People Behind Visier: Denise Fay

Name: Denise Fay

Title: Facilities Manager 

Residence: Vancouver, BC

Hometown: Dublin, Ireland

Six years ago, Denise started her career at Visier as our first Office Coordinator. She still remembers how there were only 170 Visierites in the company at that time and fast forward to now, we have over 400 employees!

As the Facilities Manager, she oversees our daily remote operations by managing employee onboardings, off-boarding logistics and supplies, the company swag store, and employee perks! She also provides support to our C-Suite executives, runs virtual happy hours and team building events, and acquires office spaces for our worldwide team. 

“I believe people analytics is essential to drive change in society,” says Denise. “I firmly believe that without unbiased data, change in society cannot happen.”

Let’s dive deeper into Denise’s work and her life: 

Work Questions:

What’s your motivation for doing what you do?

Being able to see the constant change and evolution of our company and the willingness of the organization to allow us to take on things outside our scope! I love that everyday brings new challenges for us to take on as a team. I also enjoy working with our wonderful Visierites. I think the best part is being able to be a part of shaping the culture through the programs we bring in and being the ambassadors for our culture.

What’s a project you’re focusing on lately?

At the moment, my team is focused on developing our return to office strategy to better understand how we can get back to work safely while preserving our culture. We are also focused on the Health & Wellbeing of our employees through various events & initiatives. 

What has been a big learning moment in your career?

I have two big learning moments! The first is learning how to stay agile because nothing is ever done, over, or finished–it is always evolving. Learning how to stay agile benefited me a lot because I’m now able to change and pivot things quickly, which is an extremely important skill to have during the pandemic. 

The second big learning moment is to have a ‘Never Stop Learning’ attitude and mindset. I find this important because I find that it is very valuable to stay on top of industry trends and to ensure that my ideas are always fresh. A good example of this is when we were growing quickly, I had to make sure I was on top of the real estate market to ensure we can acquire affordable space for our growing team.

What’s most exciting about your job?

When we do renovation and property redesign projects! Seeing the office space go from demolition to rebuilt is super fascinating to me. In fact, I got to help out with the spatial design for all of our offices.

What Visier feature do you think is super cool?

I think our D&I features are awesome because it links to the bigger goal of people analytics in one big picture. It also exposes the harsh reality of an organization, but it can also spark change because if you can’t see it, then you can’t make proper change. I believe this feature can impact our society in a positive way.

Life Questions: 

What’s the best advice you were ever given? Who was it from?

The best advice that I was ever given was from my Sensei when I used to do Kickboxing. The advice was to:

This piece of advice can be applied to any successes you have in your life and I believe that success will taste better when you have humility. This advice also encourages me at work to keep learning, be open, and grow. At the end of the day, life is a constant journey of learning and growth!

What was the first concert you ever went to?

Spice Girls! They were the biggest pop group in Ireland in the 90s. I didn’t get to choose since my aunt and family brought me there!

What’s one hobby you’d love to get into?

I would like to try some weightlifting. I want to build up my strength so that it improves my other ability in other sports like running pace, golfing etc. and it has lots of other health benefits. 

What book are you reading now?

I just finished reading Rising Strong by Brene Brown. The key takeaway from this book is that it’s alright to fail and you can always pick yourself back up. These failings are a part of our life story and they should be embraced. However, it is also important to learn why you fail in the first place so you don’t do it again.

What is your dream travel destination and why?

I would love to visit Cannes, France! I have never been there before and after no travel for over a year, I really want to experience eating all that cheese and red wine in the sunshine by the ocean.

Do you have a fun fact about yourself that you would like to share?

I got a tattoo in Thailand done with a bamboo stick!

Connect with Denise on LinkedIn