Wages Protection System - MENA Region
My Role
Lead Designer,
Lead Researcher,
Mentor
Duration
Planned - 6 months
Actual - 6 months
Design Team Size
3 (1 Researcher, 2 designers)
Key Responsibilities
Led the research and design
Fostered cross-functional collaboration
Bridging knowledge gaps and educating the team
Translating complex requirements into design solutions
Proactive requirement gathering and analysis
Overview
Led the design and development of a Wages Protection System (WPS), an electronic payroll handler integrated with card issuance in the MENA region for M2P. This initiative aimed to disrupt the existing bank-dominated WPS landscape by positioning NBFCs as viable and more accessible providers, while offering financial inclusion for blue-collar workers through prepaid/salary cards.
Problem statement
Despite implementation of the Wages Protection System (WPS) in the UAE and MENA, employers (Corporates) face challenges such as
Limited WPS provider options
Potentially high bank fees, and integration complexities
Penalties for non-compliancy
This hinders efficient and cost-effective payroll processing, while also limiting the financial inclusion of a significant workforce.
Goal
To design and launch a user-centric electronic wages transfer system, WPS, that leverages NBFC capabilities to offer a more cost-effective, compliant, and integrated payroll solution for employers in the MENA region.
How?
The design phase began with limited input (vague screens without source), forcing the product into "zero-to-one", shifting major task flow towards design team.
To overcome this, the design team proactively sourced and analyzed information from various channels to build a solid understanding of the requirements, including HR tool integration.
Gathered insights on blue collared users from previous research and market study documents.
Explored open source WPS tools and APIs for preparing WPS compliant salary processing.
Collaborated with the Tech team and mapped our services and with UAE WPS guidelines to identify the touch points.
Designed wireframes which helped both the design and product team to validate our understanding with the NBFCs.
Key Challenges
The product team initially lacked a comprehensive understanding of the specific requirements and nuances of the Wage Protection System (WPS) in MENA region and the associated challenges faced by employers.
Furthermore, the team faced limitations in accessing actual end-users for direct feedback, which significantly hindered the development of robust and relevant use cases within the established timeline. A typical constraint in many product development scenarios.
The project lacked readily available reference materials or prior documentation.
Breaking down the UAE WPS guidelines into simple design use cases and user journeys proved difficult as the guidelines were mainly focused on developing compliant systems architecture and API integration.
A quick snapshot of the Wages Protection System application
IMPACT
NBFCs were able to provide affordable WPS solutions to the MENA employers
Reduced risk of the penalties with a fully compliant WPS
Streamlined payroll processing with automated SIF creation and salary distribution