As a designer and a strategist at Rocket Insights, Julia Karlsson-Wilson specializes in the design and development lifecycle of data-driven products. But when COVID-19 hit New York City, she saw an opportunity to use her tech skills outside of the office to make a positive impact.
Using her design background, she volunteered to redesign a new workflow system for filing unemployment in the state of New York.
“My goal was twofold: Streamline the process so that it’s easier to navigate without minimizing any important information, and also to make it more accessible,” Karlsson-Wilson said.
Once Karlsson-Wilson is finished with the redesigned prototype, her team intends to publish a case study to the state of New York regarding process improvements. “We’re hopeful that we can play a small part in improving a process that millions of Americans are going through right now,” Karlsson-Wilson said.
Other local tech employees are also doing what they can to help fellow workers adjust to the new normal. For La Leurentop, an office manager at behavior change company Noom, that means providing her team and the company’s more than 1,700 coaches with the tools they need to successfully work from home. Support includes home office stipends, food budgets and additional laptops and tablets, as well as strategies on how to turn crisis into an opportunity for personal growth.
“We are always committed to giving our employees the tools they need to succeed, so helping their families in this situation seemed like a no-brainer,” Leurentop said.
Karlsson-Wilson is using her design background from Rocket Insights to create a new workflow system for filing unemployment in the state of New York. Once the prototype is finished, she plans to present a case study to New York to make improvements to the site.
What action have you taken in response to the COVID-19 outbreak?
Since the outbreak and the closing of our offices, I’ve been trying to strike the right balance of focusing on doing great work for our Rocket clients while also finding ways to help people during these crazy times. I quickly joined a small group of Rocket employees that wanted to find ways we could use our software development and design skills to help the situation.
At the same time, my brother, who is a chef in NYC, was hoping to file for unemployment benefits but did not have access to a computer. I offered to help him, and that’s when I realized that the process of filing for unemployment in our state, and really most states, is very difficult, confusing and inaccessible for many people. From there, I decided I could put my design background to work by designing a new workflow and system for filing for unemployment in the state of New York.
My goal was twofold: streamline the process so that it’s easier without minimizing any important information, and also to make it more accessible. So far, we’ve built out prototypes for some relatively simple improvements that the state of New York could make, including inviting users to login as the first step in the process. Right now it’s difficult to figure out where, and when, in the process to log in.
Then, we moved all account and personal questions to the onboarding flow; they’re currently sporadically placed around the dashboard and settings. We also added an estimated payment calculator to the signup flow so users have visibility into what they can expect. We’ve moved things like “file a new claim,” “payment history,” and “forms for filing” to be front and center since they’re currently somewhat hidden behind small hyperlinks and PDF downloads. We also made it easier to file a claim each week by giving users the option to select if anything has changed. If not, the form will auto-populate what the previous week’s answers were.
We’ve also made the information hierarchy (i.e. what do I need to do, what information do I need, etc.) more obvious, increased the size of the fonts and provided helpful tips and contextual callouts to make the site more accessible.
What has been the result of this action?
Once we are done building out the prototype, our intention is to publish a detailed case study that the state of New York can potentially leverage for making improvements to the site and process in the near future. We’re hopeful that we can play a small part in improving a process that millions of Americans are going through right now.
We’re hopeful that we can play a small part in improving a process that millions of Americans are going through right now.”
What inspired you to take this action?
More than 10 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits during the last two weeks of March. This surge has drastically overloaded government websites in each state, or it has left people without access to computers with no means to file for benefits. My brother is unfortunately one of those people who is out of work and was unable to file on his own, so I offered to help him and go through the process from my computer. I was utterly shocked at how difficult the process was and how complex the steps were to even be able to log into the system.
Leurentop said Noom is working to make the transition to remote work as seamless as possible for employees. Providing remote work budgets, food budgets and additional laptops gave everyone the tools they needed to work through the crisis.
What action have you taken in response to the COVID-19 outbreak?
At Noom we recognize that every member of our Noom family — or Noomily as we call it— is learning to navigate an entirely new set of daily stressors. To help make the transition to working from home a bit smoother for our HQ employees, we gave everyone a $1,000 work-from-home budget and suggestions for how to set up a productive workspace at home. Since everyone was also used to daily office lunches provided by Chef Sam, we gave everyone a $500 food budget and virtual cooking classes to ensure they are still eating healthy.
Our 1,700 full-time coaches have always worked remotely and so were in many ways prepared to both work through this crisis and continue to work closely with our hundreds of thousands of users. Due to COVID-19, many coaches are now learning to work alongside their partners and children. To help make this transition as seamless as possible for them, we sent 300 laptops and tablets to family members of coaches who may not be set up for working at home.
One of Noom’s values is to care for each other like family, but act like a high-performing team.”
What has been the result of this action?
As people across the country learn to live with the new normal, Noom has risen up to provide strategies to build healthy daily habits and turn the turmoil of this crisis into an opportunity for personal change. We feel like our investment in our team has been well worth it as we see the growing impact we are having in the world.
What inspired you to take this action?
