ADP Mobile

Mobile app redesign · ADP × Georgia Tech

A payroll app where each worker builds their own Home.

Status

Handed to ADP

Role

Design lead, team of four

Field

Payroll & HR · Enterprise

Timeline

Aug–Dec 2025

11 of 12

testers approved the widget Home

Starting point

Give each worker a reason to open the app.

ADP's first idea for bringing people back was game features. We checked with workers first: 100+ survey responses and 13 interviews. We also walked through ADP's own flows with two test accounts and compared them with Workday and UKG.

ADP's goal

Transactional

Open it for one task, then leave.

Transformational

Worth opening beyond the tasks people have to do.

Home

An offer

ADP next to Workday and UKG

Shortcuts show up twice and offers send people out. UKG puts clock-in first.

Under 5 min29

5–10 min28

10–20 min6

20+ min4

57 of 69 spend under 10 minutes

Most visits are one quick task, then people leave.

Used 7Not sure 9Never 52

52 of 68 never used rewards

The few who had used real benefits, like an employee discount.

Fit the app to each worker's core tasks, and make their information easy to find and use.

Our design goal. ADP's team saw the findings and agreed to change direction.

The Home

Every worker needs something different from the first screen.

Hourly and salaried workers open the app for different things, and every company sets it up its own way. So I turned the Home into widgets that each worker picks and sizes, and cut the taps it takes to reach a task.

Check pay

Tax papers

Ask for time off

See time off

Clock in or out

Company info

Check a schedule

Health insurance

Retirement 6

BeforeFrom two different accounts

After

What 70 workers open the app for. Each picked their top three in our survey.

What changed on the Home

Two shortcut areas showing much the same thing

One set of widgets each worker picks and sizes

Search was the only way to see every feature

An All Apps tab in the bottom bar, one tap away

Offers sent people out of the app

New offers show up as a notice on the Home

Company info mixed in with daily tasks

Company info in a side menu, opened from the Home

Pay and offers

Pay and offers should make sense at a glance.

The old Pay was hard to read, and offers filled a row of the Home that few people used.

Tap View details: more numbers to scroll

Tap Detailed Breakdown: every deduction, with its colour, name and amount

Before

Old Pay: a small chart with no labels

Tap View details: more numbers to scroll

Tap View statement: a scanned pay stub

After

New Pay: take-home pay first

Tap Detailed Breakdown: every deduction, with its colour, name and amount

Pay

Where your money goes, one tap away.

A chart with no labelsEvery deduction named, one tap away

New Home: a notice only when an offer is new

The offer shows its deal and who can use it first

Before

Old Home: a full row of offers

An offer opens on legal text

Then sends you to another website

After

New Home: a notice only when an offer is new

The offer shows its deal and who can use it first

Offers

Off the Home, until there's something new.

Only 7 of 68 people we surveyed had used offers in a work app.

A row of offers on every HomeA notice only when one is new

Navigation

Every feature, and your own details, should be easy to find.

Search was the only way to see every feature, and your profile was mixed in with Settings.

Before

Open Search to look for a feature

Only 6 of 15 features show

All Features: one long list

After

All Apps has its own tab

Every feature, A to Z

One tap sorts them into groups

All Apps

Every feature, one tap away.

The groups came from a card sort with 7 people. 9 of 12 testers liked them better.

One long list in SearchAn All Apps tab, in groups

Before

Your photo opens a menu

Profile sits next to Feedback and Settings

Profile opens on work information

After

The briefcase opens company tools

People Finder, Org Chart, the handbook

Your own details live in the Profile tab

Personal, banking and other details

Profile

Company information apart from your own.

Testers didn't always notice the briefcase, so a menu icon would be the next fix.

Company and personal details mixedEach in its own place

Design system

Every screen is built from the same widgets, buttons and icons.

I built a small design system on iPhone conventions, so every screen matches.

Widgets in three sizes

Each worker picks how much shows.

Colours with a meaning

Blue for actions, orange for alerts.

Familiar iPhone parts

SF Pro, so there is nothing new to learn.

The ADP style guide: type, colours, widgets in three sizes and shared components

Testing

Each worker built a Home, and 11 of 12 approved it.

12 people tried the prototype on their own, and three UX experts reviewed it.

Flow 1 · Tap the new offer notice

Offers

Rated easy. One tester missed the notice.

Flow 2 · Clock in, then open the briefcase

Clock in and company info

The briefcase and clocking in caused trouble.

Flow 3 · Swap widgets, then check your pay

Building the Home

11 of 12 approved the widget Home.

Biggest problemClocking in from a widget could start a shift by accident.

Reflection

The biggest idea should be tested first.

What I'd do differently

Test the big idea sooner. The widget Home was only tested in the last round.

Label new symbols. Testers missed the briefcase, so new icons need words.

What's next

NowSlide to clock in, with a clear confirmation. Rename “Snapshot” to “Explore.” Proposed, not built.

OpenDid it bring people back? We'd count return visits.

LaterA web version of the same Home and All Apps.

Credits

Drew Flaherty, Nathan Lin, Simran DulkuADP's mobile design team, and our professors Carrie Bruce and Richard Henneman