Introduction

The Australian Government, in the 2019-20 Federal Budget, announced a $11.5 million investment over four years for the National Workplace Initiative (NWI). The NWI aims to establish a consistent approach to workplace mental health in Australia. One of the key features of NWI is its collaboration with the Mentally Healthy Workplace Alliance, a coalition of national organizations from various sectors working towards promoting mentally healthy workplaces.

Objective

The objective of this UX case study is to design an online platform for the NWI that will serve as a resource hub for employers and employees regarding mental health in the workplace. The platform will allow contributors from different organizations to submit content, which will be published after moderation.

Research Plan

The research process begins with a comprehensive discovery phase to collect and analyse information about the intended audience, market, and project goals. This phase helps define the project's scope and limitations.

Research Aim

The aim of the research is to obtain quantitative insights that will inform the prioritization and definition of features for the contributors and moderators' areas of the NWI website.

Moderators

The Moderators are a small team from the Mental Health Commission responsible for content moderation and administration on the platform. Due to their limited size, the discovery process for the Moderators segment was conducted in a 2-hour workshop.

Contributors

The Contributors audience is assumed to be more complex, requiring a deeper understanding. The success of the platform relies on the contributors' ability to produce engaging materials for the end-users. To bridge the gap between contributors and end-users, it is crucial to identify gaps and opportunities by profiling the contributors' strengths and weaknesses.

Methodology

Due to limited familiarity with the problem space and existing research, a quantitative study was not initially feasible. To gain insights into the contributors' perspective, a mixed-methods research approach was adopted, starting with qualitative research followed by a quantitative study.

Qualitative Phase

The qualitative phase involved conducting stakeholder, contributors and Moderators interviews. The interviews aimed to understand practical goals, emotional motivations, workflows, difficulties, and delights.

Post-Interview Activities

After each interview, a summary was shared with the participant for confirmation and clarification. Persona profiles were created based on the insights gathered, including needs and pains.

Quantitative Phase

The quantitative phase involved a survey to generate a descriptive analysis of the contributors' audience and statistically valid segmentation. The survey explored topics such as team size, editorial team size, publishing frequency, workflow, formats, article types, and target industries.

Latent Class Analysis

The data collected from the survey was analyzed using Latent Class Analysis (LCA) in Jamovi to identify distinct classes within the contributors' audience. Three classes were identified, each with unique characteristics and proportions.