“It’s a really useful idea exactly because I had this experience, I was laid off and you feel like into a dark hole.”

“This idea is great: to create something that helps people to transport themselves into a new dimension, especially at my age, when you think that you no longer have a market once you are left at home.”

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Co-design sessions

Evaluation

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The setting and atmosphere can influence the experience massively

We noticed that the co-design session at Feltrinelli RED turned out to be more relaxed, informal and engaging because of the environment, the music, the presence of other bystanders.

Introducing something as simple as music could have improved the experience of the second co-design session which was less enthusiastic.

The more diverse the participants, the merrier

The different background, positions and ages of our participants allowed many different perspectives and interesting conversation starters.

Languages matter

Even though the participants confirmed the could hold the codesign session in English, halfway through they ended up switching to Italian. As desigers we should have forseen this, and designed tools in Italian.

Co-design sessions

Ideal co-design session There were many factors we couldn’t control in short notice, such as the specialization of the participants, which were not directly related to the offboarding process.

Another factor was the time period and location of the sessions; it would be more ideal to hold the session in a co-working area with more space.

Creating better customized tools and not having such limited time (one hour), might have created more in depth outcomes on our chosen topic.

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Co-design sessions

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Co-design sessions

3.

Revised concept

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Revised concept

Co-design sessions insights •

The offboarding process is stressful to employees as well as HR.

•

•

•

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•

Funds for professional training /learning are already provided to companies but most of employees are not aware of this.

The notice period is usually a waste of time for the employees who just want to leave, which can lead to performance decrease.

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All the participants related trade unions to conflicts and politics and don’t prefer to collaborate with them.

Employees experience the feeling of insufficiency for the job market, they feel they need to expand their skills.

•

HR don’t want to spend company money on reskilling laid off employees, but they empathize and feel the need of help them through this period.

All the employee journeys start with resentment and anger, but they end with the excitement for the adventure.

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Revised concept

3.Final Proposal The two co-design sessions made it possible to outline a new service concept and to detail some aspects of the service. HR has a crucial during the layoff process and it was understood that they would like to be more helpful for employees if given the ability. Therefore, it was decided to give amplify their role during the process, making them more proactive by assigning a coaching role. The service is structured in three main functions: 1. Understanding needs The first interview can be just as difficult for HR to deal confront; to lighten this responsibility an incentive can be provided to the employee which can accompany the “bad news” with a “good news”. HR can conduct an interview to understand

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the desires and needs of the parting employee during and after this process and how they can help by giving them a guidance through this.

2. A tailored coaching After having understood the employee’s needs, the HR can analyze the demands of the job market and compare them to what the employee can offer. The HR can lay out a guideline on how the employee can upgrade their skills to become an attractive candidate and reach goals.

3. Analysis of the offers Following this cross-check, the HR can match the employee with custom-selected training programs that already exist in the market given by organizations.

Revised concept

Company A

National funds

HR

Training company

Laid off employee Provided job

Company B

Service Feedback Money Outsourcing

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Revised concept

3.Final Proposal How it works The service allows both employees and HR to experience a smoother offboarding process: the anxiety of employees will be reduced along with the resentment & anger towards the company.

HR can become more proactive by helping employees during this stressful period by helping them tackle the real isssue which is to find a job. The employees will receive valuable professional feedback on their performance and a custom made service to develop their professional skills rather than trying to tackle this with their personal know-how.

Consequently, the company will receive positive feedback from their former employees, obtaining a good reputation hence attracting new talent.

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Service providers It was also immediately clear that the government could not be considered as a possible partner, because of the continuous problems related to the country’s economy. Some tools of the session made it possible to investigate new service provider alternatives. The existence of national funds for professional training has emerged during a discussion in the co-design session with the HR. These funds are guaranteed and regulated by law 388 of 2000 (article 118), and both employers, adherents and not adherents of the funds, pay a contribution to INPS for this initiative. Not everyone is aware of this possibility and often both employers, who pay the contribution, and employees don’t know they can take advantage of this service.

Revised concept

Endeavours The outcomes of the co-design session were utilized to improve the new service concept, to tackle as many of the research insights and initial aims that were set.

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The channels preferred by employees to receive training can vary, HR can do a critical analysis on the wants and needs to build a tailored program to laid off employees.

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Anger and resentment are the most common emotions felt by employees in the beginning of the process.

Accompanying bad news with good news can reduce these feelings.

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Companies already pay a contribution to INPS for training initiatives. These funds can be used to finance the service.

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An analysis on the job market can help employees match their wishes with the offers and upskill themselves to achieve their desires.

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Employees are unproductive during the notice period and would like to take action for their new career as soon as possible. The training service can initiate during the first phases of the notice period.

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Employees don’t feel ready to jump in the job market as they are, they feel they need to improve their skills.

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Idil Koรง Margherita Polo Giulia Sala Ran Wang