Noom’s mission is to help people everywhere lead healthier lives through behavior change, and our success as a company stems directly from our team bringing their best and kindest selves to work each day. One of Noom’s values is to care for each other like family, but act like a high-performing team. To ensure that everyone in the extended Noomily is set up for success, we wanted to help out as best we could. We’re all human and we get how difficult this situation is for everyone, especially those of us struggling with sick family members or juggling working and parenting. We show our employees we care, and we want to show the same openness and support to our users. We feel like it’s the least we can do to contribute right now.
CEO Sean Engelking gave each employee $100 to pay it forward to five people. Engelking said it’s important to to make connections with people whose lives have been disrupted by COVID-19. Employees at Starship are getting out of their comfort zones in order to connect with others, including using that cash bonus to give delivery drivers a $100 tip.
What action have you taken in response to the COVID-19 outbreak?
We’ve been lucky that we have stayed busy during this time, but I wanted to make sure that we acknowledged the impact that this has had on our community outside of work, so we provided each employee with $100 to personally give to up to five people. I thought it was important to make personal connections with those that we see regularly whose lives have been disrupted.
On the company side, when we realized we would need to shut the office, we immediately took action to ensure that everyone would be able to work from home comfortably and that we would be in regular contact with as few disruptions as possible. This included adding daily stand-ups, a weekly company-wide check-in and regular touch points and fun exchanges on Slack.
We also gave everyone a mental health day in the first two weeks and have encouraged everyone to get some fresh air or just decompress and unplug whenever they feel like they need it.
We’re checking in and helping everyone get through this time.”
What has been the result of this action?
It’s been great to see the connections people have made and how they’ve put themselves out of their comfort zones to connect with and help others. Getting in touch with old friends, reaching out to the person who runs the corner bodega and giving $100 tips to delivery people are all human connections that can be made while social distancing. I think that kindness has carried over into our work. We’re checking in and helping everyone get through this time.
What inspired you to take this action?
I personally know what it’s like to be in need and how a small gesture can make a big difference. It’s important for us, especially now, to remember that we are part of many communities, and that we should be active participants in those communities.
The team at Duolingo is doing their part to give back. The Beijing office shipped thousands of masks to New York City, Seattle and Pittsburgh health care workers and hospitals. Head of Studios and Content Tim Shey said donating supplies and giving back helps cope with the situation.
What action have you taken in response to the COVID-19 outbreak?
Many parents are taking on roles as full-time caregivers and stand-in teachers, so we sped up the release of Duolingo ABC, our new literacy app for children. And our entire team is finding new ways to be productive working from home, making sure we can keep our apps free to support learners of all ages and skill levels.
Also, once our Beijing office reopened, they shipped thousands of N95 and KN95 masks to our U.S. offices so we could donate them to hospitals and healthcare workers to New York, Seattle and Pittsburgh.
Our New York team members have been volunteering with a number of service organizations and mutual aid groups including New York City Cares, Last Mile NYC, and the LAPC Meal Train. Duolingo is also matching employee donations to food banks in all of our local cities. We’ve found that giving back where we can and helping others has given us strength to cope with the situation we’re all in.
We are seeing communities come even closer together.”
What has been the result of this action?
There are the more obvious results of bringing more supplies and resources to those on the frontlines and those impacted by the pandemic. We are seeing communities come even closer together. All of our efforts have resulted in an incredible exercise of sharing and rediscovering the power of empathy and hope. This only encourages us to continue our efforts of sharing our skills and resources for good.
What inspired you to take this action?
We believe in being kind to each other and working for the benefit of all. The way the company and our coworkers have responded in this crisis reminds me how lucky I am to work at Duolingo. Our company is a group of very passionate, mission-driven people who are always looking for ways to support our community and our learners.
Senior Software Engineer Rajkumar Rajappan said he is looking for opportunities to contribute his time and resources to those in need during this pandemic. Outside of his time at Bloomberg, he is working on an app that allows residents of a shared apartment complex to request access to common areas such as the laundry room or elevators without leaving their units.
What action have you taken in response to the COVID-19 outbreak?
Since the COVID-19 outbreak, I have been looking for opportunities to contribute my time, resources and skills outside of work hours. I was aware that some researchers around the world are using the Folding@home platform to run simulations for disease research. Since starting to work from home, I have been contributing my personal workstation computer’s time to the Folding@home project to help with calculations in the COVID-19 research.
I am also participating in digital response efforts where I can contribute my programming skills. I signed up for several digital volunteering opportunities, such as U.S. Digital Response (USDR).
I have also joined a few hackathons aimed at the response to COVID-19. For example, I participated in the COVID-19 Global Hackathon, where I joined a team that is developing an app to support local businesses during the lockdown. My idea is to develop an app or service where residents of an apartment complex can request access to shared areas such as the laundry room or elevators without leaving their units.
I am participating in digital response efforts where I can contribute my programming skills.”
What has been the result of this action?
The computer where I run the Folding@home client was built a few years ago for flight simulation. Having multiple CUDA-based graphics cards and a server CPU running non-stop, I have been able to contribute computing time to compute over 450 work units, representing nearly 1,000 hours.
What inspired you to take this action?
Essential workers, including many I know, are working during the outbreak and some of them are even getting sick. This has inspired me to take action in response to the pandemic. The idea for the app came to me while watching Governor Cuomo's news conferences. He noted that New Yorkers' “spatial closeness” makes us vulnerable. So I came up with a way to improve social distancing in these close quarters.
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