Designing a system to turn farm productivity data into timely, fair action during peak harvest season.

Sector

Agriculture, HR, Performance Management

Challenge

Labour productivity was measured but poorly managed. Performance feedback was inconsistent, manual and often not given, leading to persistent under-performance and financial leakage.

My Role

Product Owner, UX & System Design, Pilot Delivery

Constraints

Seasonal operating window, low-income rural workforce, limited technical resources, no existing integrated systems.

01 Orienting a team by synthesising performance data into a clear narrative

HR Dashboard - Weekly Overview

HR Dashboard - Weekly Overview

This weekly snapshot was designed to orient the HR team and answer “what happened this week, what changed, and what needs action”.

Including a quick view into worker risk to inform proactive measures — a table that emerged as a key reference point for the team.

This weekly snapshot was designed to orient the HR team and answer “what happened this week, what changed, and what needs action”.

Including a quick view into worker risk to inform proactive measures — a table that emerged as a key reference point for the team.

02 Turning disciplinary action from an ad-hoc activity into a managed process.

Warnings Pipeline

Warnings Pipeline

Previously, warnings were issued verbally and inconsistently recorded, making it difficult to track progress, follow-ups, or fairly resolve disputes.


Including a quick view into worker risk to inform proactive measures — a table that emerged as a key reference point for the team.

Previously, warnings were issued verbally and inconsistently recorded, making it difficult to track progress, follow-ups, or fairly resolve disputes.


Including a quick view into worker risk to inform proactive measures — a table that emerged as a key reference point for the team.

The pipeline is designed to support HR’s real-world workflow, which operates primarily at team level context, while still enabling individual action.

Here HR could click through to see daily performance and assess against mitigating factors, before deciding to send the warning via WhatsApp.

03 Engaging with workers where they are, at scale.

Automated WhatsApp Notifications

The Problem:

Many workers had limited access to email or internal systems. HR had to manually communicate with a labour force of over 1800 workers.

Workers had no access to their record. Warnings were rarely acknowledged, often misunderstood, and difficult to escalate fairly.

The Outcome:

By using WhatsApp — the most accessible channel for this workforce — HR could deliver and track warnings at scale, while workers gained transparent access to their own performance record.

04 Learnings

Post Pilot Implementation

The project began with a clear business case and evolved into a deeper lesson in sequencing, systems design, and behavioural clarity.

The project began with a clear business case and evolved into a deeper lesson in sequencing, systems design, and behavioural clarity.

  • Quantifying financial leakage created alignment and secured buy-in.

  • Structuring performance into a visible weekly workflow improved intervention consistency.

  • The WhatsApp automation — the highest-leverage component — should have shipped earlier.

  • Strong technical foundations are critical when building automation-dependent systems.

  • Quantifying financial leakage created alignment and secured buy-in.

  • Structuring performance into a visible weekly workflow improved intervention consistency.

  • The WhatsApp automation — the highest-leverage component — should have shipped earlier.

  • Strong technical foundations are critical when building automation-dependent systems.

05 Opportunities

Future Iterations

While initially focused on corrective action, the system has the structure to support more balanced and empowering feedback.

  • Introduce positive reinforcement through automated recognition or bonuses.

  • Deliver contextual training alongside performance warnings to enable self-correction.

  • Localise communication to improve clarity and fairness across a diverse workforce.

While initially focused on corrective action, the system has the structure to support more balanced and empowering feedback.

  • Introduce positive reinforcement through automated recognition or bonuses.

  • Deliver contextual training alongside performance warnings to enable self-correction.

  • Localise communication to improve clarity and fairness across a diverse workforce.

Take learnings, and create better outcomes.

Want to find out more?

Lets connect.

Want to find out more?

Lets connect.