Assistive Technology Advances Fujitsu’s DE&I Hiring Strategy
Through an efficient five day sprint, Fujitsu and Monstarlab created a strategy and a prototype to support the development of an onboarding app for employees on the autistic spectrum.
After a few successful projects, Fujitsu came to Monstarlab with a wish to improve their work environment to be more inclusive, caring and embracing diversity within the organisation. It has always been a goal for them to be socially responsible. They wanted to focus on improving work life for those on the autistic spectrum by developing assistive technologies to make their lives more fulfilling and a little easier. 15% of adults on the autistic spectrum in the UK are in employment but research shows 75% want to and could work. Fujitsu wanted to facilitate and support a buddy scheme introduced to new employees and they asked Monstarlab to facilitate the process.
Supporting a Better Work Life for People in the Autistic Spectrum Through Assistive Technology
Fujitsu has been trying to create a more inclusive and caring work environment for their employees. In particular, they considered how assistive technology could be utilised to better embrace diversity within the organisation. Monstarlab teamed up with Fujitsu to provide an efficient way of kickstarting a digital change management process. We provided the framework and methodology, and facilitated a Five Day Sprint. Following the sprint session, a strategy and prototype was developed, which would enable the creation of an app, which turned out to be a productive and efficient way of utilising assistive technology in businesses such as Fujitsu, and it is now offered as part of the Fujitsu pipeline.
The App
Together, Monstarlab and Fujitsu worked on an MVP that became an app called BuddyConnect. Fujitsu’s strategy was to trial the MVP as soon as possible with some of their partners like Barclays, E&Y and RBS, in which they determined to invest further in the app to eventually start white-labelling it and selling it to their clients throughout EMEA.
Onboarding Tool
This has been introduced to all new graduate employees from September 2018, in which they are matched 1:1 with a Senior Buddy. The aim is to provide Junior Buddies with more support and therefore improve Fujitsu’s onboarding process.
Colour-Coded Wellbeing Tracker
Users can track and see the history of their wellbeing, take actions depending on their wellbeing, find contact details for their assigned buddy and find further support information, such as an interactive map of the office. Push notifications alert Senior Buddies to the Junior Buddies’ wellbeing status.
Ensuring Employee Retention
By improving Fujitsu’s onboarding process, the app facilitates the creation of a trusted relationship over time, which is key to ensure employee retention. They also assure that people with disabilities such as autism can have an easier and more inclusive work life.
About Fujitsu
Established in 1923, Fujitsu is the world’s 7th largest information and communication technology (ICT) company and no. 1 in Japan. Fujitsu offers a full range of technology products, solutions, and services. They have a yearly revenue of 3.952 billion yen (March 2018) and have approximately 132,000 Fujitsu employees supporting customers in more than 100 countries.
Establishing an Enduring Partnership with Fujitsu
Monstarlab and Fujitsu worked together on other projects, both before and after the BuddyConnect project: Before this project, Monstarlab and Fujitsu developed “Ask Saskia”, an AI-driven virtual support agent that aims to make the whole helpdesk experience in companies simpler and faster for the employees, while optimising work efficiency and reducing cost. This replaced their existing web-based service with native apps, for them internally and their global customer base. In January 2020, Monstarlab was engaged in a new Five Day Sprint with Fujitsu and four different Police Forces, helping them embrace ways of working together to understand and define the problem around Out of Court Disposals. Sketching solutions, building a realistic prototype and finally putting the prototype into the real world by testing it with police officers. This will simplify processes, so that the police officers can spend more time on actual policing.
"To partner in our endeavour to create a better work environment for people with autism we joined forces with Monstarlab. Monstarlab brought a passionate sprint team to lead on taking our concepts into a validated mobile app prototype that demonstrated great user experience. Monstarlab showed energy, commitment and excellent agile sprint management to deliver us a better understanding of how to execute our idea."
