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The Top 16 Qualities of a Workplace Experience Manager

Keeping workers engaged, fulfilled, and challenged in the workplace is no easy feat. With that said, all available data shows that keeping employees happy can have major benefits and qualities of a workplace – including better work performance, more creativity and increased employee retention.

It may sound like a no-brainer, but the most important question is: how do you ensure employees have a positive experience in the workplace? To answer this question, look no further than a workplace experience manager: a person whose entire job revolves around keeping employees satisfied.

A workplace experience manager is responsible for keeping track of employees from a variety of perspectives. WorkDesign.com created a helpful infographic that clearly spells out the position, which is a role that requires multiple hats. For instance, their description of a chief employee experience officer depicts the job as an ethnographer who understands needs, a promoter who amplifies employee purpose, a matchmaker who connects people, a designer who reduces friction and a concierge who creates moments that matter.

Workplace experience managers can hold multiple titles, such as experience specialists or workplace experience directors.

What does a workplace experience manager do?

Published on the online platform Medium, Glandore, a co-working space company based in Ireland, writes that the aim of a workplace experience manager – or the similarly titled chief employee experience officer – is to “oversee all aspects of employee experience and addresses employee needs based on their place in the employee lifecycle, rather than by their job title and department.” Glandore goes on to explain, “Workplace experience managers look at the needs of workers throughout the entire employee lifecycle — from recruitment right through to retirement, as well as everything in between, including project work, networking, transfers and promotion.”

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Service Futures echoes Glandore’s sentiment, writing that a workplace experience manager is key to a happier and healthier office. Service Futures describes the role in the following way: “A dedicated workplace experience manager considers the physical environment employees work in, the tools and technologies that enable their productivity, and constantly seeks new solutions that enable employees to achieve their best at work. Whether that is securing best-in-class employee well being and wellness programmes, arranging coffee tastings, offering pop-up car wash at the parking lot, so the car is clean when leaving work or “take your family to work” days. All with the single purpose making your talents happy, motivated and loyal to your business.”

Workplace manager job description:

Let’s take a look at a few job postings for workplace experience managers to give you a better sense of their exact job descriptions and what is expected from the person occupying this role.

A CBRE posting lists the responsibilities of the workplace experience manager as the following: “This position is responsible for managing exempt and non-exempt employees on all aspects of the delivery of workplace experience services for a large building, campus, or portfolio. Oversees operating policies and procedures ensuring those are aligned with the client’s business needs, goals and objectives.”

A LinkedIn job posting for a workplace experience manager at Better.com writes that, “Our Employee Experience Managers work to build, iterate and execute on our people management processes, aligned with curating an environment where our people have the tools and resources they need to add value.”

Better.com’s posting goes on to list out the following responsibilities:

  • Employee interactions
  • Consistent check-in points (45, 90, 6 months, 1 year, exit, etc)
  • Pulse checks with ICs, Manager, Leaders
  • Providing leaders regular updates on how their team is doing
  • Provide Employee Relations support, thought partnership, and coaching for employees and management
  • Deployment of programs (examples below)
  • Onboarding success and integration
  • Working with leaders to identify high potential employees
  • Fostering a real-time and continuous feedback environment
  • Holding leaders and managers accountable to managing performance
  • Executing promotions and internal transfers

A job posting for a similar position at Finix included this description: “The Employee Experience Manager is a new role for Finix. This individual will be responsible for all programs that drive employee engagement, connectivity, work experience, and office/workplace management. They will use creativity, business insights, and deep relationship-building skills to develop and manage programs that enhance the overall people experience. As part of the People Team, they will embody and influence our company culture, values, and act as an ambassador for our people- building on strong relationships to give voice to all employees. They are expected to act as an internal consultant to facilitate and influence change programs and people initiatives. They will drive new and progressive ideas on employee engagement to make Finix an amazing place to work.”

Workplace manager salary:

Glassdoor.com lists the average base pay salary for a workplace experience manager as $70,029 a year. However, a quick look at the companies for which Glassdoor lists data, shows that the numbers can vary immensely from company to company. For example, the site lists a Microsoft Workplace Experience Manager as reporting to make between $86k-$93k whereas a Grove Collaborative role reported being between $51k-$55k.

Top 16 Qualities of Workplace Experience Manager: 

Think you have what it takes to be a workplace experience manager? The following is a list we’ve put together based on extensive research of some of the top traits it takes to succeed in the position:

  1. Team Player
  2. Creative
  3. Observant
  4. Good Listener
  5. Excellent Communicator
  6. Innovative
  7. Resourceful
  8. Organized
  9. Problem Solver
  10. Approachable
  11. Flexible
  12. Forward Thinker
  13. Inquisitive
  14. Determined
  15. Decisive
  16. Confident

Employee Happiness is Key

According to Gallup, “employees are the consumers of the workplace.” With that said, the analytics company found that the number one reason people leave their current jobs are “career growth opportunities.” Gallup’s research also determined this surprising statistic, “only 2 in 10 employees strongly agree that their performance is managed in a way that motivates them to do outstanding work.” This data gives you a sense of why prioritizing workplace experience can be so essential, and also helps explain why incorporating a workplace experience manager into your office can be so beneficial.

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SmartWay2 offers next-generation workplace experience software for modern, agile, collaborative companies. Our tools are designed to help you increase productivity and optimize space utilization.

Jane Young
Author

Jane Young

Last updated January 7, 2021