If I asked you, “what is the 5th fastest-growing job title right now?”, what would you guess?

You might say Barista (our love for coffee ain’t going anywhere), or Content Designer (content is king, amiright?) or TikTok Growth Strategist (I made this up but I think it sounds legit). 

The answer is, in fact… Employee Experience Manager. Ooooh. Aaaah. Swoon!

This is a huge win for the people and culture world. It’s proof that, in today's world, companies are recognising the importance of providing a great employee experience. Gone are the days where just offering a good salary and benefits was enough. Employees are looking for more - they want an engaging, inclusive, and fulfilling work environment.

But wait… there’s a catch. 

The use of the word “manager” in this job title is misleading.

Employee experiences aren’t something to be managed. Not like how you can manage a machine by keeping it at the right temperature to operate effectively, or how you can manage a social media account with regular content, scheduling and someone to respond to audience interactions. 

Employee experiences need to be designed. This is because company cultures are complex, nuanced and contextual. The conditions are constantly changing, and the needs of those who are a part of the culture are diverse, dynamic and often unpredictable. These conditions require design skills. That's why designers are becoming increasingly important members within people teams.

Designers bring a unique perspective to the table. They have a deep understanding of human behaviour and can spot pain points and opportunities for improvement in employee experiences. They're experts at research, ideation, prototyping, and testing - all of which are crucial when it comes to designing employee experiences. 

One of the coolest things about designers is their ability to take the goals, needs and strategy of an organisationcreate and create visual representations of this and the resulting employee experiences. This makes it easier for non-designers to understand and engage with the design process. By creating visual prototypes, designers can test and refine their ideas in a more tangible way, ensuring that the final product is both functional and appealing to those that need to use it.

And, finally, designers help companies attract and retain top talent. By focusing on creating those all important “delighter” moments within the employee experience, as well as developing a work environment that prioritises employee wellbeing and fosters innovation and growth, designers can help companies to build a culture that employees love to be a part of. This not only helps with employee retention, but it can also improve the company's bottom line. Because happy employees lead to happy customers. 

There are many ways that existing people teams can bring designers in - here’s 3 suggestions to get you started:

1. Bring an existing designer from your organisation into the people team on a secondment

   This is not only low cost and low barrier to entry, it’s also a great way to create culture champions beyond the people team. A successful culture relies on everyone in the company feeling a sense of ownership so having teammates from outside the people team get involved in culture initiatives is a powerful way to get them to advocate for the employee experience in their teams. You can do the same with other roles, such as developers if you need some new tech implemented or a researcher if you want to deep dive into certain challenge areas.
   
   

2. Look for design experience when hiring for employee experience roles

   When looking for candidates, consider their experience in design-related fields. Look for individuals with a background in graphic design, user experience design, or service design. These individuals will have a deep understanding of how to design for people, and they can apply these skills to the employee experience. During the hiring process, ask candidates about their experience with research, prototyping, and testing. These are all critical skills for designers, and they are equally valuable when designing employee experiences. Also, ask for examples of previous projects they've worked on, and how they went about designing for specific user groups, and creating a good culture within their project teams.
   
   

3. Partner with an external collaborator who specialises in experience design (like us 🤩)

   Culture can be sensitive and emotional to those directly involved in it so it can be helpful to bring in a friendly and compassionate external perspective to help you navigate thorny culture challenges. Our approach focuses on pulling back the design curtain and generously sharing the tools, frameworks and methods we’ve gathered over our 20 years of combined design experience. The goal is to make our clients self-sufficient culture designers and support their existing employee experience capabilities to thrive. 

So, there you have it - our take on why and how you can make designers a key component of your company's people team. And you won't regret it. By investing in design thinking, service design and prioritising employee experiences, companies can create a work environment that is both enjoyable and productive. 

Need help designing your culture? Get in touch with us at The Future Kind Collective to talk about how we can help you!