Mitigating the WORKER VOICE GAP in USA
The Voice Gap has plagued the world for centuries.
Our client, The Aspen Institute, wanted us to understand this systemic problem better to design interventions that help in reducing this gap.
Education, Worker Voice Gap, Organization Change/Design
Proposed Intervention
After 15 weeks of thorough research, primary and secondary, my team and I designed a 6-WEEK FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM that allows employees passionate about solving the worker voice gap at various levels to learn, create, and transform together so that the gap is narrowed collectively.
As a complex, systemic problem, our research brought forward that stakeholders need to address this issue at different levels across the system.
The freedom for anyone who works to express themselves, and in doing so, create value at work.
Through interviews and secondary research, we attempted to understand and simplify what 'Worker Voice' means to humans..
“Being respected and
valued at work and heard
and included in workplace
decision making.”
“Giving people opportunities
to express perspectives with
authenticity and without
fear of consequences.”
“Worker Voice is about
enablement and it needs
to be embedded into the
culture of an organization.”
“The ability to voice
out thoughts and
ideas, express oneself,
and be heard.”
Our research brought forward three key long-standing challenges that helped us establish guidelines for the intervention.
Pillars of the Intervention
The intervention was designed to create an open, vulnerable and safe space, helping actors recognize power dynamics by sensitizing them with challenges of different actors, and instilling the 'designers mindset', helping each actor transform into an actors of change.
My Role
Research
Asking questions to chalk out the research plan and the interview guides, conducting guerrilla interviews, shadowing workers
Workshop Facilitation
Working with teams to help them understand research and potential ideas, and better articulate what they present
(business-on-a-box)
Storytelling
Identifying that stakeholders as humans, need 'active voices' - the final presentation to the client was in the form of a voice-over, from Marie the Manager, Eric the Executive and Willy the Worker - our three key personas
Program Design
Co-designing a program that is engaging and promotes an attitude to learn, across conscious and subconscious hierarchies, breaking down barriers between employees of the same and different organizations
As the third intervention of four, submitted to the client, the fellowship enables collaboration within the ecosystem, builds empathy in organizations, and creates a ripple-effect to move forward with the designer's mindset, for teams.
