The problem
A transfer is basically a job change, plus all the country-specific stuff the new location needs. Without a way to do that, companies were terminating people in one country and rehiring them in another, which splits one person's history into two records.
On top of that, some of the information doesn't even exist yet when the transfer starts. Things tied to the move, like a visa, only come in after the person relocates.
Mapping the data
We started with a sticky-note session with my design, content, and product partners to get every field we could think of out on the table. I moved it all into Figma, sorted it out, and then checked it with the leads for each area, like compensation, benefits, and payroll.
We ended up with about 80 fields in 5 categories, with subsections where a category got big.
What didn't work
At first we looked at whether a transfer was just a termination plus a new hire, so we could combine those two flows. Once we laid them side by side, it was clear that wouldn't work. A new hire flow assumes you're starting from nothing, but someone transferring already has most of their info in the system. We would have been asking people to re-enter things we already knew.
Key decisions
01
Start from what's already known
Everything we already have is filled in and editable. The HR person just reviews it and changes what's different in the new country.
02
Group by who knows the answer
Work details has compensation, benefits, time, and payroll as subsections. Different specialists own each of those, so each one can be handed off separately.
03
Hand off a section, not the whole form
The HR person can send a section to someone else. That person gets a notification and a task in their inbox, and takes over that part. Some pieces show up as a task to approve, and they can still edit if something's off.
04
Let the transfer move before every answer exists
If something's still pending, like a work permit, you can mark it "Applied for" and keep going. Once the employee starts in the new country, they get a reminder to fill it in.
Transfer · Work details
Sections
CompensationPre-filled · reviewed
BenefitsSent to benefits specialist
PayrollTask to approve
Personal information
Work permitApplied for
ReminderSent to the employee after their start date
Simplified recreation. Sections can be handed off, and missing details can be marked as applied for.
Who's involved
- HR practitioner kicks off the transfer and reviews what's already filled in.
- Specialists pick up their sections from a notification and a task in their inbox.
- Approvers sign off, and can make edits if something needs fixing.
- The employee fills in whatever only shows up after the move.
Where it stands
The design is done but it hasn't been built yet. Honestly, most of the work was the information architecture. Once the data had the right structure, the screens came together pretty naturally. Each person sees fewer fields, and nobody gets stuck on something they can't fill in yet.
How we'll measure it
- Before launch: test with clients to make sure we've covered the requests they raised. We've already started doing this with the design.
- After launch: fewer requests to transfer someone manually in the system.
