Building the AI Agentic workflow app for HR systems
Simplifying HR workflows to improve usability and boost feature adoption
introduction
Struggles of HRs and core users
We began understanding that users initially struggled with LucyHR’s complex interface, and the potential of its AI-driven features was largely underutilized. As the Founding Designer, my goal was to simplify workflows and maximize the utility of its AI capabilities.
The future of HR
LucyHR isn’t just another HRMS tool—it’s a game-changer. By integrating agentic AI workflows, LucyHR empowers HR teams to assign complex tasks to AI agents that operate on the platform’s database. This eliminates manual effort for mundane processes like onboarding, report generation, and data entry. However, users initially struggled with LucyHR’s complex interface, and the potential of its AI-driven features was largely underutilized.
the root cause
Why were users unhappy?
Users found LucyHR’s interface overwhelming and unintuitive, leading to longer onboarding times and low feature adoption. The design needed a user-centric overhaul to address these pain points. The challenge was clear: How might we create a streamlined experience that simplifies workflows and improves engagement with LucyHR’s features?
Research
It always starts with the users
We conducted in-depth user interviews and workflow analysis with HRs to mainly understand three things. 1. Time taken to complete tasks 2. User journey and rage clicks 3. Habits of dashboard visitors Most of them said "there is a need for better visual hierarchy to get work done faster", "This is all too new for me" and many users had to go through demo videos to understand the app.
understanding users
Catering to each user types
We had mainly 3 types of users which were HR Managers, Recruiters and Employees. Based on the user's role, they were restricted or had access to certain features. We had to carefully design the user flow and information architecture to attend to these workflows.
Exploration
❌ Dashboard: tasks that took 1.5x longer
HR Managers having all the access found it extremely difficult to reach certain modules in the web app, spending too much time gathering data instead of analyzing it, unable to automate repetitive tasks and focus on strategic planning.
✅ Rethinking Lucy's Nav Bar: From Cluttered to Clear
We found that 87% of users had built habits and focused on completing one task when they launch LucyHR. 1. Starred feature enabled users to reach these commonly used pages in one click. 2. Changing the double/nested navigation to drop downs reduced the time taken by a significant 29% for our DAUs. 4. Introducing Page navigation labels and reducing scrolling to view all information helped users save more time.
❌ Importance of 'employee' needs
It was clear by now that Employees did not need every feature but mostly used Lucy to Clock In and Clock Out. Employees mostly focused on viewing their upcoming leaves, finding opportunities to upskill, transition within the organisation. Many employees wanted to apply for leave rather than going through tedious corporate process. (We knew the need for a mobile app)
FUTURE OF AI
Make it SMART, make it SIMPLE
HR Managers having all the access found it extremely difficult to reach certain modules in the web app, spending too much time gathering data instead of analyzing it, unable to automate repetitive tasks and focus on strategic planning.