Rebekah Champa
Senior Product Designer and UX Strategy Leader based in the Austin, TX area
Outplacement Onboarding Experience
December 2024
Scope
Small (3 mo.)
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My Role
Lead Product Designer
Platform
Responsive Desktop + Mobile
Tools
Figma, Photoshop
Project Summary
This project was a redesign of the onboarding process for outplacement users. Our outplacement tool was great at helping people get a job after a layoff but the dated and tedious onboarding process ended up deterring many from experiencing the full benefits of the program. Our empathetic and human-first approach allowed us to create a clean and inviting experience for people going through the uncertain and stressful transition of job loss.
Objective
​Our goal was to improve and modernize the current process for onboarding a user into our outplacement program provided by their employer.
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Success Metrics
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Modernize and simplify the onboarding experience
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Reduce drop-off rates by building trust in the company and the process
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Results
We delivered a clean, modern, human-first outplacement onboarding experience that aimed to empower users and meet them where they're at. The team and stakeholders were confident in it's performance and it was rolled out to multiple large companies with global reach. Exact performance stats unknown.
Documenting the Current Experience
Our current onboarding process included 4 steps that gathered some personal information and data used to create the participant's account and get their program started.
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Step 1
Terms & Conditions, Privacy Policy, and Feedback Preferences. This section was the first thing our users saw after creating a password for their account. This text-heavy approach did not leave a good first impression or help with building trust or confidence in our product.
Step 3
The user was prompted to choose a track, mainly for the purpose of informing their career coach of their goals.
Step 2
Complete Profile. This page collected some necessary personal information but also had a lot of things we didn't need or use. The outdated design needed a major overhaul.
Step 4
The user was required to select a call time for their first call - a business requirement that prevented our users from accessing any content until they scheduled a call. The only value they were able to glean from the entire experience was from the illustrations on this last page.
Building Empathy for our User​
In recent years, layoffs have unfortunately become a difficult reality for thousands of people globally, leaving many individuals grappling with uncertainty and emotional distress. With this in mind, our team approached the redesign of the onboarding flow for our outplacement program with deep empathy for participants, who often come to the platform during one of the most challenging moments of their lives.
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I know from personal experience that job loss is devastating. I brought a great deal of empathy from my personal experiences into this project. As a first step in our team's research for this project, I outlined my exact experience with Randstad's outplacement services, because it was offered to me from a previous company. I created a timeline view and a calendar view to be used as tools for our team to build empathy for the person that might be going through something like this. ​​​
The User Journey
Calendar view and Timeline view
These insights helped us reimagine an onboarding experience that feels welcoming, supportive, and empowering. From simplifying steps to integrating personalized guidance, every decision in the new design prioritizes the human side of job loss—acknowledging participants’ emotions while helping them confidently take their next steps toward meaningful opportunities.​
The User's Starting Point​
The user is coming from either an email from their HR team after being laid off or a flyer that they received in-person, which came in different styles depending on what package their employer paid for.
Iterations​
At first I wanted to try and get everything on two steps as seen here in Iteration 1. It felt too heavy and demanding so after team feedback we decided that three steps was the sweet spot. ​
Even after the first few iterations and team reviews, the vibe still wasn't right. Our final version was clear, cohesive, on brand, and inviting to the user.
The old design was cold, corporate, impersonal, and not even that helpful - definitely not something you want to come into right after such a difficult, major life event when you're looking for answers. We worked to bring in humanizing elements and clarity into the process. Check out the difference!
The New 3-Step Flow​
The new design used iconography and other styling elements that aligned with the user's starting point and served them a grounding and inviting experience.
Mobile-Responsive Design
Making the new modern, human-first outplacement flow available to everyone.
Dev Handoff and Support
I present clean, professional, annotated handoff files including components and assets within making the development handoff process extremely easy and clear for the engineering team.
Results
​​The new outplacement onboarding rolled out to a group of accounts including several large global companies. Future steps including tracking abandon rates, translating the experience into other languages to be used globally, and making a few variations for different package types.