The confluence of HR and IT departments may be closer at hand than you might think, according to numerous technology leaders.

Around two in three IT leaders (64%) believe this could happen within the next five years, according to research from Digital Employee Experience specialist, Nexthink.

Of 1,100 IT leaders surveyed, 93% said that bringing IT and HR together would increase productivity, boost employee satisfaction and drive engagement.

While 31% of IT leaders didn’t foresee a full merger of the departments, they do expect closer collaboration to enhance digital transformation and improve employee experience.

Speaking exclusively to UNLEASH, Nexthink VP of Global Talent, Liz Raymond, says the most striking finding from the research is “not just the appetite for merging HR and IT, but the pace at which leaders believe it’s going to happen”.

“This urgency reflects the scale of the challenge: today’s employees are overwhelmed by complexity, and organizations can’t afford to delay,” Raymond explains.

“What’s encouraging is that over half of respondents say they’re ‘very ready’ to act, rethinking roles and responsibilities to deliver a more joined-up experience.”

A marriage of IT and HR has great potential but new leaders would be needed

IT leaders that are anticipating a convergence between HR and IT see benefits such as reduced delays for digital transformation projects (85%) and more successful outcomes for those projects (94%).

They also highlight potential to help employees quickly adopt new digital tools (97%), quicker and smoother on-boarding for new hires (95%), and improved employee productivity, engagement, retention, and satisfaction (93%).

However, there was no delusion that combining HR and IT would be a simple task.

A lack of clear ownership over new and existing responsibilities (58%), poor communication between HR and IT teams (50%), and differing priorities between the two departments (49%) were among the main obstacles identified by those surveyed.

Meanwhile, there was also an acknowledgement that a newly created department would have a much broader remit than HR or IT on their own, and should be led not by a CIO or Chief People Officer, but a new role such as Chief Experience Officer (CXO).

 “As the research shows, closer collaboration or a full merge of HR and IT will be critical to ensuring employees are able to navigate the digital workplace confidently, adopt new tools faster, and stay engaged,” Raymond states.

For HR leaders in particular, now is the time to step into the shared ownership of digital experience and help shape a work environment where people and technology truly work in harmony.”