ABOUT THE PROJECT
Simplify HR tasks and manage the employee absences.
Jobtech's absence feature optimizes the management of employee absences, reducing the time and tasks required for both employees and the HR department. Manage employee requests more quickly, assign supervisor roles, and, if needed, share data with labor consultants through a simple export.
DURATION
4 months / September 2023
FIELD
User Research * Visual Design * Prototyping * User Testing
CLIENT
On the left, Jobtech's HR software (SaaS) and on the right, the employee platform.
00. BRIEF
The challenge
To enhance Jobtech's HR software, my team and I developed a new feature that allows HR managers to view and approve employee absence requests from client companies.
Similarly, each employee can manage their absences and time-off requests independently through a dedicated platform. This enables workers to submit absence requests autonomously, while supervisors can review and either approve or decline them.
01. DISCOVER
Benchmarking competitors
During the discovery phase, we conducted a benchmark to compare the main competing products that offer absence request functionality. This allowed us to understand industry standards and measure and analyze various aspects of the user experience, identifying strengths and areas for improvement.
The competitors we analyzed included Factorial, Dipendenti in Cloud, Personio, Jet HR, Zucchetti, Junior Web, RHEA, as well as the Excel sheets and emails created and managed by HR managers from client companies.
Miro’s board with some screenshots of the benchmark.
Document with the interview protocol.
Interviews
We conducted 12 individual and online interviews, each lasting a maximum of 30 minutes, with Jobtech’s HR ands users from beta companies involved in the co-creation of the SaaS software with Jobtech. These interviews focused on exploring needs related to the management of vacation and leave requests.
Objective of the Interviews
The aim of these interviews is to gather qualitative and in-depth data regarding users' needs, expectations, and current behaviors. The main themes to be explored include:
Understanding the perceived usefulness and added value of the tool from the user's perspective.
Examining how the tool integrates into the current workflow and with any external touchpoints.
Identifying potential issues in the user's experience.
Evaluating possible evolutions of the tool.
02. DEFINE
Users flow
We defined a high-level user flow that highlights the objectives of each user involved and the essential steps to achieve these objectives, in order to outline the scope of our MVP.
Users represented in the different user flows: Employee, Absence Supervisor, HR, Labor Consultant.
Additionally, we identified the various touchpoints between users and the functionality throughout the entire user journey: Jobtech SaaS Software, Email, Worker Platform, CSV (document for exporting absences).
A screenshot of a Miro’s board with the user flow.
A screenshot of a Miro’s board with the specifications of each absence.
Structuring absences
A crucial part of the functionality involved:
Defining the types of absence requests that users could submit and, if necessary, any additional documents and/or reference numbers associated with each request.
Additionally, it was essential to identify which requests required supervisor approval.
For example, for sick requests, supervisor approval is not required, but a reference number is requested, and a document is optional.
In contrast, for vacation requests, no reference number or document is needed; only supervisor approval is required.
User stories’s MVP
At the conclusion of the research phase, we defined several key user stories that form the foundation for the project's MVP:
As an HR manager, I want to:
create an absence for an employee, modify it, delete it, approve it, or reject it.
view the list of all requests received for reporting purposes.
export data on all employee absences at the end of the month.
As an Employee, I want to:
submit new absence requests.
view the status of my submitted requests, including previous ones.
manage my created requests (modify or delete them).
As an Supervisor, I want to:
perform the same tasks of the employee within the functionality.
approve or reject absence requests submitted by my team.
Screenshots of the user stories from Jira and the user story map created in Miro.
03. DESIGN
High fidelity mockups
We designed a dedicated absences section within Jobtech’s HR software for the HR manager. For employees and supervisors, we created the Employee Portal, a standalone platform accessible on both desktop and mobile devices.
JOBTECH’S HR SOFTWARE (SAAS)
Assign the supervisor of employee’s absence.
First, the HR manager needs to invite the company's employees to use the dedicated absence request portal. To do this, the HR manager logs into the Jobtech HR software, opens each employee’s profile, and assigns the supervisor responsible for approving or rejecting absence requests. There is a specific section within the employee’s profile to designate the approval supervisor.
How assign the supervisor of employee’s absence.
JOBTECH’S HR SOFTWARE (SAAS)
Invite an employee to the absence management platform.
After setting up the supervisor, the HR manager can invite the employee to use the “Employee Portal.” To do so, simply select the “Invite to Employee Portal” button in the employee’s profile and confirm the invitation through a dialog box.
On their first day of work, the employee will receive a welcome email at the provided address. This email contains essential information on accessing the portal, specifying whether the user is a regular employee or a supervisor, along with details on how absence requests are managed. Most importantly, the email provides a direct link to the portal, allowing the employee to immediately begin managing their absence requests.
On the left, the invitation modal. On the right, the welcome email with the portal access link.
EMPLOYEE’S PLATFORM (NORMAL USER)
Requesting an absence
Employees can request absences through the dedicated platform.
Upon their first access, an onboarding screen will appear, explaining the main features. Once they have completed the onboarding, employees can start an absence request by selecting the "New Request" button. A list of different request types will then be displayed for them to choose from. Next, they can set the number of days and the time for the absence.
Finally, they have the option to add an optional description and verify the absence supervisor, who will be pre-filled. If the supervisor is unavailable, an alert will be shown, and it will be possible to select an alternative supervisor.
Employee platform.
An employee requesting an absence.
EMPLOYEE’S PLATFORM (SUPERVISOR USER)
The supervisor is notified of the request.
When an employee submits a absence request, the supervisor receives an email notification containing all the details of the request, including the employee's name, type of absence, any additional notes, and other relevant information.
The supervisor can approve or deny the request directly from the email or by accessing the dedicated platform, where they can also review the request history.
On the left, the email with the absence notification. On the right, the absence platform.
EMPLOYEE’S PLATFORM (SUPERVISOR USER)
Approving or rejecting absence requests
The supervisor’s platform is organized into two main sections: one dedicated to their own leave requests and another for the requests from the team they supervise. In the second section, pending requests are displayed by default.
If there are requests to manage, the supervisor can approve or deny each one using the menu on the individual card. Once approved or denied, the request automatically moves to the appropriate section, accessible through the filter at the top left.
Approving or rejecting requests in the employee’s platform.
EMPLOYEE’S PLATFORM (NORMAL USER)
The employee is notified of the request status.
Once the supervisor approves or denies the request, the employee receives an email notification with an update on the status of the request.
Through this email, the employee can access the Employee Portal to view all the details of the request and check the full history of their requests, both current and past.
On the left, the email with the status of the request. On the right, the full history of employee’s requests.
JOBTECH’S HR SOFTWARE (SAAS)
Managing and export absence requests.
The HR manager, through Jobtech's HR software, can create requests for themselves and for the company's employees.
Additionally, they can view the history and manage each request through the action menu: approve, deny, modify, view details, or delete.
At the end of the month, when it's time for reporting, the HR manager can export the complete history of employee requests, providing the necessary data to external consultants if required.
Absence section in Jobtech's HR software.