BUDUP! RESEARCH
Author: Grace Adewale
Methodologies:
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Secondary quantitative data analysis
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Secondary research
These methods were selected as we were under time constraints
Research Goals:
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Identify the target market’s demographic and key pain points (age range, level, etc.)
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Identify whether new joiners are suffering with an increased level of isolation opposed to existing staff members
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Identify whether business owners feel the need to reduce feelings of isolation amongst employees
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How will our product help life working from home?
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Will an increased emphasis on onboarding help with feelings of isolation?
Key Findings:
Our research showed that within companies new joiners who had been part of the company for >1 year struggled the most with feelings of isolation. Demographic details show that Gen Z has suffered the most with remote working from 2020 - 2021, followed by Minellian and Gen Y who reported an equal level of disconnection and isolation from remote working.
Further sources showed that there is an increased emphasis on HR and business owners to focus on employee wellbeing and retention as we continue remote working.
The use of this tool beyond remote working will be necessary as remote working appears to be here to stay with 66% of business owners pushing for hybrid working models post 2021.
Data on target audience and key pain points:
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41% of workers were considering quitting or changing professions this year due to a lack of inclusion and feeling of culture during the pandemic. Edelman Data x Intelligence research
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26% of HR decision makers say that talent retention is an organizational priority from 2021 onwards - Personio and Opinium Survey
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60% Gen Z reported struggling with feeling of disconnected from work
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56% Gen Y reported feeling of isolation
Data on new joiners:
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64% of employees who joined a company >1 year reported feeling on struggling with company culture and feeling disconnected to the teams and the business. Edelman Data x Intelligence research
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It’s become compulsory for companies to make serious investments in their employees’ wages, opportunities, and overall wellbeing’ Seychell - BBC Worklife July 2021
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‘company should do its best to provide virtual opportunities for the employee to connect with other peers. Informal virtual gatherings, such as social hours’ - June 2020 Boris Groysberg HBS Working KnowledgeContributor
Will Offering help life working from home?
Will offer help working life at home and limit isolation:
There is a big assumption here, however, we had to draw conclusions from the data in order to build the tool and test. We approached our build with an agile mindset that it is better to fail early and often in order to adopt the right solution from trial, error, and increased data feedback.
The below graph shows that people are closer to their team members but not the wider organization and business. This leads us to the assumption that wider connections in and out of your team will give new starters a closer connection to the business and limit resignations and feelings of isolation.
Competitor Research Goals
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Is there a market for our offering?
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Who our competitors were and the capabilities and limitations of their offering?
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How would we monetize our tool?
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How will our offering be unique?
Competitor Analysis
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Data to support need for remote onboarding offering:
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The use of this tool beyond remote working will be necessary as remote working appears to be here to stay!
Using our initial secondary research we began to brainstorm key features that would help Gen Z feel more included within a new company. To test whether our features were viable we found key competitors that had onboarding tools to see whether there was a gap for our product. We found that there are many onboarding tools but none that matched buddies, suggested planning fun team/ business activities, rewarded completed tasks, integrated with popular systems for the final aim of improving employee wellbeing and retaining staff.
Competitor Analysis Summary
There are many project management and onboarding tools out there but none that have the sole aim of supporting managers and team leaders with setting up successful buddy systems.
Possible unique selling points could be:
Invite newcomers to join ahead of their first day
Complement their skill sets
a valuable member of the team
Integration with wider tools due to frustration with siloed tools
How would the tool be monetized?
Our business developer researched a list of similar offerings and built a price plan based off of our competitors' offerings. BudUp! would operate a freemium business model it can be used by groups, looking to create, primarily remote, teams of 10+. Standard fee per head.
Premium features at additional cost:
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Ability to customize i.e brand kit
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Additional badges
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Unlimited buddy pairings
Sources:
Counting the Cost: How Businesses Risk a Post Pandemic Talent Drain - Persomio data research July 2021 https://www.personio.com/resources/hr-study-2021/#1
Microsoft Work Trend Annual Report - Microsoft. March 2021
https://ms-worklab.azureedge.net/files/reports/hybridWork/pdf/2021_Microsoft_WTI_Report_March.pdf
The Great Resignation: How employers drove workers to quit - Kate Morgan July 2021
15 reasons why employees stay- Beth Sunshine, on July 5, 2021
https://blog.thecenterforsalesstrategy.com/infographic-top-15-reasons-your-employees-stay
How Remote Work Changes What We Think About Onboarding Boris Groysberg June 2021 https://www.forbes.com/sites/hbsworkingknowledge/2020/06/09/how-remote-work-changes-what-we-think-about-onboarding/?sh=25ead6cd5919