Unplugging isn’t just an individual responsibility.
“Yes! I could take care of review tasks during my son’s baseball game.” My interviewee chewed on her fingernails. “I feel like I’m chained to my desk. I would definitely use an app.”
I was appalled.
Our brief was to concept test the idea of a mobile app for financial and regulatory compliance users. It would complement the company’s existing software, allowing users to review tasks and comments on the go. We received requests for this from Sales, Marketing, and customer surveys — after all, every B2B or B2C company needs its own mobile app, right?
But I walked away from the research feeling shaken. The people we interviewed were excited about the app concept — not because it would decrease their workload or simplify anything, but because they could use it to work more.
Creating something that entices people to spend extra time, off-the-clock, on work? That’s exploitation.
Unethical design or flexibility enhancer?
Let me explain. That mobile app could encourage inequity and manipulation in multiple ways:
- Some folks start responding at all hours, which pressures the rest of the team to do the same. Failure to participate leads to resentment (“she’s not working as hard as I am”) and poor performance reviews — which disproportionately impact caretakers, parents (especially women), and people with disabilities.
- Hourly employees aren’t paid for overtime spent using the app — which is corporate wage theft.
- Companies often expect people to use their personal phones for work instead of providing one. This means agreeing to let the company wipe the device remotely… including personal apps, data, and photos.
- People can’t properly unplug and rest after work. Burnout ensues. (Not so good for business in the long run, either.)
At least, that’s what I thought at the time.
Then the 2020 pandemic descended. All of those bad effects happened anyway as businesses shifted to remote work — along with positive changes.
Now I work remotely too, and while I don’t use mobile apps for my job, it’s due to diligent culture-building by management: loudly announcing PTO, mildly shaming folks who respond when out of office, and respecting working hours.
We’re living in a cultural moment where work/life balance is seen as an individual responsibility. But the systems we design shape people’s lived experience just as much. As designers, we must take responsibility for that.
First of all, don’t design deceptive patterns
“Deceptive patterns are designs that force the user to take an action that is not in their best interest. They are prolific on the web because they are phenomenally effective at boosting conversions. However, their use is unethical and legally problematic.” — Maria Rosala for Nielsen Norman Group
These patterns are usually associated with ecommerce sites or services, but can also sneak into B2B software that people use for work. For example, making certain essential features of your web-based software available only in the mobile app to force people into downloading it. (Not cool, Etsy.)
Another common deceptive pattern in B2B settings is nagging — sending repeated emails or notifications to users trying to upsell the product or touting a new feature. Don’t waste people’s time by emailing them constantly and driving up the number of pings competing for their attention during (or outside of) the workday.
Further reading on deceptive patterns:
Help users set boundaries
If your app is collaborative, provide settings for working hours and timezone. (You can prompt new users to set this up early to encourage consistent usage.) Then, consider how working hours should affect other features like notifications and messaging. Can the software shift subtly into night mode at the end of the day? Are login timeouts long enough to accommodate most working days?
Google Calendar’s setting lets users automatically decline meetings outside working hours, and informs others when they book or view meetings outside that timeframe.
Announce boundaries so users don’t have to
Clearly indicate when people are out of office, in a different timezone, or have upcoming PTO. Software can serve as a gentle buffer between coworkers, setting expectations for when a message will be read or responded to.
Slack does this well — coworkers can even schedule messages to be delivered later. This results in more intentional interactions and fewer that come across as rude or urgent.
Help people perceive time
It’s great to get into a flow state at work, but sometimes that leads to working right through the end of the day and cutting into family time. Consumer apps like Youtube help people disengage with bedtime reminders and sleep timers. (Reminders are automatically on for minors.) And Tiktok took this a step farther by partnering with Headspace to interrupt doomscrolling with mini meditation breaks. Consider: how could your product could help build time awareness without becoming annoying?
For employees, it’s often meetings or busywork that eat up time rather than bite-size videos. Good UX can help users understand where their time is going in your product so they can better manage their workday. (Even better if you can eliminate busywork before it happens.)
Google Calendar has solved for time awareness pretty well. Time Insights allow users to analyze how much focus time and meeting time their week contains and plan ahead. They can even present this data to a manager or team to help advocate for reducing unproductive meetings.
Provide notification options
Make sure users have flexibility in choosing which notifications are muted and when. Can a working hours setting double as quiet hours, with notifications muted outside that range? Can newsletters, updates, and direct messages be managed independently, so only the most important updates go through?
The future of work/life balance is in our hands
Remote work is here to stay. UX and product designers are set to shape the future of workplace culture —so let’s do it well.
What other patterns have you seen that affect users’ work-life balance? Leave a comment and keep the discussion going! And feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn.
No AI was used in the creation of this article.