Problem
Many employees struggle to form meaningful social connections in the workplace - a need often overshadowed by the corporate focus on productivity. Secondary research highlighted that 82% of workers report feeling lonely at work (EY, 2022), and two-thirds of executives are concerned this disconnection could drive attrition (Airspeed, 2022). Studies also show that “connectedness” and supportive relationships are key drivers of a thriving workplace (AFB, 2018).
Despite the rise of tools like Slack and Culture Amp, existing platforms either reinforce hierarchy or focus on task-related communication - not genuine peer-to-peer social interaction. There was a clear gap: no solution meaningfully addressed casual, meaningful connection between coworkers. That’s the problem we set out to solve.
$77,000
Potential saved in sick leave
$52,000
Potential saved in attrition costs
Improved
Productivity and happiness of workers
Research
To better understand the problem, we conducted 50 surveys, 9 interviews, and 9 contextual observations with office workers across different companies and roles. Our research revealed that casual socialising - both during and outside of office hours - gave employees a stronger sense of team belonging and overall job satisfaction. However, many felt that socialising was quietly stigmatised, especially in high-performing environments where productivity is prioritised above all else.
The social disconnect: We found that employees longed for more natural opportunities to connect, but the physical workspace and company culture often worked against this. Offices rarely provided environments that made social interaction feel comfortable or encouraged. As a result, even when people wanted to engage, the social atmosphere often felt forced or inappropriate.
What employees really want: Importantly, the strongest connections were often forged between coworkers with shared interests or life stages. People didn’t just want “work friends” — they wanted meaningful, low-effort interactions with others they actually related to. This insight shaped the foundation of our design direction.
Solution
We designed CollabConnect, a workplace app that forms small social groups based on shared interests and age. This directly addressed our findings: employees crave meaningful, low-pressure social interaction but feel a stigma around socialising during work hours. By suggesting casual group activities and allowing users to preview attendees, the app fosters safe, natural connections.
User & Expert Testing
We tested our designs through cognitive walkthroughs and think-aloud sessions with both users and experts through multiple levels of fidelity. These tests revealed key usability needs including the desire to preview event attendees, search by interest, and access more event details. Each of these features addressed core user needs around comfort, relevance, and transparency.
Tailored for the workplace: To reduce workplace distraction, we prioritised desktop onboarding — aligning with our personas who preferred not to use their phones at work. Testing on desktop and mobile focused on core tasks like creating an account, joining a group, and commenting on events.
Expert insights Expert testing highlighted certain UX issues. For example, “Your Groups” was misread as implying pre-enrolment, and some dark UI elements felt inconsistent. These insights led us to update copy, adopt more familiar design patterns, and improve visual clarity.
Interface Improvements: User testing (SUS score: 76) validated our direction but flagged pain points. The search bar was clunky and ambiguous, resulting in user confusion. We refined the design with clearer results and visual prompts. In the event chat, we renamed “comments” to “chat,” added reactions and a delete button - improving expressiveness and control. We also slimmed down a clunky progress bar on signup, improving visual flow.
These changes all came directly from user pain points. and made the product more usable, intuitive, and aligned with real behaviour.
Outcome
Supporting the psychological and social needs of employees is key to effective HR management. If CollabConnect reduced annual attrition by just 1% in a company of 200 staff, and each departure costs $26,000 to replace, that’s a potential $52,000 saved each year. Additionally, by reducing stress and improving connectedness, cutting just one sick day per employee could save the same business over $77,000 annually. Together, these improvements demonstrate how improving employee connection is an important problem to solve that could lead to significant financial and cultural gains.
