Making a mandatory internal tool actually accessible
A full accessibility and UX audit and redesign of the HR platform every Oxfam GB employee is required to use, proving that "internal tool" is not an excuse for a lower accessibility bar.
The problem
Oxfam's internal HR platform, used by every one of its 2,000+ staff for essential functions like leave, payroll and policy access, had never been formally evaluated against accessibility standards. That put staff who rely on assistive technology at a structural disadvantage, for a system participation in which isn't optional.
My role
I led the full accessibility and UX audit and redesign, applying WCAG guidelines and the practical grounding from my Microsoft accessibility certifications (Accessibility Fundamentals, Digital Accessibility, and Disability and Accessibility) to a real, high-stakes internal system.
Research & evaluation
The audit combined a structured WCAG conformance review (navigation, forms, color contrast, focus order and screen-reader compatibility) with usability sessions involving staff, so fixes addressed both technical conformance and lived difficulty using the platform day to day.
Process
Issues were prioritized by severity and reach rather than fixed in the order they were found, and every recommendation was scoped with the development team for implementation feasibility. The goal was a system that shipped fixes, not a report that sat on a shelf.
The solution
A WCAG-aligned redesign of the HR platform's core flows: accessible form patterns, consistent focus order and visible focus states, sufficient color contrast, and screen-reader-compatible navigation throughout.
Impact
A full accessibility and UX overhaul delivered for a platform used by 2,000+ employees, extending the same evidence-based, accessibility-first standard applied to Oxfam's public-facing donation experience to the tools its own staff rely on every day.
Reflection
Internal tools rarely get the accessibility attention public-facing products do, despite being mandatory for every employee. This project made the case that "internal" is not a lower bar. The hardest trade-off wasn't technical, it was prioritization: severity and reach didn't always point to the same fix first. I had to argue for keyboard-navigation and screen-reader issues that were less visible than contrast problems, but shut staff out of the platform entirely.