Xiggit
Overview
My Role
Xiggit is an early-stage startup dedicated to helping more employees in the U.S (particularly those with low wages) receive benefits that are often out of their reach. Xiggit hoped to reach employees in large numbers but they had an important realization. To achieve this goal, they would first need to service the employers (as the gateway for mass adoption) and learn about employer needs before building a solution for them.
Co-led UX Project
(Team of 2)
UX Research, User Interviews, Synthesis, Ideation, Consultancy
Timeframe
Context
1 month project with another UX Researcher
Client project
Challenge
(1) Xiggit was building a mobile app for hourly workers to help them become more financially secure (via features like gamification, savings, and individualized benefits workers wouldn't have to lose when shifting jobs). However, how were they to reach the millions of employees they hoped to reach?
(2) Xiggit realized that employers could serve as the gateway. So, Xiggit needed to pivot and expand their solution into a combined one for both employees AND employers. To find out what a solution for employers would entail, it was critical for Xiggit to first learn about employer needs.
Goal
(1) Conduct user research to hear directly from employers about their experiences and needs (as they relate to their employees) in hopes of discovering patterns, any solutions they currently utilize, and pain points they may be experiencing.
(2) Present findings and suggest product feature recommendations to Xiggit.
Design process
Why was this research so needed?
As we listened to Xiggit’s business needs during our first call, the co-founder said: "This research is mission critical for us."
Why was it so important? Xiggit had just pivoted their focus and could NOT move forward without first being able to develop a value proposition for employers that they would want to buy into (and in so doing, automatically rope in employees).
What did Xiggit need to learn?
What context could we research?
Recruited research participants
The goal over a 1 month timeframe was to conduct user interviews with 15 employers in the service industry spanning across different industries, multiple locations in the U.S., and a range of company sizes. We focused on the service industry as employees in this industry receive the lowest compensation and benefits and thus would have the greatest need for Xiggit.
Key research questions
To get the most out of the interviews with employers, we came up with 4 key research questions to help guide our research:
What are the pain points for employers in the service industry when it comes to employees - retention, compensation, training, etc.?
Who are the decision makers for employee benefits?
What guides their decision making process for choosing these benefits?
What do employers think are the most valuable benefits to their employees?
Importantly, will the employers' answers change depending on the sector and / or size of the organization / business?
Overview of research participants
The 15 employers included B Corps, businesses, social enterprises, and nonprofits.
Employers came from 9 different sectors in the service industry.
Employers came from 7 different states, mostly on the west and east coast.
While the majority of the employers were mid-sized (between 11 - 100 employees), we also managed to get insights from smaller and larger businesses and nonprofits.
Synthesized the research
After a lot of listening and note-taking, we were able to extract important insights using affinity mapping. We broke the information down into 17 different categories ranging from benefits, training, compensation, retention, decision-making, feedback mechanisms, tools, challenges, sources of help, metrics for success, needs, and quotes.
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We also plugged in key data into spreadsheets so we could analyze and quantify aspects of our research and convert it into helpful data visualization.
Discovered the competitors
We discovered 3 main tools that employers reported using:
NONE of these solutions (tools or outside help) included a mechanism to receive employee feedback about their benefits and experience.
Found patterns in decision-making
We discovered patterns around WHO made decisions, WHAT their decision-making process was, WHICH benefits they prioritized for their employees, and what they ALL did in common.
Uncovered 7 pain points
Retention issues
Some employers found it difficult to retain their employees because 1) employees were lured by opportunities of better compensation and benefits elsewhere; 2) other employers tried to poach their employees; and 3) some jobs were perceived as “stepping stones” or “transitory” jobs.
Some struggle to hire
Some employers said that not enough people were applying for the jobs they had posted. This pain point ONLY applied to employers who offered minimum wages and the bare minimum of benefits.
Training issues
Employers expressed challenges around training such as investing a lot of time and money into training employees but experiencing high turnover, thus a big financial loss when losing trained employees. Some employers also found it difficult to train their Spanish-speaking employees.
Obtaining employee feedback
Some employers found out that their employee really needed a benefit and quit because it was not provided. One employer even found out that her employee hadn't used dish gloves for an entire year and hadn't dared to ask for gloves due to previous negative, exploitative experiences in the restaurant industry.
Unpredictable revenue
Covid impacted many employers. Many were concerned that healthcare insurance rates go up every year. For a small business with slim margins, these unpredictable rates are uncontrollable. For example, a small business owner who REALLY wanted to offer healthcare to her employees said it "scared the crap" out of her.
Lack of admin capacity
For small businesses and for businesses without any HR help, employers talked about the difficulty of not having the horsepower to manage the administrative side of all that pertains to employees.
