Company: Thoughtworks

Client: In-house

Country: USA

Thoughtworks is a global technology consultancy that experienced rapid growth and faced challenges in maintaining its culture of continuous learning. This service is a result of the collaboration between IT and HR to create an ecosystem of new digital tools and business processes to unlock employee growth while streamlining operational efficiency for the business.

Challenge:

• Maintain a strong learning culture amidst hypergrowth and geographical expansion.
• Ensure a seamless employee experience across all touchpoints of the growth journey.
• Achieve operational efficiency by assigning employees to the right projects to foster skill development.

Approach:

• Conducted user research with over 150 employees and leaders across 7 countries.
• Co-designed processes and digital tools with employees and business leaders.
• Built a skill matrix to facilitate a common language across the organization.
• Developed a TalentTech ecosystem with a mix of custom-built and off-the-shelf tools.
• Drove employee adoption and change management in the business.

Outcomes:

• Derive insights from multiple research methodologies: online surveys, one-on one interviews and focus groups.
• Co-design of business processes involving employees and business stakeholders: collaborative workshops, service blueprint and journey maps.
• Co-design of five digital products built in house with employee and business stakeholders: prototyping, usability testing, agile development.
• Selection and Integration of four off-the-shelf products: market analysis, user flows, system integration and process optimization.
• Drive adoption of the new business process: roll-out plans, business process recommendations and journey maps.
• Drive adoption of the employees digital tools: communication, guidelines and online courses.

Impact:

• Reduced voluntary attrition rate.
• Decreased unstaffed sold work with a positive impact on revenue.
• Increased employee engagement with a score of 8.7 out of 10.
• Enhanced data availability and relevancy (93.5% of employees provided capability insights).
• Improved performance management and goal setting.
• Upskilled 1,000 employees in critical areas.
• Earned industry recognition for career growth and talent development initiatives.

Key Takeaways:

• Service design principles can be applied to transform and "design" your company culture.
• Co-creation with employees and business is crucial for successful service design projects.
• User-centric design can have a significant impact on employee experience and business performance.
• The success of this project highlights the importance of investing in long-term user-centric design and data quality.