I  was tasked to solve the way managers assign multiple identical shifts to employees and cancel shifts in one blast. This project focuses on addressing our users' needs since we received constant request in streamlining the workflow to make it more productive for the managers.

Adding a new feature requires a structured approach that involves close collaboration between the design, product and development teams. It is important to understand the design challenge, the problem is being addressed and the goals we are trying to achieve. I started a kick-off meeting with PO, SME, and engineering team to understand the scope of the project and draft out success criteria.

The targeted users were hotel managers and regional managers. They are the main users of our LMS product suite and depends on it on a daily basis. Their productivity has a high impact on business revenue. It is important to address their needs and concerns to ensure a seamless workflow to boost productivity.

We talked to 5 managers from different properties of Hilton to dive deep in understanding their concerns and needs. Below is the user persona:

In the Employee Request Screen of LMS, we needed to improve the way that shifts are shown, in the cases where there are identical shifts. For example, if there are five Busser shifts from 9:00 am - 5:00pm on the same date, we should have an option to group these together. Currently, the UI shown repetitive shifts and requires manager to individually assign each shift.

To solve the problem, first I wanted to understand the user flow on assigning shifts and canceling shifts that are no longer needed. I strived to minimize the actions that manager need to take to complete the task and avoid disrupting current user flow.

There were some edge cases in assigning shifts to employees that needed to be considered. For instance, to stay compliance with Labor Laws, employees who have violations if taking the shifts have to bring alerts to the manager. How do we display it effectively?

Identical shifts should be grouped or stacked, and the user (manager) could click to expand the group and see all shifts contained, plus the specific employee requests for the shift. The grouping should be done by
1. Full job path (Division/Department/Job/Assn/Sub-Assn).
2. Shift start/end time
3. Approval state

Furthermore, pending requests should be grouped together, the same for approved requests. When a shift is approved, it should move out the pending group and into the approved group. Shifts can also be canceled and the same behavior will be applied.

Besides shifts that are made available by managers, we also have swaps & giveaways. In this case, they should not be grouped if they are different employees initiating the request.

I conducted the testing with 4 managers using our early version of the new feature. Great feedback and proposed improvements were shared. They think the new feature of assigning and canceling shifts in one action is life-saving. The UI looks less busy and they can run through the task easier.

We also received a common feedback that it is easier to open the grouped card and have all the details upfront such as shift time and date, department and how many shifts they are available. They also wished to see the list of employees who accepted to take on the shift. By having all the information, they can make decisions quicker.

The final design incorporate feedback from user testing. We also addressed the load times problem when a list of accepted employees are displayed to managers.

In conclusion, this project aims to address the needs of managers by streamlining the process of assigning multiple identical shifts and enabling efficient shift cancellations. By developing a user-friendly solution, we aim to enhance workflow productivity, reduce errors, and improve overall manager satisfaction. Through careful consideration of user feedback and iterative development, we successfully deliver a solution that significantly improves the scheduling experience for both managers and employees alike.