Human Factors International receives "Best Solutions Award"

Human Factors International, Inc. (HFI), the industry leader in the field of user-centered design, received the prestigious “Best Solutions Award” on Wednesday, Sept. 26 at the Government Technology Conference in Albany, NY, for its user-centered design work on the California State Personnel Board website. "The State of California is facing a potential job crisis. In the next ten years over 57% of the state's computer workforce will be eligible to retire," says HFI Project Director, Spencer Gerrol. "Currently the State Personnel Board website makes it very difficult to find and apply for State jobs. The hiring process can take up to nine months." The California State Personnel Board hired HFI for the redesign of their site. The goal: to better serve taxpayers through the ability to attract better civil servants. The results: the success rate for finding a job at the website increased by 70% and was 12 times faster.

Spencer Gerrol HFI Project Director "Currently the State Personnel Board website makes it very difficult to find and apply for State jobs. This is an important factor contributing to California's difficulty in hiring quality employees within a reasonable amount of time. Clearly this issue extends to all States agencies and affects overall government efficiency and effectiveness."

According to Chief Scientist Dr. Kath Straub, HFI’s eye-tracking study showed that on the existing site, job applicants took 10 times longer to find a job compared to the new, redesigned site (if they found it at all). Users reported that the look of the new site was more professional and made the State of California appear to be a more desirable employer. They also rated the new site higher for ease of learning, ease of use, and satisfaction. The award was presented by Dr. Melodie Mayberry-Stewart, Ph.D., New York State Chief Information Officer, at the Government Technology Conference in Albany, NY at the Empire State Plaza Convention Center.

Employing California:
Helping California State find quality civil servants and helping California citizens find jobs

Description

HFI collaborated with the State of California to develop a usable standard for the California system of websites, including over 400 departments and agencies. But it is not enough for agencies to just implement a new standard based on their current [problematic] designs. These California agencies are now charged with doing so in a way that better supports the citizens.

HFI was brought onboard with the California State Personnel Board to do just that.

Currently the State Personnel Board website makes it very difficult to find and apply for State jobs. This is an important factor contributing to California's difficulty in hiring quality employees within a reasonable amount of time. Clearly this issue extends to all State agencies and the government's overall efficiency and effectiveness.

Human Factors International created a research-based design to combat these problems and work toward a more intuitive application/hiring process. Ultimately, the goal was to better serve all taxpayers through the ability to attract better civil servants.

This process resulted in citizens being 70% more successful at achieving their goals. They also did so 12 times faster and all participants said they preferred using the new prototype site.

Problem

Like many states, California struggles to find quality employees. With a hiring process that often takes nine months, the State is left with an applicant pool of only those highly determined to get a State job and those unsuccessful at getting other jobs.

One of the key factors contributing to this challenge is that citizens don't even know where to begin. What agency is in charge of hiring? What is the website for that agency? How do I apply? What next?

Even if they can answer those questions, a difficult to use website still results in an unsuccessful hiring process.

As California agencies move toward Citizen-Centered Design of their Web sites, steps are naturally being taken to make the internal structure of the government transparent to citizens and to ensure that State websites are user-friendly.

To that end, HFI and the California State Personnel Board are working to better serve citizens looking for jobs and better support the State in finding quality employees. Ultimately, this serves all Californians as more skilled civil servants results in more effective and efficient government services.

Solution

HFI integrated State objectives and citizens' thought processes, mindsets, and goals to design a new site that would be easier to find, easier to use, and more effective at supporting job seekers.

HFI conducted:

• Stakeholder Interviews - Understanding the stakeholders' objectives, vision, and success criteria guided the design strategy and defined a path for moving forward.
• Citizen Data Gathering Interviews – Understanding the needs, motivations, and perceptions of California job seekers guided the new design model and requirements.
• Usability Testing – Observing citizens actually interacting with the website established baseline data from which to track improvements and guided our understanding of citizens' expectations and mindsets, informing the new design.
• Redesign – HFI redesigned the website to meet the California design standard and better serve the citizens with a more intuitive interface. This included visual design and content prioritization to more effectively convey the California "brand" and market to Californians.
• Validation Testing & Refinement – Once again, HFI put the design in front of Californians. We tracked the data, validated design decisions, and further refined the designs as part of this iterative process.

A key element in this process was making the shift from an internally-driven agency site (spb.ca.gov) to a citizen-driven service center (jobs.ca.gov).

Resulting Benefits

During usability testing of the new prototype design by HFI, more citizens successfully applied for jobs and did so more quickly and easily. The redesign resulted in representative Californians successfully finding jobs over 70% more of the time (Success Rate, below). They also did so far more quickly – about 12 times faster (Task Time, below).

As you can see from the image below, HFI also conducted eye-tracking. This allowed us to evaluate how effectively the designs drew citizens' attention to the right things at the right times. As can be seen in the graph below, eye-tracking also allowed us to track how much looking around citizens had to do to find what they wanted (Fixation Count) – for example, we see that citizens (using the current Web site) found the job link much more quickly than on the old site..

Branding and visual design also played an important element in the redesign. Californians reported that the look of the new design made them more likely to want to work for California State when compared to the old design.

Citizens also rated the site higher for ease of learning, ease of use, and satisfaction. Finally, citizens chose which site they would rather use. 100% preferred the redesign (see graph below).