Take the next step in your career as an employee experience director. Read our guide to learn about typical salary range, job description and what qualities you need to thrive professionally in this emerging field.
Employee experience (often abbreviated as EX, or sometimes called people experience) is a catch-all term used to describe moments in the employee lifecycle. Someone who works within EX will generally be responsible for enhancing these moments and simplifying HR processes for both managers and workers.
As EX seeks to improve the working environment, this role sits within the Human Resources department. That said, those specializing in Digital EX may also work closely with shared services and IT teams, or with project managers when new HR Tech is being implemented.
Get stuck into our guide to understand more:
Read Josh Bersin's report to learn more about the EXP market and it's future, what to look for in an EXP and how companies are using them to transform their employee experience. Read Now.
Over the last few years, we’ve seen a shift in focus when it comes to workforce management. Off the back of the COVID-19 pandemic we’ve heard a variety of buzzwords and cliches being thrown around that reflect dissatisfaction in the workplace: ‘quiet quitting’ and ‘The Great Resignation’ being just a couple of them.
Unsurprisingly, data from Google Trends shows that interest in EX has never been higher, and has approximately doubled in the last 3 years:
Although the pandemic greatly affected the way people searched online, it’s in the latter half of 2021 that we see a marked rise in interest in EX. Perhaps this is a response to increased clarity on the future of work post-pandemic, with remote work becoming normalized and the need for both virtual and hybrid processes. And of course, someone to take ownership of the experience program and monitor key EX KPIs.
This is also reflected in the growing number of openings for roles in Employee Experience. In February 2023, a search on LinkedIn’s “Jobs” tab for “employee experience” in the US and UK returned over 26.5k results. Postings for “Director” level roles returned nearly 1,100 results.
On the US-version of job site Indeed, a search for “Employee experience” returned 778 jobs. At the time of writing 145 postings were for entry level roles, 364 for mid level and 127 for senior level positions.
Image from indeed.com
Let’s take a look at what average salary those in director-level roles can expect and how you can excel.
Other job titles in a similar role could include:
As a Director of Employee Experience, you would be responsible for overseeing the development and implementation of strategies to enhance the overall experience of employees at your organization. Some of the key responsibilities you can expect include:
According to Glassdoor the most likely range for a Director of EX is between $116k - $204k in the United States, with the average being $115,267 (correct as of February 2023).
Image from Glassdoor.com
Salaries in other countries may vary. For example, in the UK the average salary is reported on Glassdoor to be £42k annually, although for a director level role this seems a little low to us.
As well as the typical skill set needed to thrive as a general HR Director, you will also need to be:
Companies will seek out the above qualities when hiring a CXO, but of course you’ll be able to hone your skills on-the-job.
If you think you’re ready to take on a director-level EX position, you can also take a look at our Professional Development content, which will give you everything from unmissable conferences in HR Tech to methods and metrics for keeping HR management efficient.
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