When people with an occupational disability work part-time, their salary is often supplemented by benefits. Upon request of the UWV and the National Client Council, Muzus and Optimalistic have researched how this income supplement is experienced. It turns out that, in many cases, the income supplement leads to financial problems, fear, stress and uncertainty. Furthermore, the regulations have become so complex that the human dimension has unintentionally disappeared. The serious game ‘1 hour of benefits’ enables employees of local councils, the UWV and politicians to experience how difficult it can be to make choices in a situation of scarcity and insecurity. A website with real-life stories, information folders and a research report that calls for change have also been developed. 

A solid research project that is interlaced on all levels with care, co-creation and the human dimension. It is admirable how the context mapping research, process scans and large-scale quantitative research have been combined and how closely they worked with the target group, professionals from both the healthcare and policy sectors, problem owners and designers. Research within the social domain is usually delivered in the form of thick reports with a summary of facts and figures. But facts do not provide direction and reports tend to disappear into the bottom of a drawer. By incorporating research results in the form of designs whereby legislators, policymakers and implementers experience the problem through the eyes of the target group, it takes root in a different, better way.