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COVID: Reimagining the future of work

 

The goal of this study is to revisit past key research insights, user needs, and pain points associated with working from home, apply a creative matrix design thinking activity to generate ideas for different types of associates, reimagine what an alternative workplace would look like at top tech firms, and aggregate ideas for the future of work at Walmart.

Tasked with:

  1. Understanding the needs of different associates - associates with dependents, associates living alone, associates with disabilities

  2. Understanding what ways we can future proof our workplace


Guidelines of ideation:

  1. Write everything comes to your mind down 

  2. Inspire as a group 

  3. Practice “Yes”… “and”

  4. Say “More”… “Why?” 

  5. 1 post-it per idea 

Sample:

n=22

Skills:

Ideation, facilitation

Tools:

Zoom

Recommendations:

Work Smarter

  1. Leverage brands/partnerships under existing Walmart ecosystem to help associates create an environment conducive to work from home

  2. Conduct a survey to understand what digital services associates feel foster productivity, collaboration, and efficiency and measure these requests against current software

  3. Consider Internet stipend for associates working from home

  4. Communicate what technical support resources the enterprise has such as Support Chat, and offer ability for associates to schedule remote tech support 

  5. Promote educational resources and partnerships such as  ebooks/audiobooks, professional certificate programs, and digital courses such as LinkedIn Learning, Udacity

    • Expand educational resources to include graduate school programs

Live Better

  1. Create targeted and reoccurring communication of the health and wellness benefits, based upon benefit plan selected - eg. offerings for those with dependents, with dependents, without dependents, etc

  2. Create partnerships with local and nationwide vendors to provide associate discounts 

  3. Leverage and promote work being done by ARGs to increase access to social events, and set up regular events to connect associates

  4. Consider an expansion of support and resources for associates with dependents and/or accessibility requirements 

  5. Reevaluate location requirements for corporate associates