WorkChat: Enhancing Team Communication for the Hourly Workforce.
Overview
WorkChat was introduced to address a critical pain point: inefficient communication between employees and managers, which often led to scheduling issues. By embedding a seamless, privacy-focused chat tool within the existing scheduler, When I Work improved workforce coordination while ensuring employee privacy.
My Role: Lead UX/UI Designer
Defined MVP flows and functionality.
Designed the interface from wireframes to final execution.
Partnered with Product Management on strategy and roadmap.
Collaborated with Engineering on SDK integration and technical constraints.
The Challenge
Communication methods were fragmented and inconsistent, increasing workload for managers and staff.
Existing channels exposed employee contact details, leading to potential privacy risks.
Objectives
Launch a scalable solution quickly, leveraging existing tools.
Ensure adoption by creating an intuitive, familiar experience.
Track usage data to inform future feature enhancements.
MVP Strategy
We took a phased approach to quickly validate and iterate:
Phase 1: Launched a single group chat thread within the scheduler.
Phase 2: Expand to include one-on-one and group messaging.
To accelerate time-to-market, the tech leveraged an existing chat SDK, ensuring rapid deployment while aligning with user expectations for messaging interfaces.
Group and 1:1 flow:
Informing Feature Enhancements
Post-launch, we analyzed usage data and customer feedback to inform future improvements. Identifying that dropping a shift was the most commonly used feature, the following iteration incorporated shift drop functionality into messaging, making it easier for employees to coordinate shift changes. Future enhancements focused on rich text formatting, smart groups, and predictive messaging based on user schedules.
As a Result
WorkChat successfully addressed a key user challenge, providing a seamless, integrated communication tool within When I Work’s scheduling platform. Ongoing analysis and customer insights continue to shape future iterations, ensuring the tool remains a valuable asset for the hourly workforce.