Sodexo, a leading global services company, has appointed workplace specialist So Young Hyun as workplace experience leader. Hyun is the first hire to Sodexo-owned workplace experience consultancy Wx in the UK and Ireland.

Wx is a fully owned subsidiary of Sodexo and helps improve its clients’ workplace experience through ethnography, IoT and data science. In her new role, Hyun will support the strategic development of Wx’s business in the UK and Ireland, whilst at the same time, developing Sodexo’s workplace offer as a member of its business development team.

Yannick Villar, CEO and co-founder, Wx, said, “The UK and Ireland workplace market, especially in London and Dublin, is strategic for Wx given its maturity. The experience So Young brings will helps us transform these opportunities and create more value for our clients. This is a critical first step in our planned investment in this market and in other key business cities around the world.”

Hyun has over 15 years’ experience in workplace strategy, environmental science, sustainable design and building optimisation. She joins Sodexo from Mitie, where she was responsible for driving the strategic development and operational delivery of its Workplace proposition. Prior to this she worked at global engineering firm Arup in their London head office.

Hyun commented, “I am a passionate believer in the potential for great workplace experience. By pairing human perception with new sensor-based data inputs and machine learning algorithms we can reach new levels of building design and operational performance, delivering solutions that truly deliver for people and organisations.

“I am also passionate about complementing sustainable building practices with science-based insights and leveraging emerging technologies to enhance human experience and wellbeing.”

Jason Bottomley, business development director, corporate services, Sodexo, UK & Ireland added, “So Young brings a tremendous level of experience and research in the field of workplace experience. We are delighted that she is joining us and will drive forward our approach, connecting our traditional IFM capability with Wx’s data-driven consultancy to provide next-generation workplace experience solutions for our clients.”