A day in the life of an employee experience specialist

How did you get into a career as an employee experience specialist?

I have worked in Danske Bank for 14 years. I started working as a Teller in a Branch which I absolutely loved and learned a lot about the organisation and our customers. I’ve always been interested in culture, engagement and development and am passionate about working with people and a career in HR seemed ideal. I applied for a position as a HR Administrator and gained experience in our Recruitment, Project and HR Advisory functions, I was promoted to Team Leader (a role involving the management of a small team) and recently appointed to the role of Employee Experience Consultant.

Whilst in HR I studied and obtained professional Banking qualifications with the Institute of Bankers and I am currently studying for a CIPD Level 5* Intermediate HRM Certificate.

What are the key responsibilities in your role?

My role is focussed on using our systems and ways of working to enhance the employee experience. Using agile methodologies to map out key employee journeys, address pain points and to make recommendations on how we can enhance the employee experience. We focus on the employee and develop processes and policies using employee feedback as a valuable tool.

I am the lead for the disability strand in our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion initiative.

Describe a typical day.

Each day is varied but it usually starts with a daily scrum – we discuss our HR projects and focus on deliverables. I interview employees about their own employee experience journey and based on this form recommendations, this normally involves design thinking and input from other team members, we love to have an ideation session where everyone has a voice and we vote on our top ideas for implementation.

The day can continue to include sprint planning, reviews and retrospectives. Research and analytics are important to find out best practice in the market.

What skills are needed for this role?

It is important to be able to engage and collaborate with all team members and stakeholders at different levels. A growth mind-set, resilience and being open to new ideas are essential.

What challenges do you face in this role?

The pace of change requires you to continuously evolve and update employee experiences.

What keeps you motivated to go into work every day?

I am lucky to have great colleagues and the chance to make a positive impact on our people processes.

What advice would you give someone considering a career in HR?

Give it a go, it is extremely rewarding to see what a difference you can make, what is the worst that can happen!

^{* This is a pre-2021 CIPD qualification.}