Jul 05 2023 28 mins
This episode features an interview with Richard McColl, Vice President of People Technology at Walmart. Richard applies Human Centric Design, Design Thinking, AI, and Technology to the associate experience at Walmart. Prior to joining Walmart, Richard served IBM for over 18 years, having held several leadership roles including Vice President and Senior Partner, Talent Technology Practice Leader. And on this episode, Richard is discussing the ins and outs of Walmart’s Superapp, applying design thinking to the employee journey, and crafting one seamless digital experience that can do everything from inform employees about their credit score to support their mental wellbeing.
Quotes
*”Our associates shouldn't need to know all of the different business platforms that we use to support them. What they should do is enjoy an end-to-end experience that stays with them and is frictionless.”
*“As we think about superapps at Walmart, we don't just think about people experiences as a standalone container. We also think about people experiences and how they're embedded with all of the capabilities that that persona will need to be effective.”
*“We've had many different benefits programs available to associates. And we pride ourselves on that. But if you have those across a number of different systems, you're putting a friction point of discoverability, navigation and different experiences and logins. All of those things create the potential of lower adoption.”
*“When we haven't used design thinking from an end to end approach to implement a tool that's part of a process and not an experience, we've missed the mark.”
Time Stamps
[2:41] Flight Plan: Get to know Walmart and the intricacies of leading People Technology there
[5:54] First Class: What are Richard’s best practices for fostering a great digital employee experience at Walmart?
[8:38] What’s a superapp?
[13:45] How is Walmart incorporating educational experiences into the digital employee experience?
[17:25] Turbulence: What can we learn from the bumpy employee experiences?
[25:56] Smooth Landing: What advice would Richard give other employee experience leaders?
Links
Connect with Richard on LinkedIn
Thanks to our friends
This episode is brought to you by Firstup, the company that is redefining the digital employee experience to put people first and lift companies up by connecting every worker, everywhere with the information that helps them do their best work. Firstup has helped over 40% of the Fortune 100 companies like Amazon, AB InBev, Ford and Pfizer stay agile and keep transforming. Learn more at firstup.io