For this final research project at the Royal College of Art, we explored themes of motherhood, finance, and financial behaviour. Our research considered the rising costs in the UK and examined the motherhood penalty and current government policies for working parents. Through interviews and surveys, we identified two major issues: many working women face the dilemma of choosing between their careers and raising a family, and people often lack the habit of saving for intangible futures like children or retirement.
To address these issues, we developed eMpower, a government-led service for young corporate adults, especially women in their reproductive years.
eMpower helps create a tax-free fund within their workplace pension, allowing women to save as soon as they start working. This fund, enhanced by employer pension contributions, is used to cover childcare costs, enabling new mothers to return to work quickly after maternity leave, thereby providing financial security and support for their career progression.
As the domains of finance and motherhood are vast, I focused on understanding the current landscape by using tools like empathy maps and user journey mapping. This allowed me to gain deep insights into our target audience's mindset and financial behaviours.
As a project facilitator and leader, I took the initiative to connect with various stakeholders, partners, and audiences to ensure the effective application of our human-centered approach. I played a key role in shaping the design strategy, service customer journey, value generation, and business development. My efforts were concentrated on de-risking the service while maximizing its feasibility and viability.
From the beginning, we prioritized engaging all key stakeholders. After gaining a solid understanding of our domains, we conducted interviews with approximately 12 users and consulted with stakeholders, including HR professionals, asset managers, and mother support groups. This validated our research and ensured that our solution will be built on a strong foundation.
We adopted an iterative design and prototyping approach, rigorously testing our ideas, gathering feedback, and implementing improvements at each stage. We concept-tested our idea three times to ensure it was desirable, feasible, and viable. Looking ahead, we are committed to making our service more inclusive and expanding our target market.
UK is one of the 10 most expensive countries in the world with respect to childcare services. In our research we enquired into the reasons as well as the social, financial and emotional impact on parents in the UK and the British economy, as a result.
We first began our research by examining the financial impact people face when they decide to have a child. It was evident that the cost of raising a child from birth to 18 years is estimated between £166,000 and £220,000, and many parents, particularly those on single or double incomes with minimum or median wages, face significant financial shortfalls.
This financial burden is compounded by the high cost of childcare, which forces two out of three parents to turn down work opportunities, with women being disproportionately affected. Specifically, 61% of women with children not yet in school report that expensive childcare prevents them from working.
This financial impact that a lot of working women often face is termed as the "Motherhood Penalty". Studies show that even after seven years of having their first child, mothers earn 50% less than their male peers, 24% less than their male counterparts in general, and 15% less than their female peers without children. This wage disparity underscores the enduring economic consequences of motherhood.
To understand our audience, we spoke to 12 target users and 3 experts, ranging from company HRs to asset managers, and conducted 10 pulse interviews and surveys. It was evident that many women would prefer to return to work if childcare costs were more affordable. Additionally, rising childcare costs are only manageable for habitual savers.
Based on the interviews and surveys, we created an empathy map highlighting the financial and emotional struggles women face. Many women also have difficulty navigating the complex systems of finance, motherhood, and policies.
Key Highlights:
After creating the empathy map, we mapped out the journey of a woman embracing motherhood. It became evident that the most financially draining part of transitioning from a new mother to a working mother is arranging childcare.
Maternity leave transition
Many women feel financial guilt during maternity leave, worrying about lost income, career setbacks, and are afraid of being a burden on their families.
We believe that providing financial assistance for childcare services will help working women continue their careers.
How might we help women build financial resilience for their future childcare years so that, they don’t lose out on career opportunities and will grow to be truly financially independent, while also raising children?
Our primary research shows that people often start this new chapter of life without pre-planned funds or savings. Since only habitual savers can afford childcare in the UK, it is essential to help people start saving early in their careers. Therefore, we are targeting young adults and new employees.
eMpower helps UK working women return to work quicker after maternity leave by easing childcare financial burdens and enabling full-time work by allowing them to save tax-free for childcare.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.
After defining the service, we conducted a concept testing workshop with individuals from our target group to explore their saving habits, thoughts on saving for childcare, and awareness of childcare costs in the UK. We found that many participants were unaware of these costs and tended to save for more visible goals like cars and housing. Several women indicated that they would be interested in using the service if their partners were also involved.
Savings goals are informed by:
Historically, saving towards any specific phase of life apart from retirement was never in practice.
We conducted our service concept testing with a diverse audience at the Royal College of Art Exhibition, engaging with new parents, UK government officials, financial advisors and asset managers. The response was overwhelmingly positive, and we received a lot of constructive feedback, thus helping us understand the feasibility and viability of our service.
Feedback revealed that using numbers to substantiate our service is crucial for credibility, especially regarding costs and benefits to stakeholders.
One of the major responses was that this service should not be restricted to women and should be available to men as well. Moving forward, we plan to conduct thorough research on the journey to fatherhood to enhance the service's benefits. This approach significantly expands our target market and benefits the government. Additionally, we calculated the impact on key stakeholders such as pension providers, the government, and employers.
In conclusion, our business model defines key performance indicators such as the adoption of workplace pensions and an increase in the number of women returning to work quickly after maternity leave.
Our service, "eMpower," addresses the common behaviour of not saving for intangible goals. We believe that implementing this service will encourage people to save for childcare as soon as they start working. It can also spark discussions about the rising costs of childcare, increasing awareness. Our long-term vision is to help individuals become self-sufficient in covering childcare expenses through tax-free savings, reducing their dependence on government childcare policies.
If people become less reliant on free government childcare programs, the government could redirect some of the funds saved to more beneficial causes, such as improving childcare facilities or infrastructure.
Lastly, we have identified some constraints we might face while implementing this service, but several challenges can be mitigated with a comprehensive approach from the government.
.jpg)
My final research project at the Royal College of Art was a meaningful culmination of everything I had learned. By integrating insights from our finance lab project, Fingon, I was able to showcase the full spectrum of service design.
A few key insights that I will take forward from here:
Let's give a new meaning to problem-solving by collaborating on design thinking and impactful solutions! Looking forward to working together.
