CalmConnect

The COVID-19 pandemic ushered in a new era of remote work and the development of new tools that have paved the way for the future of remote office work. The emphasis on productivity and constant online access has resulted in new challenges regarding the separation of work and life. Workers feel new levels of pressure to work around the clock and thus experience high levels of burnout, limited personal lives, and general unhappiness. Our challenge is to design a product that helps teleworkers mitigate the challenges of overworking, mental health, and social interaction.

Team Members

Duncan Krey, Mina Lim, Yeana Song

Tools

Figma

Project Duration

7 hours

Goals

Create more opportunities for communication between management and employees about mental health.

Increase transparency and openness about mental health and create community among workers.

Research

  • The lack of social support is the leading contributor to burnout, stress, and anxiety in remote work. Additionally, loneliness and isolation can lead to increased levels of stress and bad decision-making. These issues are concerning to employers, especially when the individual has crucial responsibilities.

  • “Employees who feel included in more detailed communication are nearly five times more likely to report increased productivity.”

  • New college graduates struggle to make friends and find their place when joining hybrid teams, especially if the team has pre-COVID bonds.

How might we…

promote mental health transparency between management and employees in a remote workplace to improve company wellbeing?

Competitive Analysis

First Up primarily focuses on how the workplace can improve productivity rather than mental health.

Our group found that measuring engagement does not necessarily equate to measuring happiness. Additionally, using rankings as an incentive can induce more anxiety than suggested.

Ginger can provide office workers with a self-guided service with resources for self-help.

While this may help office workers better manage their anxieties, we believe it fails to address problems within the workplace environment and doesn’t allow employees to truly connect with their teams.

User Personas

System

Our proposed solution creates a system where employees – like Darren – can anonymously share information with their teams and managers. This information is used to create data visualizations that can summarize overall team well-being. Managers – like Maria – can use these data points to easily understand their team’s needs.

CalmConnect

Reflection + Next Steps

Thanks to the effort of our team we were able to place first in Alpha Theta Delta’s “Winter Hackathon” in 2023. I am grateful to have worked with a team of talented designers who share a passion for empathetic design.

Due to the constraints and limitations of the design sprint, we were unable to conduct interviews or user tests. Moving forward, I would like to interview potential users to verify our research findings. Additionally, I would like to conduct various user tests with remote employees to ensure that all participants feel connected to their team.