Nobody lodges an unfair dismissal claim on a good day. People who contact the Fair Work Commission are often dealing with uncertainty and stress at a hard point in their working lives. So the service they reach needs to be simple, accessible and clear about what happens next.
That idea shaped our work with the Commission, and we’re proud that the Australian Good Design Awards have recognised it at Gold level.
The challenge
Before the redesign, conciliation ran across separate systems and channels. Matters passed between several tools, which meant data was entered more than once, triage was manual and much of the coordination happened by phone. People often had to call just to find out where their matter was up to.
The Commission had already set a clear vision. It had mapped the journeys of the people using its services and defined what “Start Online, Stay Online” should mean. The next step was to turn that vision into a working, end-to-end service.
How we approached it
We built on the Commission’s existing journey mapping. We worked with frontline staff through interviews and service blueprinting, and studied case volumes, hand-offs and where matters were getting stuck. We tested prototypes with staff and checked them with citizens in usability testing, then used what we learned to refine the intake logic and workflows before rolling them out.
The result is one connected service for both the people lodging claims and the staff managing them:
- Online lodgement, with people able to track their matter as it progresses
- A single case workflow covering intake, triage, scheduling and resolution
- Intelligent routing, with clear lines between automated support and human judgement
- Configurable forms and workflows, accessibility aligned to WCAG, and real-time operational visibility for staff
The outcomes
The published results show the difference for both citizens and staff:
- Response times, measured from lodgement to first structured triage and assignment, improved
- Manual data entry errors fell
- Within months of launch, more matters were being managed digitally, reducing reliance on phone channels
A shared achievement
This award reflects a real partnership. The Commission brought the vision and a deep understanding of its service and the people who use it. Together, we turned that vision into a working service through research, design, delivery and implementation.
Thank you to the Fair Work Commission for their trust, collaboration and shared commitment to improving access to workplace justice. Congratulations also to the people on both teams who questioned assumptions, worked through the complexity and kept the people using this service at the centre of every decision.
Read more about the project on the Good Design Australia website.
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