AlkeME is a learning platform for employees by providing structured programs with self-assessment tools, matching learning opportunities, mentorship, feedback opportunities, and tracking of learning progress. The service is user-centric, allowing it to be personalized to support employee growth at Alkemy.
AlkeMe addresses challenges in Human Resources, particularly in employee development in companies, such as fragmented and poorly customized learning, which hinders continuous learning.
Goals
This project aims to create a cohesive workforce by providing employees with tools for personalized career development and progress tracking. For HR and managers, the tool offers insights into employee growth and supports strategic planning.
Approach
We use a co-design approach to ensure the learning platform service design truly meets the needs of employees. Involving employees in the design process helps uncover hidden challenges and validate key features, resulting in a user-centered solution that aligns with Alkemy’s culture. Our session involved three main participants: HR Manager, Junior Service Designer, and Head of Data Analytics Department.
Journey & Process
step 1
Designing the initial learning service
This initial service design is based on initial research analyzing related literature and interviews with HR managers. We call this initial design Alke-mix, in the form of several alternative solutions.
step 2
Co-design session
Our session involved three main participants: HR Manager, Junior Service Designer, and Head of Data Analytics Department.
To encourage engagement, we structured the session into different stations, each focusing on a specific step. We also incorporated physical artifacts such as A2 posters, sticky notes, skill cards, and fictional mentor cards to facilitate interaction and concentration.
The co-design session started with the initial concept of the Alke-mix learning platform, which includes skill self-selection, learning opportunity matching, and mentorship networks. The activities in this session are organized based on the elements of the Alke-mix platform. The session aims to gain deeper insights from employees and develop a co-designed learning system.
This co-design session involved several activities that we made into a gradual journey, we used a room in the Alkemy office and divided it into several activity areas:
1. Icebreaker Activity:
Using mental maps on posters to understand employees’ learning motivations.
2. Self-Assessment:
Participants used skill passports and skill cards to identify their skills. This session helped us understand what kind of learning programs employees need.
3. Mentoring:
Participants chose a fictional mentor and engaged in a role-play simulation. This session simulated a mentorship program, to understand the pattern of learning between employees within the company.
4. Feedback Collection:
Participants fill out a form to provide feedback from both the mentor and participant perspectives. This session engages employees in designing a program that matches what they expect.
step 3
Analysis of the co-design session
Key insights from the co-design session include:
- Employees differentiate between hard and soft skills and prefer structured learning for hard skills.
- Employees have difficulty in recognizing existing skills and desired skills.
- Mentorship prioritizes soft skills, with time commitments that do not interfere with work as a top priority.
- Employees prefer mentors who match their learning style and needs, rather than personal connections.
step 4
Service improvement
The main outcome of this co-design was the development of the Alke-mix service into Alke-me, a personalized learning platform for Alkemy employees.
The session also resulted in the development of:
Competency Models:
Providing structured learning and development programs for HR and managers and creating strategic and structured devel opment programs.
Self-Evaluation
Templates: A tool for self-reflection, allowing employees to assess their performance
Employee skills matrix:
A visual tool that displays the skills of Alkemy employees.
Limitations
This session was limited by the small number of participants, which limited the representativeness of the findings. In addition, some aspects, such as the mentorship program, were left out of further development, indicating that not all concepts were fully explored.
Reflection
The co-design sessions were interactive and engaging, with some activities resulting in participants actively contributing through various stations and physical artifacts. However, there were some challenges, such as the unclear station organization, uneven role allocation, and the need for clearer instructions.
This session had the effect of shifting my way of thinking as a service designer, by directly observing the interaction between the HR manager and the employees, many problems in the learning program have been answered by this co-design session, it can be seen with the help of activities and tools if they can more easily communicate and understand each other.
The Team
The project was developed by Team 2 collaborated with Alkemy’s HR and management teams for the Product Service System Design Studio 2 course, led by professors D. Selloni, C. Sedini, A. Perrone, and Silvia D’Ambrosio.
Team members included Alessandra Coppola, Elena Bucelli, Ganjar Satrio, Kezia Jane Rivan, and Li Zihan