Head of Employee Experience

Kate Faxen, Organisational Development, Human Resources.

I’ve been at UCL for almost twenty years, since joining as a medical photographer in the year 2000. Just how a medical photographer ends up as head of employee experience is as much a mystery to me as I’m sure it must be to you. I didn’t ever have a clear plan of where I wanted to be, but I’ve always enjoyed taking on new challenges and opportunities as they present themselves to me.
 

From medical photography, I moved into graphic design and then web design. From web design I discovered I had a talent for creating content so moved seamlessly into communications and then on into marketing. And it turns out, that communication is a key part of employee engagement and so I practically fell into the role of communications and engagement manager before being promoted into the post of head of employee experience last year,   a post which didn’t exist before then. I think this job family is perfectly suited to me, not only because of my professional experience, but also because of the type of person I am. I ask a lot of questions, I listen, I care and sometimes, when it’s needed, I intervene. I’m also a problem solver, always trying to think of ways to improve things (and for us all to have more fun in the process!)

Over the course of my career at UCL, I have been lucky enough to be sponsored to take on extra studies a number of times. I’ve completed an MSc in Digital Colour Imaging, a  Professional Diploma in Marketing, and a Professional Certificate in Advertising. None of which are directly relevant to the job I’m in now of course! But I am glad that I    did them, as there are skills and approaches that I learnt from my studies that I can apply to this role, like project planning, analysis models and strategic frameworks. But I attribute my success in this role more to ‘on the job learning’ and my interactions with others; getting involved in the Communities of Practice, volunteering for WHEN, and accepting invitations to push myself outside of my comfort zone (I’m thinking particularly about presenting at the Professional Services Conference). Did you know that 65% of jobs that will be advertised in ten years’ time don’t even exist yet? So, I’m thinking in ten years I could well be the Vice-Provost Happiness.