Finalists and Winners

AdaptAble is a workplace hub to help employers better understand long COVID and provide accommodations.

Project Case Study

Long COVID touches the lives of roughly 16 million working-age Americans, according to the CDC. These are more than numbers. They're people with a story who may struggle daily, affecting both their personal and work lives. This project focused on the essential need for workplace accommodations (as recommended by the Health + Long COVID Human-Centered Design Report). 

The prototype website, www.longcovidatwork.com, provides employers with resources to learn, support accommodation, and grow their workforce’s understanding and empathy. 

Project Team

I participated in this project as an individual leveraging my background in organizational development and workplace learning, and with technology and generative AI. I invited feedback and input from others to help shape design and provide different perspectives.

Problem Addressed

Recognizing the impact Long COVID has, I focused on the need for workplace accommodations. Specifically, employer education and support based on recommendations in the Health + report. Working with employers, I’ve found most want to do the right thing. Often it comes down to awareness and resources. When these things are in place, workplaces can make empathy and understanding a part of their culture and better provide accommodations.

Project Approach

My initial concept was a website with fact-based resources, tools, and insights for employers. It included an AI-powered chatbot. Based on phase 1 feedback, discussions with colleagues working with AI, and employers, I narrowed the AI focus and minimized risk by focusing solely on an accommodation idea bot. This decreased the likelihood of negative outcomes from hallucinations and allowed me to provide examples shared by the Job Accommodation Network (JAN).

Once deliverables were defined, I researched federally available information and laid the website out into three distinct sections. This three part framework helps provide scaffolding for employers and makes it easier to find relevant information:

• Learn: General awareness about Long COVID, symptoms, and the impact on those with  it.

• Accommodate: Resources for accommodating employees with Long COVID. 

• Grow: Resources to grow workforce understanding and knowledge of Long COVID.

Once data and resources were selected, I noticed a gap with existing federal resources for training materials. The training need was based on the Health + report recommended ideas for opportunity area 3. 

To close this gap, I curated videos from reputable sources, such as a news station. For training, I used information from federal sources to build two short prototype workplace modules:

• Manager/supervisor awareness and accommodations.

• Employee awareness and empathy.

These were rapidly created using an AI-powered tool MindSmith. As an experienced instructional designer, I reviewed the initial outputs, edited, and ensured content alignment with objectives and resources.

Obstacles Encountered

In addition to the AI obstacle, another was user feedback. I overcame this by using existing relationships and research. I spoke with two individuals with Long COVID and used the stories in the Health + report to ensure deliverables support desired outcomes. I also asked employers and those in the AI/tech space to test and provide feedback on the site. Getting feedback from a more diverse user set would be a goal for future iterations. 

Federal Information and Datasets Used

I used many federal sources for information. The primary was the Health + report which helped shape the deliverables. Another was JAN (a service of the U.S. DOL’s Office of Disability Employment Policy) and CDC. I used these to curate resources and information to bring awareness to Long COVID, its symptoms, impact, and potential accommodations, and develop the training prototypes. I also incorporated data from the CDC household pulse survey data.

Potential Implementation and Next Steps

If this project moved forward, the next step would be to create a Spanish site and training prototype. The CDC household pulse survey data indicates that 21.2% of Hispanics or Latinos have ever had Long COVID (the race/ethnicity with the highest reported numbers). This would help ensure they have equitable access to resources.

In addition, evaluation parameters would be created to help measure the effectiveness in improving workplace accommodations during a pilot in organizations. Potential measures include the accommodation requests received and accepted pre and post use, employee awareness of Long COVID and the impacts, and supervisor/manager knowledge of accommodations for Long COVID. This pilot would also help validate that information and data is available to create effective training. 

Broader implementation would require further user testing of the site, training, and AI idea bot. Once improvements were made, ideally an awareness campaign (in both English and Spanish) would be developed and implemented.

This post was edited on Sep 19, 2024 by Health+ Long COVID