There’s an Iron Curtain Between Human Resources and Marketing

There has been talk before about whether some workforce management functions should work more closely with marketing departments–or even merge. Now, Northwestern University’s Forum for People Performance Management and Measurement says there’s an “an alarming gap in communication” between marketing and human resources that could have a negative impact on organizational performance.

Frontline employees “may not communicate, or even know, key messages developed by marketing executives and communicated externally via advertising, public relations and direct marketing.” Sixty-five percent of the marketing and human resources professionals surveyed disagree or strongly disagree that “marketing and human resources personnel spend time discussing customer needs and share information with each other.”