People experience manager

A People experience manager designs and improves the programmes that shape employees’ experience within a company. They coordinate onboarding, group activities and the collection of feedback, then turn this information into proposals for improvement. Their work connects the needs employees express with the decisions and actions of the relevant departments.

The employee journey guides their work. When someone joins, they work with the relevant colleagues to organise preparations for their arrival and their first few weeks. For existing employees, they work on rituals, events and ways to gather feedback. The job descriptions from Dust and TierPoint combine these activities with programme management and monitoring, with responsibilities varying by organisation.

The role works with HR and managers. In an organisation spread across several sites, it also draws on local contacts. The manager may coordinate providers and budgets when their responsibilities include workplaces. This practical aspect must be defined explicitly: it does not follow from the job title alone. Reporting lines, decision-making authority and activities assigned to other departments therefore need to be clarified before recruitment.

People experience manager, People Operations and Office manager: who does what?

• The People experience manager coordinates programmes and improvements to the journey employees experience.
• People Operations may take responsibility for core HR processes. At Dust, this team works in partnership with the experience manager.
• The Office manager may manage an office’s day-to-day operations and events. At Dust, this division of responsibilities distinguishes headquarters from other sites.

This division is one example of how work can be organised. Other job descriptions combine several of these responsibilities: examine the activities assigned to the role rather than inferring its authority from its title.

The first priority is to act on the needs identified. Collecting opinions, organising a welcome or proposing an event is not enough to define success in the role. To scope the hire, identify the improvements you expect and the decisions the person will actually be able to prepare or make. The responsibilities described by employers connect listening, coordination and programme follow-up in this way.

Inconsistent onboarding, for example, warrants a review of the steps and people involved: who prepares for the arrival, who coordinates equipment, and who supports the first few weeks? The need may concern continuity across this journey rather than adding a group activity. Hiring an excellent event organiser without examining their ability to lead a cross-functional project would leave this issue unresolved.

Employee feedback raises another issue. The CIPD highlights managers’ role in listening and following up. The experience manager must be able to present trends and recommendations to people with the authority to act. Asking them to address every expectation alone, without access to decision-makers, creates a gap between the stated role and the resources available. Also clarify how employees will be informed of the actions selected.

Consistency across sites requires a separate judgement. Common steps can coexist with local adaptations. Seeking an identical approach everywhere without examining needs would divert the work from its purpose. Remote employees must also be considered in the formats proposed.

Fictional example: a company is preparing a shared onboarding journey across several sites. The manager coordinates the common steps with HR and managers, then gathers information about local difficulties. They propose adjustments and follow up on the decisions made. Assessment of their work focuses on this contribution and its observable outcomes, without automatically attributing a change in retention solely to the programme.

• Coordinate onboarding, from preparations for arrival through the first few weeks, with HR, managers and support teams.
• Design and develop internal rituals and events, taking account of employees working on site and remotely.
• Gather employee feedback through complementary channels suited to the organisation.
• Analyse feedback and present recommendations to the relevant managers for improving the employee journey.
• Follow up on the actions selected and make the outcomes clear to employees.
• Coordinate local contacts to connect common steps with adaptations specific to each site.
• Monitor deadlines, entrusted budgets and indicators relevant to the programmes managed.
• Coordinate workplace providers when this responsibility forms part of the role.

Relevant skills and experience can come from HR, communication, project management or workplace coordination. Look particularly at the responsibilities the candidate has already held: preparing onboarding, coordinating several people, organising events and using employee feedback. A previous job title alone does not show the breadth of this experience.

The overseas job descriptions selected illustrate several backgrounds. TierPoint mentions studies in human resources, communication or management and experience related to HR or employee experience. For a role more focused on offices, Impact accepts a degree or equivalent experience, particularly in workplace-related activities or hospitality. These employers’ expectations do not establish a compulsory qualification in France.

To assess what the candidate has learnt, ask them to describe a programme they have run from preparation through to follow-up. An onboarding schedule, a summary of feedback or an action tracker can help clarify their contribution, in a form that protects sensitive information. Explore how they allocated tasks, sought a decision and adjusted the programme after initial feedback.

Finally, match the skills expected to the actual role. Office management responsibilities call for experience of providers and entrusted expenditure. A listening programme requires more analysis and presentation. Before personal data is collected, the ability to work with competent colleagues should also be examined. A particular certification should not replace this evidence of proficiency.

To assess this profile, you can structure discussions around the responsibilities to be taken on and the following observable evidence.

1. Define the criteria for the role

Build an assessment grid based on your priorities: onboarding, listening, cross-functional projects, coordination across sites and, where necessary, providers and budgets. Specify the level of autonomy expected for each activity.

Link each criterion to an achievement or explanation you expect to see. For onboarding, look for the ability to sequence steps and identify who is responsible. For listening, examine how feedback is turned into recommendations.

A candidate who clearly distinguishes what they can organise, propose and decide offers a positive signal. Question an account that attributes every decision to them without clarifying the other people involved.

2. Examine a past achievement

Ask the candidate to choose an improvement to the employee journey that they contributed to. Ask them to clarify the initial situation, the people involved, the constraints and the decisions made.

Then ask what they personally delivered and what was a collective decision. Examine an anonymised deliverable or a reconstruction: an onboarding schedule, a summary of feedback or an action tracker.

Explore how follow-up was communicated and how difficulties were handled. A precise description of adjustments is a positive signal. Probe claimed results that lack an explanation of follow-up or the candidate’s personal role.

3. Propose a case similar to your organisation

Fictional example: several sites report different onboarding difficulties, while remote employees feel they have little involvement in group activities.

Ask the candidate to prepare the questions to ask, the information to gather and an initial sequence of actions. Have them distinguish common steps from local adaptations and identify the people who need to be involved.

Then introduce a budget constraint or a manager’s limited availability. Observe how they revise their priorities and explain the decisions they need to seek. Do not expect a comprehensive solution without information about the organisation.

Value an approach that connects each action to a problem and plans for follow-up. Question a response limited to an event or a questionnaire without an analysis of needs.

4. Assess cooperation and communication

Ask how the candidate would handle incompatible expectations from a manager, employees and a local contact. Have them explain a priority that has been declined or deferred and the follow-up they would communicate.

Explore how they would handle sensitive feedback. Ask who should have access to the information and what checks would be needed before promising anonymity. Examine their ability to seek input from competent colleagues.

If the role includes people management, add questions about the management responsibilities they have actually held. For a role without a team, focus the discussion on cooperation and following up on commitments.

5. Compare perspectives and references

Involve an HR manager, a manager involved in onboarding and, depending on the role, a site manager. Ask each to examine the criteria relevant to their experience.

If no one has expertise in an essential aspect, have a competent professional examine it, particularly for personal data or workplace management.

With the candidate’s consent, use references to clarify their contribution, autonomy and way of working with other departments. Compare this information with the examples presented and explore discrepancies before deciding.