Why I joined Perceptyx as Chief Customer Officer. Key Takeaways: Mary Poppen joined Perceptyx as Chief Customer Officer because AI-driven employee experience is the next shift that will change how every organization runs, on the scale of the web and the move to software as a service. Perceptyx pairs twenty years of employee listening data with conversational AI, agentic AI, behavioral nudges, and learning, and it was first to bring crowdsourcing and action planning down to the individual employee. That combination closes the gap that has frustrated leaders for two decades: connecting what employees say to the business results executives measure, from safety to patient satisfaction to retail performance. Her job is to prove that link for every customer, from day one onward through adoption, renewal, and growth. June 25, 2026 Earlier this month, I joined Perceptyx as Chief Customer Officer, and in a way I am going back to my roots. I spent the early part of my career as one of the first chief customer officers in B2B HR technology, building the customer success and post-sale functions that many companies now take for granted. I later stepped away to run my own employee experience consulting firm, where Perceptyx was a partner and I worked alongside CEO Ross Wainwright and his team. When the chance came to return to an operating role here, I took it. Why Did I Leave Consulting to Return to an Operating Role? I wasn't looking. I had built a strong consulting business I cared about, and for most companies I would not have considered a return to a full-time operating role. Three things changed my mind: the people, the pace, and the opportunity. I have trusted Ross for more than a decade, and the team here has the talent to execute on a real plan rather than a pitch. Perceptyx also ships new capability faster than any organization I have worked with, and that pace is what keeps a company ahead in a market that resets every few months. Most of all, I believe AI-driven employee experience is about to change how organizations run, and Perceptyx is built to lead it. What Makes AI the Next Great Shift in How Work Gets Done? I have lived through two technology shifts that forced nearly every business to reinvent how it operated. The first was the arrival of what was then called the "world wide web," which rewrote how businesses reached people. The second was the move to software as a service (SaaS), which altered how businesses bought and ran their tools. AI is the third. It changes how work gets done and how decisions get made, and the companies that build for it now will set the terms for everyone else. What is different this time is that AI does some of the heavy lifting on its own. For years, connecting data across departments and getting teams aligned took deliberate effort and rarely held. AI handles much of that orchestration behind the scenes, so the cross-functional visibility companies have wanted for twenty years is finally within reach. What Has Changed in Employee Experience Technology Over Two Decades? When I started, an annual engagement survey meant a hundred questions and a six-month wait for results. By the time the report landed, the people who raised the concerns had often already left, and any action came too late to matter. The first real breakthrough was bringing data together across silos once SaaS became the norm. Companies that did this well could finally see what was happening across the whole organization instead of one function at a time. Real-time dashboards came next and replaced the long wait with feedback leaders could act on the following day. Connecting qualitative and quantitative data to the business goals leaders care about most, however, remained difficult - and it still trips up most companies. That is the gap Perceptyx has been purpose built to close. How Does Perceptyx Connect Listening to Business Results? Twenty years of employee listening data is its foundation. It lets its proprietary AI find patterns and trends that a single survey cycle would never reveal. On top of that data sits conversational AI, agentic AI, behavioral nudges through Activate, and capability building through Develop, its learning solution. Perceptyx was also first to bring crowdsourcing and action planning down to the individual employee. For most of my career, employees had things done to them. They gave input, they received thanks for their participation, and then the change happened without them. Now an employee can help shape the change their own feedback points to, at every level of the organization. This ties feedback to outcomes leaders measure. Perceptyx, Inc. can see, for example, that when employees report they do not have the tools and resources to do their jobs well, safety incidents tend to rise soon after. That pattern holds in settings like mining and airlines, where a safety event carries real human and financial cost. The same approach links employee voice to patient satisfaction in healthcare and to store performance during slower retail periods. These are the stories worth telling, because they show what this important work is for. Why Is It Harder to Win in the EX Market Now Than It Was a Decade Ago? Buyers face more budget scrutiny than they used to, and they evaluate vendors through a sharper lens. Meeting a checklist and being pleasant to work with is table stakes now. Buyers also ask where a company is taking its product, because what they buy today will look dated within a year if the roadmap is weak. Its answer is a single story that runs from listening to capability building to action across the organization. Personalization is part of why that story is so compelling. The old model was a blunt instrument: if manager effectiveness