Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Workplace Program Analyst

🎯 Role Definition

The Workplace Program Analyst is a program- and data-driven workplace professional who plans, coordinates, and optimizes office operations, hybrid-work programs, space utilization, vendor services and workplace technology. This role partners with real estate, facilities, HR, IT and business stakeholders to translate workplace strategy into measurable programs, manage moves and projects, administer workplace systems (desk booking, visitor management), analyze occupancy and cost trends, and enable a consistent, compliant and high-quality employee experience across locations.

Primary goals include increasing space utilization, reducing operating costs, improving workplace satisfaction, enabling hybrid work policies and delivering measurable program outcomes through rigorous analytics, vendor management, and cross-functional partnership.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Workplace Coordinator / Workplace Specialist
Facilities Coordinator / Office Manager
Real Estate Analyst / Project Coordinator

Advancement To:

Senior Workplace Program Analyst / Workplace Program Manager
Workplace Operations Manager / Facilities Manager
Manager, Global Workplace Strategy / Head of Workplace

Lateral Moves:

Employee Experience Manager
Real Estate Portfolio Analyst
Vendor & Contract Manager

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Lead end-to-end workplace programs (hybrid work enablement, hoteling/desk-booking rollout, office reopenings, move & relocation programs) by developing the program plan, timeline, success metrics, and cross-functional RACI to ensure on-time, on-budget delivery.
Serve as the primary program owner for space utilization and occupancy analytics by collecting and validating sensor, booking and badge data, designing dashboards, and delivering monthly and quarterly insights to real estate and business leaders.
Develop and maintain workplace KPIs and executive dashboards (Power BI, Tableau, or equivalent) that quantify utilization, density, cost per seat, service SLAs and employee satisfaction to drive continuous program improvements.
Manage vendor relationships and contracts for workplace services (cleaning, mailroom, reception, catering, office supplies, furniture delivery, AV support) including SOW development, performance monitoring, invoice validation and quarterly business reviews.
Coordinate complex office moves and new site openings including space planning coordination, vendor scheduling, budget tracking, furniture procurement, move communications and post-move quality assurance.
Translate business requirements into workplace technology requirements (desk booking, visitor management, room scheduling, workplace kiosks) and partner with IT/product teams to implement, test and optimize integrations and user adoption.
Conduct cost analyses and budgeting for workplace initiatives (renovations, consolidation, service rationalization) and prepare business cases demonstrating ROI, TCO and payback timelines for stakeholders.
Design and implement change management and communications plans to support workplace program adoption including training materials, FAQ documents, site champions, feedback loops and adoption metrics.
Lead space standards and seating policies development (neighborhood design, density standardization, touchdown vs assigned seating) and advise on compliance with building codes, ADA, and global occupational health & safety requirements.
Partner with HR and talent teams to align workplace programs with onboarding/offboarding workflows, employee lifecycle events and ERG activities to deliver a consistent employee experience.
Run workplace experience surveys, focus groups and site visits; analyze qualitative and quantitative feedback to identify and prioritize improvement opportunities for facility services and site experience.
Execute risk and continuity planning for workplace operations, including emergency preparedness, vendor contingency plans and pandemic-era health & safety protocols.
Oversee procurement, vendor selection and contract negotiation for furniture, fixtures, technology and workplace services, ensuring procurement compliance and cost-optimization.
Maintain and optimize workplace documentation repository (floor plans, asset registers, vendor contracts, service manuals) to ensure accurate site-level operational readiness.
Support sustainability and ESG initiatives related to workplace operations, including waste reduction programs, energy efficiency, and sustainable procurement guidelines.
Implement and monitor SLAs and operational scorecards for on-site service teams and third-party vendors; drive corrective action and continuous service improvement through root-cause analysis.
Coordinate cross-functional pilots for new workplace concepts (neighborhoods, collaboration hubs, flexible seating) and assess pilot outcomes against success criteria to recommend scaling decisions.
Manage workplace-related project budgets, track spend, forecast variances, and produce monthly financial reports for program sponsors and finance partners.
Facilitate regular stakeholder governance meetings, steering committees and program reviews to ensure alignment on priorities, risks and resource allocations.
Support office-level health & safety audits and coordinate remediation plans to maintain compliance with local regulations and corporate policy.
Maintain strong working relationships with building management and landlords to ensure operations, security, and capital project coordination are delivered to site-level expectations.
Provide subject-matter expertise for workplace policy updates (hybrid work, office etiquette, visitor policies) and assist with policy implementation and enforcement.

