How To Build a Workplace Experience Team

Workplace experience isn’t a buzzword anymore — it’s one of the most in-demand functions in the modern office. According to JLL, the number of companies with a dedicated workplace experience manager or team on-site has jumped from 23% to 35% in the past year.

This isn’t about vibes. It’s about strategy.

The most successful workplace teams are treating their office like a product. They’re building cross-functional teams or dedicated roles that own the full experience — from operations and culture to space planning and workplace tech. 

If your office isn’t designed with intention, people won’t use it.

Here’s how to structure a workplace experience team that keeps the office relevant and running.

What is Workplace Experience?

Workplace experience is everything that shapes how employees feel and function in the office. It’s the intersection of design, tech, and culture and it determines whether your office is a destination or a distraction.

When employees can’t find a desk, don’t have the right tools, or spend 10 minutes hunting down an open meeting room, they’re not coming back. But when the office is seamless — intuitive spaces, easy resource access, meaningful connection — it becomes a space people want to return to.

Workplace experience teams own that outcome.

Who Should be on Your Workplace Experience Team?

There’s no one-size-fits-all team, but the best setups bring together four core groups: IT, People, Operations, and Facilities. Here’s how each one plays a role.

1. IT: Workplace Technology Manager

Tech isn’t optional, it’s what makes hybrid possible. According to Ivanti, 64% of employees say workplace tech directly impacts morale. Two-thirds say they’d be more productive with better tools.

The Workplace Technology Manager owns your office tech stack — from hardware like cameras and sensors to software like Robin, Teams, or Slack. They handle setup, training, and adoption. They make sure your spaces are connected, your data is clean, and your systems actually support how people work.

Their job? Make the tech invisible but indispensable.

2. People: Employee Experience Lead

The bridge between your people and your physical office. The Employee Experience Lead gathers feedback, identifies friction, and turns insights into action.

If morale is low, they fix it. If perks are off-target, they rethink them. If people aren’t showing up, they ask why and help the team solve for it.

This role turns “employee engagement” into something measurable, actionable, and directly tied to how the office performs.

3. Operations: Workplace Operations Manager

This is your engine room. The Workplace Operations Manager handles day-to-day logistics, vendor coordination, and workplace systems, all with a focus on efficiency and scale.

They create the SOPs. They eliminate manual workflows. And when a process isn’t working, they’re the first to overhaul it. Their job is to make sure nothing gets in the way of a productive office day, for employees or admins.

In a hybrid world, where no two days look the same, this role is critical.

4. Facilities: Space + Strategy Lead

Office real estate is one of your biggest expenses — and one of your most powerful levers for impact. The Facilities Manager (or Space Strategy Lead) uses occupancy data to right-size your space, flag underused areas, and guide long-term planning.

Are your meeting rooms too big or too booked? Is collaboration space in high demand while solo desks sit empty? The best workplace teams answer those questions before they become problems; using real-time data from platforms like Robin to adapt the office to how people actually work.

Facilities isn’t just about maintenance anymore. It’s about forecasting and flexibility.

What If It’s Just One Person?

Not every company has the luxury of a fully staffed workplace experience team. And that’s okay. At many companies — especially mid-sized orgs — one person is responsible for it all: facilities, IT, office management, employee experience. Or, these responsibilities are split across teams, with each department owning a piece of the workplace puzzle.

This is the norm, not the exception. In those scenarios, success depends on two things:

1. Clarity around who owns what
2. A unified platform that makes it easier to manage everything from one place

That’s why tech consolidation matters. When you’re using five disconnected tools just to run a normal office day, small issues pile up fast. But when workplace operations — desk booking, visitor management, deliveries, meeting logistics — all run through one streamlined system, you spend less time putting out fires and more time making the office actually work.

Doing more with less isn’t just possible — it’s the reality for most teams today. The right setup just makes it feel a lot less overwhelming.

Why This Team Matters

Workplace experience isn’t just a feel-good function. It’s your best bet at keeping teams connected, productive, and willing to make the trip into the office.

The most successful companies in 2025 aren’t just enforcing RTO mandates. They’re investing in teams that treat the office like a service — something that needs to be designed, maintained, and optimized with care.

No two hybrid offices are the same. But every high-performing one has a team behind it.