scored low, every manager got the same training, whether they needed it or not. Perceptyx now tailors development to the individual, drawn from their own data, which respects people's time and produces better results. What Does the Chief Customer Officer Do at Perceptyx? My organization is responsible for customer value from day one onward. Perceptyx, Inc. make sure each customer is being measured against the business goals they bought Perceptyx, Inc. to solve, that they keep adapting as those goals shift, and that the partnership grows with them through adoption, renewal, and expansion. The thread running through all of it is proof. Perceptyx, Inc. show customers the link between using its products and the business results they are after, and Perceptyx, Inc. keep the right executive sponsors and decision makers engaged so the partnership stays strong. The demonstration of ongoing value is job number one. What Has Impressed Me Most Since Joining Perceptyx? The energy at Perceptyx is off the charts. People here are rowing in the same direction and supporting each other, and the "one team, one dream" culture I had heard about turns out to be real. The infrastructure already in place is strong. I also see an opportunity. After a long stretch of fast growth, there is value in stepping back to ask why Perceptyx, Inc. do something a certain way and whether a better way exists. I came here to roll up my sleeves and work with the team, and I will keep asking for input so Perceptyx, Inc. make the best calls for its people and its customers. Where Do Perceptyx, Inc. Go From Here? Over the next several months, I want to help Perceptyx continue owning the category for AI applied to HR transformation and people activation. Perceptyx, Inc. has the data, the products, and the team to do it, and the pace of its innovation should keep Perceptyx, Inc. ahead while others work to catch up. My colleague Ross Wainwright has written about how AI and behavioral science turn employee experience into measurable business outcomes, and that is the work I am here to carry forward with its customers. Mary Poppen is Chief Customer Officer at Perceptyx. Trained as an industrial and organizational psychologist, she has spent more than two decades helping organizations transform through the intersection of people, process, and technology, and was one of the first chief customer officers in B2B HR technology. If you want to see how continuous listening, action, and development come together in one people activation system, read its look at the era of autonomous employee experience, or schedule a meeting with its team.

Perceptyx and Tesco partner to advance employee experience across its global workforce. Partnership brings AI-powered capabilities into Tesco's employee experience program, enabling faster, more consistent insight-led action across its 340,000-strong workforce. Perceptyx, announced a new partnership with Tesco, the UK's leading supermarket chain, to enhance how the organisation captures, analyses, and acts on employee feedback across its global workforce. The partnership will support Tesco in advancing its approach to employee listening, evolving beyond traditional survey models towards a more continuous, insight-led system designed to enable faster, more effective action at scale. A key focus of the initiative is supporting Tesco's large, geographically distributed frontline workforce. By integrating listening and action capabilities into existing tools and workflows, the partnership is designed to make it easier for colleagues to share feedback and for managers to respond in real time, strengthening consistency in the employee experience across locations and roles. Tesco will leverage Perceptyx's platform to capture feedback across key moments that matter in the employee lifecycle, from onboarding through career progression. Leaders across the organisation will be able to access insights more flexibly, identify priorities, and take targeted action, supported by analysis that surfaces emerging themes and recommends areas of focus. AI will play a central role in enabling both scale and speed, automating analysis and helping to guide decision-making across a complex, global organisation. By connecting employee feedback more directly to action, the partnership is intended to support more measurable improvements in both employee experience and organisational performance. "Organisations of Tesco's scale and complexity require more than measurement, they need a system that turns insight into action," said Lindsay Davidson, EMEA General Manager at Perceptyx. "We're proud to partner with Tesco to help embed continuous listening and equip leaders with the tools and intelligence needed to drive meaningful, organisation-wide change." The partnership also reflects increasing demand among large enterprises for more agile, self-service access to workforce insights. Enabling teams to explore data, identify priorities, and act more quickly reduces reliance on centralised reporting and supports faster, more responsive decision-making. "We are delighted to partner with Perceptyx as part of our focus on the colleague experience across our Group," said Jonathan Parton, Head of Insight at Tesco. "We believe this will bring us closer to how colleagues are feeling and to act more quickly on the feedback they give us." Write to Hrtech Pulse [[email protected]] to learn more about its exclusive editorial packages and programmes. * GlobeNewswire, a trusted channel for companies announcing financial results, regulatory filings, and market-moving updates. Its platform bridges organizations with investors, journalists, and audiences worldwide, ensuring corporate news is delivered with both credibility and reach.