Secondary Functions

Support ad-hoc data requests and exploratory data analysis to answer business questions related to capacity, cost and workplace experience.
Contribute to the organization's data strategy and roadmap by identifying data gaps, recommending sensor or systems improvements, and helping prioritize data governance tasks.
Collaborate with business units to translate data needs into engineering requirements and support the product owner in backlog grooming for workplace analytics features.
Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies within the data engineering team, helping to validate deliverables and acceptance criteria for workplace analytics initiatives.
Prepare and deliver training sessions and how-to guides for workplace systems, seat booking tools and visitor management to increase user adoption and reduce support tickets.
Conduct periodic market scans and benchmarking to inform workplace standards, service levels and vendor pricing strategies in line with industry best practices.
Assist in the administration of workplace budgets, purchase orders and expense reconciliations to ensure financial controls and audit readiness.
Monitor emerging workplace technologies and recommend proofs-of-concept for tools that improve booking workflows, wayfinding, space automation or employee experience.
Help coordinate internal events and site activations that support culture-building, hybrid work engagement and workplace awareness campaigns.
Provide back-up support to site operations teams for day-to-day escalations, vendor coordination and facilities troubleshooting when required.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Program management: proven ability to manage complex, multi-site workplace programs from planning through execution using program plans, risk logs and governance structures.
Data analysis & visualization: advanced Excel (pivot tables, VLOOKUP/XLOOKUP, Power Query), experience building dashboards in Power BI or Tableau and familiarity with SQL for data validation.
Workplace systems: hands-on experience with desk-booking and room scheduling platforms (e.g., Condeco, Robin, Teem), visitor management (Envoy, Proxyclick) or CAFM/IWMS tools.
Space planning fundamentals: understanding of space utilization metrics, seat types, workplace standards, and the ability to read and maintain floor plans (experience with AutoCAD, Visio is a plus).
Vendor & contract management: experience writing SOWs, negotiating terms, tracking vendor KPIs and conducting vendor performance reviews.
Financial acumen: budgeting, cost modeling, preparing business cases, TCO analysis and managing program-level P&L or operating budgets.
Project management tools: hands-on with project planning and ticketing platforms (Asana, Jira, Smartsheet, Microsoft Project) and experience running agile or waterfall projects.
Compliance & safety knowledge: working familiarity with occupational health & safety, ADA requirements and building code considerations as they impact workplace operations.
IT integration basics: understanding APIs, SSO, and integrations between workplace systems and identity/asset management platforms.
Reporting & documentation: strong documentation habits, asset registers, desk assignment matrices and audit-ready repository management.

Soft Skills

Stakeholder management: ability to influence and align cross-functional leaders (HR, IT, Real Estate, Finance, business units) and translate executive priorities into clear program objectives.
Communication: clear, concise written and verbal communication for executive briefings, change communications, status reports and training materials.
Problem solving: strong analytical mindset, able to reduce ambiguous problems into testable hypotheses and actionable solutions.
Customer service orientation: commitment to creating a positive employee experience and responding to site escalations with urgency and empathy.
Prioritization & time management: balance multiple simultaneous projects and shifting priorities while meeting deadlines and maintaining quality.
Collaboration & teamwork: proven success working in matrixed organizations, building consensus and driving shared outcomes.
Adaptability: comfortable with rapid change, hybrid work dynamics and the evolving nature of workplace practices.
Attention to detail: meticulous in data validation, procurement documentation and post-move quality checks.
Leadership & influence: able to convene working groups, lead pilots and motivate cross-functional teams without direct authority.
Continuous improvement mindset: focus on process optimization, automation opportunities and measurable operational improvements.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Real Estate, Facilities Management, Project Management, Human Resources, Industrial Engineering, or a related field.

Preferred Education:

Bachelor’s degree plus professional certifications (PMP, Agile, IWFM/IFMA, Lean/Six Sigma) or a Master’s in Business Administration, Real Estate, or Facilities/Operations Management.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Business Administration
Real Estate / Facilities Management
Human Resources / Organizational Psychology
Industrial Engineering / Operations Research
Information Systems / Data Analytics

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

3–7 years of progressive experience in workplace operations, program management, facilities, real estate or employee experience roles.

Preferred:

5+ years managing workplace programs at scale (multi-site or global), demonstrated experience with hybrid work strategies, workplace analytics and vendor management. Experience implementing desk-booking or IWMS systems and producing executive-level data insights preferred.