Macy’s employee resource portal ensures employees always have the information they need, while reducing administrative burden.
With approximately 125,000 employees across stores, distribution centers, call centers and corporate offices, Macy's faced an immense communications challenge in getting the right information to the right people at the right time, while keeping costs streamlined. Making sure specific information was accessible to specific employees added to the complexity.
The company had migrated its associate handbook and policies to an online system, but it was difficult for users to find information, and it was equally challenging and time-consuming to manage. Finally, it lacked a way for the legal team to quickly determine what policy was in place for any given employee type – a critical information need.
User engagement was low, though paradoxically the site was available on the public internet and regularly appeared in search engine results.
Macy’s employee resource portal ensures employees always have the information they need, while reducing administrative burden.
With approximately 125,000 employees across stores, distribution centers, call centers and corporate offices, Macy's faced an immense communications challenge in getting the right information to the right people at the right time, while keeping costs streamlined. Making sure specific information was accessible to specific employees added to the complexity.
The company had migrated its associate handbook and policies to an online system, but it was difficult for users to find information, and it was equally challenging and time-consuming to manage. Finally, it lacked a way for the legal team to quickly determine what policy was in place for any given employee type – a critical information need.
User engagement was low, though paradoxically the site was available on the public internet and regularly appeared in search engine results.
Macy's partnered with Sanger & Eby to develop a detailed understanding of the business rules that would drive the new administrative system. We utilized Axure R/P for rapid prototyping – outlining screens, user flows and functionality as clickable mockups – to allow the client team to experience the application flow and ensure both business and user requirements were met.
New site architecture and design organized the information on the site more intuitively which made it easier to find information. Users log in via an employee identification number, which ensures only relevant information is displayed – eliminating confusion and complexity and increasing employee confidence and engagement. A new content management system (CMS) enabled the Macy's team to easily and effectively manage and update content.
To further deepen engagement and add a bit of fun, we replaced complex, outdated animations with a series of custom illustrations for “Maggie”, the site’s digital guide.
New data management and reporting capabilities enable Macy's to easily see what policies were in place on any given date, as well as the last time the policy was accessed. This made it easy to provide critical information to Macy’s legal team on the spot.
The following languages and platforms were used to bring this project to life:
HTML5
CSS
ASP.NET
.NET MVC
MS SQL Server
Bootstrap
jQuery
jQuery UI
SAML 2.0 Single Sign On (SSO)
Legacy systems
Sanger & Eby created a custom system to solve Macy’s challenges, deepen employee engagement, increase efficiency and reduce costs. Now, Macy's employees have secure access to information and policies that are relevant to them, reducing confusion, increasing compliance and driving higher employee satisfaction.
System administrators saw dramatic improvements in efficiency and productivity, and can rapidly provide critical information to Macy's legal counsel. The system was so successful it was rolled out to Bloomingdale’s as well, where it has produced similar strong results.