Position Overview

The Employee Experience Coordinator plays a vital role in helping foster a healthy, supportive, and high-performing culture at Next Door. This position focuses on creating meaningful experiences within community-building, opportunities for recognition and appreciation, and both team and individual celebrations of success. This role is focused on promoting the wellness and well-being of our incredible team of individuals, each of whom brings their adversities and best selves to the job of caring for our children and families in the mission-critical daily work of Next Door.

The role serves as a connector, proactive culture-builder, responsive implementer of community-building opportunities, and facilitator of joy - knowing all team members contribute to and are responsible for the culture at Next Door. This role leads initiatives that elevate staff unity across a large organization, encourages collaboration across many departments, responsibilities, and roles, and ensures team members feel seen, valued and supported in their work within our mission.

The role works closely with the Human Resources Director, the Success Coach, and the President on goals and initiatives and reports to the Human Resources Director.

Responsibilities/Duties/Functions/Tasks

Staff Support

• Develop and implement initiatives that promote staff well-being, connectedness, belonging, and engagement.
• Coordinate rejuvenating and enjoyable activities such as mindfulness breaks, health-centered goals, and resource sharing.
• Serve as a supportive resource to staff, ensuring feedback and employee experience trends are communicated to leadership - and responded to as possible.
• Partner with the Human Resource Director and the Success Coach to align initiatives with organizational goals and experiences that are responsive to staff support needs.
• Plan and implement classes, speakers, seminars, assessments that promote healthy lifestyles.
• Coordinate and facilitate employee focus groups to address issues such as stress, work/life balance, raising children, mental health concerns, etc.
• Contribute to supporting the overall timeline of a staff member's experience at Next Door, beginning with the point of recruitment, through New Hire Orientation, initial onboarding, and as employees exit the organization. Finding ways to help team members connect through meaningful experiences over the course of their time on the Next Door team will be an important function and lens of this role.

Recognition and Culture-Building

• Manage and promote Next Door's STAR Recognition and Excellence Awards programs.
• Coordinate on-going opportunities for staff recognitions, ensuring consistency and visibility across all of the agency, including at the annual All Staff meetings.
• Develop and facilitate ways to celebrate staff achievements, milestones, and birthdays.
• Reinforce organizational values through internal communications, storytelling, and engagement campaigns.

Event Planning and Engagement

• Plan and help execute semi-annual All Staff meetings, professional development celebrations, appreciation events, and opportunities for employee team-building.
• Coordinate logistics for in-person and virtual events (venues, catering, agendas, materials, etc.).
• Collaborate with leadership teams to ensure events align with Next Door's mission, brand, and tone of excellence.
• Support department leads in designing culture-building moments within their own teams.

Staff Engagement and Focus Groups

• Facilitate small focus groups across the agency on topics staff are interested in exploring or discussing, providing opportunities for connection, learning, and input.
• Collaborate with department leaders to identify themes and ensure focus groups reflect diverse staff voices and organizational priorities.
• Summarize key insights from focus group sessions and share recommendations that inform future engagement strategies.
• Compile statistical summaries of participant data and ensure proper detailed evaluation.
• Participate in Next Door's Human Resource Committee, helping set goals, prioritize determined areas of focus, and reporting out.

Communication and Collaboration

• Partner with internal communications to promote engagement and recognition across newsletters, social media, and bulletin boards.
• Collect feedback from staff through surveys, listening sessions, and post-event evaluations to continually improve engagement strategies.
• Build strong relationships with staff at all levels to foster trust, connection, and collaboration.
• Research and learn about current trends and best practices in employee engagement to ensure program effectiveness.

Accountability and Performance Requirement

All staff members are accountable for knowing and performing the responsibilities associated with their individual position in an efficient and effective manner, understanding that each of us plays an integral role in the success of our mission. All staff will support the agency mission, vision, standards of conduct/code of ethics and strategic directions and support administrative decisions. This must demonstrated by maintaining a positive work environment, and by behaving and communicating in an appropriate manner with children, families, coworkers, supervisors and the public while achieving performance expectations.

• Bachelor's degree in human resources, communications, education, or a related field preferred.

• 2+ years of experience in employee engagement, event coordination, or organizational culture roles (nonprofit or education preferred).

• The incumbent must have access to a personal vehicle to use on a daily basis, maintain a valid driver's license and automobile insurance with liability limits of $300,000 (bodily injury) and $25,000 (property damage for each occurrence).

• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills; ability to motivate and inspire.

• Highly organized with strong project management skills and attention to detail.

• Creative, resourceful, and positive team player committed to Next Door's mission of serving children and families through excellence in early childhood education.

Core Competencies

• Culture Champion: Demonstrates enthusiasm for Next Door's values and promotes a positive, inclusive environment.

• Relationship Builder: Builds trust and rapport with diverse staff groups.

• Innovator: Brings fresh, creative ideas for engagement, recognition, and wellness.

• Organizer: Manages multiple events and initiatives with professionalism and precision.

• Communicator: Uses clear, uplifting, and effective communication across all platforms.

• Joy Cultivator: Support others in finding and cultivating what gives them joy, as well as fostering opportunities to infuse joy in our day-to-day mission at Next Door.

Preferences

• One year's supervisory experience preferred.

Safety and Health

Next Door is committed to providing a safe work environment and to fostering the well-being and health of its employees. An essential part of each employees' job is the development of safe working practices and the observance of safety rules, including:

• Following safety warnings and directions at all times.

• Using personal safety devices when required.

• Reporting any unsafe conditions to supervisor.

• Following process for reporting suspected child abuse and neglect.

• Reporting unsupervised children, after ensuring child's safety.

• Implement active supervision practices at all times, including transition times.

Physical Demands

• Primarily active work; occasionally lifting, holding or moving up to 50 lbs.

• Initial physical exam, drug screen and TB test are required as a condition of initial employment and as recommended by a physician for continued employment.

Physical Activity

• Bending, stooping, kneeling, walking/transporting, handling, reaching, balancing, crouching, talking and speaking clearly, hearing conversation level, smelling, and seeing.

Work Environment

• Mainly office and external setting and travel to various sites for meetings and/or trainings, engagement activities and venues.

Personal/Physiological

• Ability to make frequent, significant decisions to understand and react to the employees and candidates.
• Ability to respond quickly and competently to an emergency or crisis situation in order to keep children and staff safe.