Behind every corporate success story lies countless individual career paths. The American Opportunity Index had mastered capturing these journeys through data, tracking millions of career trajectories across America's largest companies. But transforming this wealth of information into actionable insights required a fundamental reimagining of how data could serve both employers and employees.

The Was

As a joint venture between the Schultz Family Foundation, the Burning Glass Institute, and Harvard Business School's Managing the Future of Work Project, the Index had already established itself as a powerful resource. Using big data analytics, it tracked real-world career trajectories of nearly 5 million employees across America's largest companies, with a particular focus on roles accessible to non-college graduates.

However, the platform faced substantial usability challenges that limited its impact:

• The website's navigation proved cumbersome, making it difficult for users to access and understand critical information.
• There was a notable absence of contextual information, such as case studies and deeper data analysis, which constrained the platform's utility for stakeholders.
• The data was about to expand from 250 to 396 corporations

More fundamentally, the index's presentation gave the impression of being a policy tool rather than a practical resource for corporate change, potentially limiting its adoption among its target audience.

The How

The transformation strategy centered on creating a more accessible, user-focused platform while maintaining the index's analytical rigor. Through comprehensive user testing, the team identified critical areas for improvement in user comprehension and navigation. This testing revealed that not a single test user could execute all tasks correctly, highlighting the urgent need for a more intuitive design.

A collaborative workshop with stakeholders yielded crucial insights, leading to a clear distinction between explanatory and exploratory content. This understanding informed a complete reorganization of the site architecture, with content tailored to different audience needs. The team implemented significant improvements including:

• A reimagined navigation system with clear content hierarchies
• Enhanced accessibility features, including optimized typography and color contrast
• An expanded color system supporting more diverse data visualization needs
• Restructured data hub highlighting relationships between dimensions, metrics, and sub-metrics
• Implementation of familiar UI patterns to reduce cognitive load and allow users to navigate more easily both vertically through the different level of data and horizontal from company to company.

Impact

The redesigned platform successfully achieved its three core objectives:

1. Creating a compelling showcase for organizations excelling in worker mobility
2. Providing organizations with actionable data for decision-making
3. Demonstrating clear relationships between retention, diversity, and acquisition through new categorical analysis

The transformation resulted in a more engaging, transparent, and user-friendly platform that effectively serves both corporate leaders and workforce stakeholders. By emphasizing empirical testing and user-centered design, the index evolved from a complex data tool into an accessible resource for driving meaningful change in worker mobility and corporate performance.

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