myDev

Awardees: Merry Chin (HGSE) and Adrija Navarro (GSAS)

Summary: The problem area that myDev tackles is employee turnover. According to Gallup, millennial turnover costs $30.5 billion in the U.S. annually. But what contributes to this tremendous cost? Millennial employees are most attracted to workplaces that provide opportunities to learn and grow. When reality does not meet expectations, millennial employees are quick to leave and move on to a new company. Several factors can lead to poor learning and development such as unengaged managers, poor communication, lack of growth, and project disinterest. Our work seeks to mitigate these issues, and our target audience is medium to large-sized companies who are looking to support meaningful relationships between employees and their managers to promote professional growth.

Awardees are working towards building a web-based application that focuses on professional learning development through monthly one-on-one conversations between an employee and his/her manager. myDev uses proven educational frameworks (ie. design thinking, learner agency, self-determination theory) and behavioral science methodologies to support the learning and development experience. The web application software will encourage employee agency and autonomy in one’s growth by prompting thoughtful questions and conversation starters between employees and managers both online and offline to evaluate current performance and create mindful and tangible career development plans. Awardees are currently in the research and development stage. Through questionnaires and prototype studies, they are seeking to understand what people lacked and what they appreciated most about their learning and development in past/current work experiences.