How to design companies people actually want to work at
In this wild-world of business there’s not a day that goes by without a fear-inducing future-of-work headline adding yet another challenge to leaders’ lists. Whether it’s quiet-quitting, FOBO (the Fear of Being Offline), the endless debate about the return to the office or a viral TikTok of a Gen Z’s first-day at work, the daily deluge of work-woes can feel, quite frankly, overwhelming.
To navigate these workplace worries, organisations need to be equipped with the skills and capabilities to tackle these problems, so that they can continue to attract and retain the best people whilst also sustainably scaling their organisations.
The secret solution?
Service design.
As the focus (finally) shifts towards creating more positive, engaging and inclusive work environments, service design is a powerful approach to help organisations shape and improve employee experiences that benefit both their people and their business. Win, win.
And if you’re sitting there wondering “WTF is Service design?!” never fear, a quick definition is here:
Service design is a holistic and collaborative approach that considers the entire service experience from both the customer's and business’s perspective. It involves mapping out every touchpoint and interaction to identify pain points and opportunities for improvement, to ensure that the experience delivered meets both the customers needs and drives value for the business.
Whilst the origins of service design have traditionally focused on enhancing customer experiences, its principles can be easily and effectively applied to internal processes and interactions within an organisation; in this scenario your customer is the employee.
The TLDR on service design?
It proudly puts people first (which, as you’ll know by now, is our M.O.).
Now, whilst we would love to geek-out on all the ways service design can create an awesome employee experience, we’ve tried to provide both a concise and comprehensive overview of what this can look like in practice and the benefits below:
Leading with empathy
Service design aligns closely with the principles of design thinking, emphasising empathy, ideation, and iteration. Applying design thinking to employee experiences allows organisations, teams and leaders to step into the shoes of their workforce, gaining a deep understanding of their needs, challenges, and aspirations. This empathetic approach ensures that the creation of solutions truly resonate with employees, resulting in a more engaged and satisfied workforce.
Understanding the employee journey
One of the key aspects of service design is mapping out the customer journey to understand the end-to-end employee experience and identify touchpoints, pain points, and opportunities for improvement. This journey mapping exercise helps in identifying pain points such as lengthy onboarding processes, lack of training opportunities, or poor communication channels.This comprehensive understanding enables businesses to identify pain points and areas for improvement, leading to a more positive and seamless journey for employees.
Designing physical and digital spaces
Did someone mention hybrid working? A challenge that is felt by many leaders right now is how to create a thriving company culture in a hybrid working world. Well, good news, service design extends beyond digital interfaces to encompass physical spaces and environments which is perfect for those companies who want to design employee-centric workspaces that promote collaboration and creativity, whilst also considering the well-being of their teams.
Implementing practical processes
Love a good process? We see you and salute you, ops people. Good news, service design emphasises the importance of seamless and intuitive processes to enhance the overall customer experience. Similarly, applying service design to your employee experience, optimises your organisation's internal processes and workflows to streamline tasks, reduce administrative burden, and improve efficiency for employees. Whether it's automating repetitive tasks, simplifying approval processes, or providing user-friendly tools and software, the service design approach identifies and prioritises where teams should invest in process optimisation, which enables teams to work autonomously and be their most productive.
Improving workplace culture
Service design extends beyond physical spaces and processes; it also encompasses the intangible aspects of the workplace, such as culture and communication. By defining your company’s operating principles (aka your company values) and understanding the “moments that matter'' across your employee experience, you can design communication strategies to ensure that people feel seen, cared for and valued at those critical moments in both their work and personal lives. From onboarding, to work anniversaries, parental leave to performance reviews, this approach makes sure that you're caring for your employees head and heart.
Tailoring employee interactions
Service design puts your people at the heart of how you design your employee experience; this encourages organisations to tailor their offerings to meet the diverse needs of potential and existing employees. This may involve the customisation of benefits packages, flexible work arrangements, or personalised learning and development programs. By understanding, acknowledging and accommodating the individual preferences and requirements of employees, organisations can create a more supportive and inclusive workplace.
Co-creation and collaboration
Experiencing siloed working across your teams? No problemo, as service design is the (no-so-secret) solution. At the heart of service design is co-creation and collaboration, ensuring that the right stakeholders are brought in at the right time to develop and implement ideas that address their needs effectively. Similarly, involving employees in the design process empowers them to provide valuable insights and contribute to the creation of solutions that enhance their experiences. Whether it's gathering feedback through surveys, conducting focus groups, or organising co-creation team-away days, involving employees ensures that their voices are heard, builds connection and increases innovation.
Measuring and iterating for continuous improvement
Anyone here for a metric? Us too! And lucky you, service design is big on ensuring ongoing measurement and iteration. Through embedding regular feedback mechanisms, surveys, and key performance indicators to assess the impact of implemented changes on employee experiences. And in the fast-paced world of scaling a company, this approach of continuous improvement builds a culture that ensures the workplace remains dynamic and responsive to evolving employee needs, fostering a culture of adaptability and innovation (and we all need more of that in this wild world right now, am I right?!).
If you want to create a successful, valuable company then prioritising your employee experiences is paramount. Service design offers a comprehensive and effective approach and framework to shaping these experiences, enabling organisations like yours to create workplaces that not only attract top people but also increase that oh-so-important engagement, well-being and productivity. By embracing service design principles, businesses can build a foundation for sustained success in an increasingly competitive and dynamic landscape. Want to learn more about how you can build a service design approach into your organisation? Speak to our very own service-design-specialists here.
