Founded in 2004, Rewarding Work is a nonprofit organization and the first web-based matching service in the US connecting healthcare providers with people with disabilities. Their mission is to assist individuals with disabilities and their families, enabling them to live at home or in the community of their choice. Their “self-directed” care model allows individuals and families to take control of the hiring process and direct their own care. Rewarding Work also partners with agencies that support developmental disabilities, respite coalitions, councils on aging, managed care organizations, and local support and advocacy groups in multiple states throughout the US.
Easy to Use Job Board
Their old Find a Job page was cluttered with text and difficult to navigate. Multiple colors of text made content hard to read and were inconsistent with the brand.
The job board we built provides an easy-to-use dashboard for applicants to find home healthcare jobs, employers to post jobs, and site administrators to manage the application process.
The new design shown below streamlines the ability to search and apply for jobs compared to the old design.
A Web Application Tailored to Target Personas
The web application enables the 3 target personas– job seekers, employers, and site administrators– to perform the following:
- The ability for job seekers to review jobs, create a profile, select which state they’d like to work in, and update their status (active or inactive).
- The ability for employers to contact job seekers directly, create an account profile, and subscribe to the site via a fee-based subscription model.
- The ability for the site administrator to manage the custom subscription e-commerce settings, set up state-specific requirements, and view & export custom reports.
Additional Features Included:
- A job applicant advanced search capability including proximity search (results by distance)
- Custom search results display settings
- Autoresponders and custom notifications for job seekers and employers
- State-specific job boards and configuration
- Subscription-based free trials and discount codes, as well as other custom e-commerce, features
Steps to a Successful Rebranding
In 2019 Toward Independent Living and Learning (TILL) acquired Rewarding Work, so in addition to developing the web application, we were charged with rebranding the organization to reflect the newly acquired nonprofit.
The first step was designing a new logo. The old logo’s colors were dark and outdated. Extensive design iterations were created and collaborated on with the client team, exploring different color schemes that coordinated with the TILL brand. The final logo includes custom-drawn initials within a circle and poignant colors similar to the TILL branding.
The next step was redesigning the home page. The old home page looked complicated and didn’t encourage visitors to further explore the site. The new home page design shown below presents clear choices for job applicants and employers. The limited amount of copy and design elements increases the focus on finding a job or hiring a caregiver. The headline simplifies the web application functionality, highlighting the emotional and aspirational benefits of the Rewarding Work brand.
We also created visually appealing information graphics such as this one showing what employers can do on the site and how simple and easy the process is.
The employer dashboard below was streamlined as well to improve ease of use. Extensive quality assurance was performed during the pre and post-launch phases. This included employing an Agile project management approach so that design, development, and QA were performed iteratively until the application met the UX and functional requirements.
Site administrators were also given more control to create different types of page designs using Drupal’s Layout Builder as shown below. Layout Builder is a flexible and powerful tool that rivals some of WordPress’s page design and workflow capabilities.
The backend of the previous site was built with SiteCore and was difficult to use, build with, and not mobile optimized for end-users. Creating a custom web application with SiteCore that focused on a user-centered design such as this would have been difficult to recreate. SiteCore’s licensing fees can be cost-prohibitive for nonprofits. Drupal 8/9 is a flexible open-source framework that provides a powerful and highly customizable back end. While creating custom applications such as this are time-consuming, the end result has proven to be an effective solution.
Results
We were able to improve the useability, accessibility, and ease of use for Rewarding Work Resources’ target personas (job seekers, employers, and site administrators) as well as create a more flexible, extensible, and cost-effective technology platform for connecting with their audience and meeting their business objectives.