Employees have unique needs
Employee needs really vary individually. For example, some are single while others have families. One employee may need extended time off to visit family abroad but the employer cannot offer it to others as it would not be viable for the business. Employees lacking experience with tech need extra help and guidance.
Concluded key insights
Values drive decisions
Values are the driving force behind the decisions that employers make. Decision-making was less about company size or the type of industry. Some of the employers with the smallest company size did more for their employees than the larger companies. Some employers in the most brutal and exploitative of industries did the most for their employees. Simply put, “where there is a will, there is a way."
Patterns among employers
B Corps, aspiring B Corps, and social enterprises were most keen on providing benefits to their employees, receiving feedback from them, and prioritizing employee satisfaction. Non-profits, while very impact-driven toward their mission, were more likely to expect their employees (like themselves) to sacrifice their needs. Businesses were the least attentive to employee needs and feedback.
Mindset of the leader
It was the leaders’ personal mindsets that often dictated how they went about making decisions and which decisions they chose. If the leader had a mindset of self-resourcefulness, they were more inclined to leverage free personal connections when needing help. If the leader was extremely empathetic, they were more likely to go above and beyond in their problem-solving to increase employee satisfaction.
Discovered key differences
We noticed key differences around the types of employers and created 3 different personas to represent those differences:
B-Corp Brian
Non-profit Nina
Corporate Clay
While we went into this research assuming that differences might depend on the industry and company size, it became very clear that, in actuality, the differences among employers were in fact entirely based around the personal values of the leaders, which completely influenced their decision-making, goals, needs, perspective, and metrics of success.
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Proposed product features
Employers reported many pain points as it pertains to their employees and we realized that employers were in need of an employer’s manual. It was surprising that one did not yet exist! Similar to the way employees are given an employee handbook, employers could greatly benefit from a manual on how to handle employee benefits and needs.
Our product recommendation to Xiggit was a centralized platform that employers could use to address ALL of their pain points. Why not offer them an all-in-one comprehensive solution?
An all-in-one solution
Diagnosis
Just like we go to the doctor for a check-up, employers could get an "employer check up" on key performance indicators and view recommendations.
Management
Employers could set goals, see their progress via a checklist, and manage everything from benefits to payroll and staff performance.
Cost analysis
Employers could better understand their decisions via a cost analysis lens (ex: the cost of high turnover vs. paying more compensation / benefits).
Feedback system
Employers could customize benefits for individualized employee needs and have an ongoing feedback loop with their employees.
Resources
Employers could be notified of new laws in their states and learn common mistakes to avoid and context on the pros and cons of various decisions.
No technology barrier
Any part of the manual that would be employee-facing would have the option of Spanish translation and the option of a voice-activated tutorial as to remove any technology barrier.
A successful outcome
The best part about doing UX is making an impact. There is nothing more rewarding than seeing your deliverables make a difference for a client. Here is a testimonial from the Head of Customer Delight at Xiggit:
During this project, I worked as part of a UX team (shout out to my amazing research partner Kiara Holm!). We wanted to make the greatest impact so we were very happy to hear that the Xiggit team was thrilled when we presented the research findings, personas, and recommendations to them. This research was critical for them and they found our findings and solution very helpful.
Staying true to Xiggit's mission
Improving the employer experience does not necessarily improve the employee experience. We did not want to solely present a solution to Xiggit that would resolve the pain points of employers. We knew that Xiggit founded the startup with a mission to help low-wage workers and so we wanted to also make the solution employee-centric at heart.
Key takeaways
- Stay organized and document the process. It's important to be detail-oriented when doing outreach and scheduling! Research must be backed by evidence each step of the way. Not only so that research is sound but also because it helps foster great teamwork and gives rise to effective communication with stakeholders.
- Present findings in an effective and compelling way. Data visualization, direct quotes, and stories go a long way to supplement insights when presenting them to stakeholders.
- Listen and take rigorous notes. It's crucial to listen to stakeholders: what is their goal and why? ... what are their needs and why? ... and so on. During user interviews, what you give is what you get so give your very best! It's essential to listen (with the aim to dig deeper for insights) during user interviews and take notes (to analyze later!).
- Be an excellent communicator. It's imperative to communicate effectively with your collaborators. With a listening ear and a positive attitude toward a shared impact goal, it's amazing what you can accomplish together!
Roadmap for the future
No matter how much an employer might welcome feedback from their employees, they may not always be able to get it. As one employer put it, “I cry because I just want our employees to be okay to come to us.’” It would be important to interview employees to learn about any disconnect or blindspots that may exist (and why), particularly since we proposed an employee feedback loop in the solution.
