What Are You #WorkingFor? / Always Designing for People

Read the campaign story

ADP announced What Are You #WorkingFor? on 8 March 2019 alongside the brand platform Always Designing for People. The campaign connected a human-capital management company with the motivations of people at work. Its launch plan included client and employee stories, a new manifesto and a dedicated microsite. Television was scheduled for later that month, so the announcement date and the television start should not be treated as identical.

The launch also included SXSW activity with WIRED and a metaphorical Breaking Barriers experience. Contemporary production coverage names Havas New York and director Sandra Winther of Sibling Rivalry for the client-story work. A separate archive lists Havas Chicago, so the credit record contains a discrepancy. The documented creative programme does not prove that participants’ workplaces improved or that the activation removed structural barriers.

Editorial interpretation: the question shifts attention from an employer’s systems to a worker’s reasons for participating. Payroll, scheduling and administration can seem remote until connected to the people depending on them. That creates a useful route into a complex service category. It also makes the brand’s responsibility more visible: a people-centred promise should be reflected in how the underlying processes treat people.

Editorial interpretation: the campaign’s breadth needs an operational anchor. Different workers can give very different answers to the same question, and not every answer becomes a relevant service story. A strong adaptation would select examples that connect motivation with a specific experience the organisation can influence. Otherwise, the brand risks collecting moving personal statements while leaving the real sources of workplace frustration untouched.

Ask a question the organisation can act on

Before inviting stories, decide what decisions the answers could change. A service provider might discover that clearer information matters more than another celebratory message. Explain the intended use of contributions and avoid implying that every suggestion will be implemented. Listening becomes credible when participants can see a bounded response, including an honest explanation of what remains outside the organisation’s authority.

Keep employee participation genuinely optional

A workplace campaign carries power differences that ordinary consumer participation may not. Separate consent from performance assessment, allow people to decline without penalty and offer review of their portrayal. Do not ask for sensitive family or health details to make the story emotionally stronger. The campaign should recognise workers as contributors, not treat their private motivations as raw material owned by the employer.

Distinguish an experience from a structural outcome

An installation can help people notice a barrier or express a hope. It cannot by itself establish that a barrier has been removed. Pair any experiential metaphor with a concrete resource, process change or accountable next step. Measure the experience on its own terms and evaluate operational changes separately. This prevents a memorable event from becoming an unsupported claim about organisational progress.

A small test for another brief

Proposed adaptation: invite a small group of consenting adult customers to describe one work process they wish felt easier, then publish three practical responses alongside the stories.

Measure whether readers understand the service’s role and whether the chosen process becomes clearer in a follow-up usability check. Evaluate participation comfort separately from brand preference.

Stop if contributors feel obliged to participate, sensitive details are needed for the creative effect or the organisation cannot follow through on its stated response.

• Use independent recruitment and explicit permission, with no pressure from participants’ managers.
• Choose problems the service team can realistically address within the pilot.
• Publish accessible stories and a dated explanation of the change, limitation or next step for each.