Farming the Future: The Impact of UX Research on Washington’s Labor Landscape

Name: Anthro-Tech
Price range: $

Case Study

Washington State Employment Security Department

Farm worker loading picked apples into a bin

The Problem

Washington State’s Employment Security Department (ESD) plays a crucial role in job placement and economic growth. However, ESD’s way of hiring workers for seasonal fruit farms, particularly through the H-2A Visa Program, is bogged down by slow and complicated processes, making it tough to get workers to farms quickly when they’re needed.

Farmers shaking hands in an apple orchard — The H-2A program assists American farmers in hiring temporary foreign workers, which is vital when there is a local labor shortage.

Crops like apples, berries, cherries, grapes, and pears are essential to Washington's agriculture, relying on manual-intensive labor for cultivation and harvest. Worker shortages or recruitment challenges directly impact farm productivity, food availability, and regional economic stability.

To address these issues, ESD collaborated with Anthro-Tech on a customer experience study, aiming to understand and enhance the recruitment process for farmworkers, growers, and employers.

The Solution

Anthro-Tech conducted an eight-month research project focusing on agricultural recruitment dynamics, engaging directly with farmworkers, growers, and employers to identify actionable solutions.

Through in-person research and focus groups, our UX Researchers highlighted the importance of community connections in farming and identified communication challenges. Employers expressed concerns about workforce stability, while farmworkers struggled to secure reliable jobs, indicating the need for simplified hiring processes. We crafted, tested, and refined journey maps, using visual aids to illustrate different perspectives and to help ESD stakeholders grasp the complexities. These findings were synthesized into a reference document for clarity and accessibility.

Agricultural farmworker experience map — Anthro-Tech crafted, tested, and refined journey maps using visual aids to illustrate different perspectives.

The Impact

Our evidence-based recommendations have had a significant impact, aiming to improve the recruitment process for everyone involved. Our recommendations involve clarifying ESD and its partners' roles, providing more resources and support to farmworkers, enhancing language assistance, and adjusting the recruitment system to fit the norms of workers and employers.

These actions have strengthened connections among ESD, farmworkers, growers, and employers, bringing about positive changes and making recruitment in Washington State more efficient. Anthro-Tech's efforts, grounded in empathy and practicality, will create a smoother recruitment experience for all stakeholders.

Project Toolkit

Discovery: Literature review
Discovery interviews with stakeholders and user population representatives
User Research: In-person and remote one-on-one moderated interviews
In-person and remote focus groups
Journey mapping; testing and iterating

“Workers don’t have transportation. They usually don’t have cell phone reception. They don’t speak the language… We say go online and click here, …but that’s not doable most of the time. …So we think we have these services available … but not for that group of workers. ... So when we establish processes and systems, we need to keep those things in mind.”
—Community Partner

“For people who don't know phone numbers or the technology, you have to walk to the farm and arrive or know someone. It's difficult to use.”
—Farmworker

Facts & Figures

11: Discovery interview sessions with stakeholders, growers, farmers, and employers
3: In-person site visits
6: Focus groups
2: Journey maps