Trash the tip is a research project conducted for my design research masters course.
Our initial goal was to improve the experience of restaurant workers in New York City. Our research focused on how tip-based restaurant workers prepare for financial crisis.
Through the use of design research and human centered design methodologies, our team suggested several recommendations and proposed the concept of a city-wide campaign that draws awareness to the financial uncertainty the tipping system creates.
PROJECT
OVERVIEW
photo credit: Oyster Bar, NYC
ROLE
DESIGN RESEARCHER, LEAD VISUAL DESIGNER
PROJECT DURATION
2018 | 4 MONTHS
COLLABORATORS
Team of 5
NYC'S RESTAURANT WORKERS IN CRISIS
DESIGN APPROACH
PHASE 1
CONTEXT
DEFINING THE PROBLEM
NYC'S TIPPED WORKERS
NYC is know for it’s innovative food and restaurant culture. Restaurants are a driving force in New York’s economy. Restaurant and foodservice jobs in New York equal 9% of employment in the state and is estimated to amount to 51.6 billion in sales 2018. (1)
Unfortunately tipped workers remain one of the lowest paid employees. They are paid a lower minimum wage that starts at $2.13 an hour at the federal level (lower than the average federal minimum wage of $7.25) Therefore, a service worker’s salary depends heavily on tips from customers which in essence subsidize and determine their salary. This places workers in vulnerable and precarious situation while having to navigate their livelihood.
PHASE 2
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
RESEARCH
The tipping system is divisive.
Immigration status is actually one of the main reasons why 97% of the garment industry is made up of immigrant women. Employers are able to take advantage of this by keeping wages low and using exploitative practices, because immigrant women have no safe way of reporting abuses. They risk being fired or deported.
1
Tipped workers are incentivized to stay in lower-wage jobs in order to qualify for basic services like healthcare.
Garment Manufacturing can provide an entry point into the middle class for many but given the dwindling number of manufacturing firms and lack of support on a citywide level, it remains just that, an entry point. Fashion Design fields and Entrepreneurship prove to be an opportunity for economic mobility. By preparing immigrant women to hone both skill sets within manufacturing and design, they are better equipped to access multiple creative career pathways.
2
Cooperative Models can help make the creative field more diverse.
The Creative Innovation economy, led by high-skilled, highly educated professionals, has been growing substantially and drives much of the city’s high-wage jobs. We also know the creative field is lacking in diversity.
In contrast, there is a drastic increase in the number of women minority owned local manufacturing businesses in NYC. The Cooperative business model structure can be an opportunity for BIPOC communities to enter the creative field while ensuring all workers are paid fairly. This is particularly important when dealing with immigrant and undocumented women who are more vulnerable to exploitation and unjust working conditions.
3
KEY INSIGHTS
PHASE 3
SYNTHESIS & SCOPING
01
Intercept Surveys
The founding coop members used a playful card sorting activity to assess their technical, soft skills, digital skills and their level of confidence as well as their career goals.
02
One-on-One Interviews
Self identification can be used as a tool for empowerment.
Goal
To learn how members define themselves creatively during this transitional period in their careers.
03
Participatory Research
blurb on empahty map
Goal
To understand which materials & tools would be necessary to support the data gathering process mechanism so it would be useful and easily accessible by coop members.
Activity
We led the conversation by using several prompts to inspire conversation, moments of share outs and emotional check ins. The learnings were then
04
Empathy Map
blurb on empahty map
Goal
To understand which materials & tools would be necessary to support the data gathering process mechanism so it would be useful and easily accessible by coop members.
Activity
We led the conversation by using several prompts to inspire conversation, moments of share outs and emotional check ins. The learnings were then
05
Challenger Framework
blurb on empahty map
Goal
To understand which materials & tools would be necessary to support the data gathering process mechanism so it would be useful and easily accessible by coop members.
Activity
We led the conversation by using several prompts to inspire conversation, moments of share outs and emotional check ins. The learnings were then
DESIGN CONCEPTS
PHASE 4
SUGGESTED RECOMMENDATIONS
PILOT
In March 2020, Due to the Covid-19 Pandemic, I was not able to officially pilot Workways.
As we now know the pandemic hit immigrants, low income and people of color hardest. The coop members’ efforts and time were being used to work remotely producing masks to our front line responders.
Workways would have been launched by holding a series of workshops similar to the last round of prototyping. The Coop Lead would host and facilitate the workshops with the coop members utilizing all the designed materials along with the feedback report.
CENSUS POPULATION ANALYSIS & SAMPLING PLAN
Conducting secondary research and in-depth interviews with stakeholders including restaurant workers, managers and restaurant owners, we learned about not only the lack of health insurance offered to employees but the inability for tipped employees to afford the monthly premium when health insurance is offered by their employer. We also learned about the hierarchy between front of house and back of house employees that cause a cultural divide.
We sought out to understand how restaurant workers navigate in times of financial hardships through the use of participatory methods and research probes. We interviewed a total of 30 users within a range of age and experience in the industry. After analyzing and synthesizing our data we discovered some commonalities and began to cluster and visualize these patterns.
User journey maps and service blueprinting helped us visualize and understand restaurant workers pain points during a financial emergency most of which consisted of medical emergencies.
Through our secondary research we learned of several organizations that could mitigate these emergencies. We designed quick prototypes to test our assumptions; perhaps there wasn’t enough access to these resources that could help workers navigate and alleviate financial crises.
To discover different points of interventions, we explored solutions through theory of change frameworks. Ultimately, we focused our solution on what a future without the tipping system would look like. How might we create an environment where restaurant workers are able to cover their expenses comfortably, save money consistently, afford healthcare, pay their rent, have a stable and consistent income, and the potential to advance their careers?