Providing managers with the tools they need to keep their teams full while saving HR hours of tedious work.

Built for Teams was ready to scale. To attract larger customers they needed to solve more complex problems. The first on the list was the slow, fragmented process of getting new positions approved across layers of management. Whether filling a vacancy or opening a new role, the approval process is critical for managing turnover, supporting team growth, and preventing burnout. Was there a way we could make this process faster, more flexible, and still structured enough to fit within a corporate hierarchy?

 

MY ROLE
Design
Research

Desired User Outcomes

Outcomes That Earn Customer Buy In

We needed to determine the benefit our customers were looking for from our product and what behavior changes would signal that they’d achieved it.

 
 

Primary User

HR Manager

Goal: Spend less time, and stress, facilitating new position requests.

  • Erica is 42 years old and works as the HR Manager at Redwood Systems. She's responsible for maintaining staffing processes across departments, and lately, she’s been stretched thin coordinating the approval of new roles.

    She’s constantly responding to one-off manager requests, manually tracking down approvers, and making sure every position follows the right process. Erica values precision and clarity, but the current system leaves her managing a lot of invisible work.

    What Erica really wants is a system that takes all that manual coordination off her plate—so she can get back to the work she loves: building a great place to work.

Secondary User

Manager

Goal: Stay ahead of turnover and growing workloads before it becomes a burnout situation.

  • Marcus is 38 years old and leads a regional sales team at Redwood Systems. Sales is growing fast, and turnover can hit hard—when someone leaves, the rest of the team feels it immediately. Marcus knows that even a few days of delay in backfilling a role can throw off momentum and impact performance.

    He’s responsible for initiating position requests, but he finds the current system confusing and slow. He doesn’t always know where requests stand, who needs to approve them, or how long the process will take.

    Marcus wants a clear, fast way to submit and track position requests—something that puts him in control and helps keep his team staffed and focused on closing deals.

Secondary User

Upper Level Roles

Goal: Quickly and easily approve new position requests that align with budget and strategy.

  • David is 55 years old and Redwood Systems’ CFO. His job is to ensure the company is growing responsibly—and that includes staffing. He’s the final stop for many position approvals, but by the time a request reaches him, he expects it to be polished and justified.

    David wants confidence that a role is truly needed, fits within budget, and has already been vetted by department heads and HR. When requests are unclear or missing context, it disrupts his workflow and slows down the hiring pipeline.

    He would prefer a system where he’s only looped in at the right time, with everything he needs to make a decision in one glance.

The Solution

Efficient Approval Logic

Flexible paths to faster approvals.

Whether approvals need to happen in order or all at once, the workflow can handle both. Features like “require only one approval” keep the process moving, even when multiple approvers are involved.

Smart, Adaptive Workflows

Set it and forget it.

Workflows adapt automatically based on the position’s place in the org chart. HR creates the rules once, and the system takes care of routing each request to the right approvers—no manual updates required.

Manager-Led Requests

Put the request in the right hands.

Managers—who best understand the staffing need—can kick off a request with all the necessary details. From role justification to budget and headcount, the request is complete before it ever hits HR’s inbox.

Approve from Anywhere

Email approvals, no login required.

Approvers can approve, deny, or request changes directly from their email. This removes bottlenecks and keeps workflows moving—even when decision-makers are on the go.

Full Transparency for HR

Track every request, every step.

HR managers get a clear, visual dashboard showing each position’s progress through approvals. They can step in if needed—or just sit back and let the system do the work.

Measuring for Success

Tracking Business Outcomes

Adoption: Are Managers Using It?

How many managers submitted position requests? Frequent use means the tool is solving a real need and becoming part of their workflow.

Completion: Are Requests Reaching the Finish Line?

How many requests made it through the full approval process? Low completion rates indicate a problem.

Support Load: Can It Run Without Handholding?

How many customer service calls are about the new position workflow? It is intuitive enough to stand alone?