Time Off Calculator
Company
PlandayYear
2024The Challenge
Employees were frequently reaching out to their managers to ask how much time off they had left. The mobile app lacked a clear feature to show this information – users had to initiate a fake time-off request just to see their balance in a later step. This workaround was unintuitive, and there were no clear metrics to indicate how many users actually understood or completed this flow correctly.
The goal was to make time-off balances visible and accessible upfront, reducing reliance on managers and eliminating confusion for employees.
Discovery Workshop
To kick off the project, we ran a Tenets and Traps workshop with the mobile team. Together, we mapped out the core actions employees typically perform in the mobile app and identified where friction existed. From this, we prioritised time-off visibility as a critical issue in the current UI.
Ideation & Co-creation
As a team, we sketched out solutions focused on improving clarity and accessibility. The design aimed to surface time-off balances in a place that felt natural and unobtrusive, without introducing extra steps or overwhelming the interface. The selected concept was turned into a prototype for rapid validation.
Prototype testing
We conducted guerrilla testing with employees from companies in Copenhagen. All participants were asked to find out how much time off they had available using the prototype.
The result: 100% of users were able to locate their time-off balance immediately and without guidance. This was a strong indicator that the new design was solving the problem directly and effectively.
Implementation
Based on the testing insights, we refined copy and visuals for clarity. The final design was handed off to the mobile team and implemented as a dedicated feature – now available directly from the mobile interface.
Key Outcomes
- 100% of users in testing were able to find their time-off balance without assistance
- A confusing workaround was replaced with a direct, visible feature
- Reduced reliance on managers for basic time-off information
- Fast delivery through focused workshops and real-world testing
- Strengthened collaboration between product, design, and engineering
