Overview
7shifts goal is to complete the restaurant’s employee lifecycle from hiring, training, scheduling, paying and retaining.
Objective
One major aspect of the “paying” sphere involves managers paying out tips that were received from employees.
The objective was to create a feature that is a reliable, simple, end-to-end digital payment solution that is beneficial for both employees and managers.
Approach & Deliverables
I was brought to the project from the start. My task was to design the end-to-end experience for managers and employees alongside a PM, and 3 developers.
The minimal viable product (MVP) was a proof-of-concept that needed to be delivered in 6 weeks to start Alpha testing.
Process
The process for this project includes the following:
Research
The initial research involved user interviews with some of our current customers who are interested in this feature. A variety of questions were asked involving competitors, pricing, current processes, and compliance.
This research helped us build a list of core workflows and expectations of the product:
Managers do not want to take on transaction fees - With instant payouts, there is an inherent fee that needs to be paid (usually around $0.75). Managers are comfortable taking this off the employees tips rather than pay out of pocket.
Tips are sent out daily - Usually servers and bartenders receive tips that same day, and other roles receive their tips at a later date once tip pooling has been completed.
Admins and manager permissions - Admins and managers are the only roles who should be sending out payouts. Additional interviews suggested a person cannot send a payout to themselves.
Employees prefer cash, if not cash then their existing card/bank account - Cash is always favoured amongst restaurant workers. However, instant payouts is a better process if they get tips on payroll or pay card.
User pain points
Opportunity
Not only was this project important because it was a highly requested feature, it also provides tremendous value to the business. We saw this as a way to to create more reasons for employee's to stay in the 7shifts ecosystem due to it increasing retention and satisfaction.
The business model is that 7shifts makes a profit on the monthly add-on fee, after subtracting any recurring costs from banking transaction fees, or connected account fees. The transaction costs for completing payouts are passed on to the employees. 1 transaction cost is $0.75. At launch, we are not looking to add a profit margin to the transaction cost.
Finally, this feature will also amplify the value of our tip pooling solution by paying tips instantly. Currently, Tip Payout and Tip Pooling products are sold separately but can be bundled together for the best solution.
How might we provide a secure way for managers to send tips to staff instantaneously?
Ideation
Journey map
Based on the feature criteria, we began to construct the user experience flow, taking into consideration first-time experience vs. returning user.
Wireframing
Because of the 6-week timeline, developers were working off of mid-fidelity wireframes made in Invision. For design UAT, we iterated on the wireframes with Figma specs.
