Modern work operates as a system, not in silos. Innovative Digital Employee Experiences (DEX) are possible when HR, IT, and Real Estate/Workplace are integrated supporting amplified productivity and accelerated AI adoption and greater potential is unleashed. But few companies are close to achieving that.

“Despite the promises of digital transformation enabling and empowering the workforce, many employees already feel overwhelmed by a tangled web of apps, platforms and processes.” — ​Liz Raymond​, VP Global Talent at ​Nexthink​.

How smoothly is your company's Digital Employee Experience developing?

Digitalized business demands faster responses to more complex, non-routine issues. Workers need performance-enabling, un-siloed, seamless support. Yet many employees are slowed by disjointed AI-related shifts with unaligned HR policies, uncoordinated tools and training, and outdated workplace strategies.

Integrating HR, IT, and Real Estate/Workplace is vital to shift towards digitally-transformed environments to support enhanced experiences and performance.

“Misalignment slows transformation, stalls technology adoption and limits an organization’s ability to modernize, especially as AI becomes a bigger part of how we work.” — ​Jackie Dube​, Chief People Officer at ​The Predictive Index​.

These critical business functions need to be working in highly-coordinated partnership not in parallel. Every member of your blended workforce needs integrated resources, connectivity, communication platforms, data, and AI tools across enabled workplaces – physical and virtual.

Integration Steps: A number of organizations are integrating HR and IT. Others are blending HR and RE/Workplace. Some are bringing all three together.

Which departments are your company prioritizing for systems shift integration?

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Integrating Tech & Talent

Operating in isolation, IT and HR are hampered from enabling the enhanced, empowering Digital Employee Experience the Future of Work promises. Many IT leaders have shifted from siloed approaches:

• 93% believe bringing IT and HR together would increase productivity, boost employee satisfaction, retention and engagement.
• 94% believe IT and HR together result in faster and more successful digital transformation initiatives and more effective adoption of new tools and technology.
• 62% say a potential IT-HR merged department should be responsible for Digital Employee Experience management; 55% say it should be responsible for workplace analytics - e.g. productivity.
• 64% predict a ‘complete’ IT and HR merger will happen at most firms within five years [​The Science of Productivity Report, Nexthink​]

HR-IT Integration Expectations:

However, these disciplines bring different mindsets, views, and language.

“IT speaks data, and HR speaks people.”“IT is driven by data, systems and efficiency, while HR is focused on people, behavior and organizational health.” — ​Jackie Dube​, CPO, The Predictive Index.

As HR and IT merge, gaps in understanding and approach need attention:

• CIOs may overlook the impact of AI on culture, workflows and people.
• HR may lack understanding or confidence in addressing AI's impact on organisation structure or focus on compliance over business results.
• Technology rollouts result without employee trust or understanding.
• Only 21% of CIOs view talent acquisition as worthwhile [​HR Executive​].

"A close partnership between the CIO and CHRO that aligns technology, data, and business process design and workflows can help redefine desired work behaviors, which in turn reshapes the culture,” —​Chris Nardecchia​, SVP, Chief Digital and Information Officer at ​Rockwell Automation​.

Are HR and IT well-aligned and working effectively together at your company?

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Integrating Talent & Place

Pandemic-related health and safety issued required HR and RE/Workplace to work closely together. More recently, HR executives' influence on corporate real estate decisions has increased as work is better understood as an activity not a place, re-evaluating the role and purpose of offices.

"Even in companies where there is no direct line into the CHRO, we’re seeing a growing partnership between HR and real estate.” — ​Georgina Fraser​, Head of Human Capital Consulting, CBRE UK.

Working together, alignment is important as HR and corporate real estate (CRE) also bring different mindsets and points of view:

• HR got more involved in workplace strategy when workplaces helped attract talent in the 2010s (e.g. Google, Meta) [​Peter Miscovich​, JLL].
• People strategies may be redesigned every 3 years, while CRE have longer timeframes.
• Place involves capex, people are opex. HR leaders wanting CRE control need financial acumen and interest to appreciate the different dynamics [​Raconteur citing Sharon Doherty​, Lloyds Banking Group].
• 24% of real estate professionals in Europe reported directly to HR in 2024 up 14% year on year [[​Raconteur​/CBRE].

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Where are employees not getting the coordinated support they need?

“The CIO plays a pivotal role in understanding the digital demands of HR to attract a global workforce." — ​Kathy Kay​, CIO at ​Principal Financial Group​.

“By merging our People and Digital Technology teams, we are architecting the flow of work, not just digitizing old processes.” — ​Tracey Franklin​, Chief People & Digital Technology Officer, ​Moderna​.

Who’s Integrating Where?

Moderna​ merged HR and IT under a Chief People & Digital Technology Officer to architect AI-era work and re-map and design human–machine tasks with "roles are being created, eliminated and reimagined".

​Mastercard​'s People Operations & Insights oversee all operations, technology products, data, and insights within the people function, collaborating with businesses to transform insights into actionable strategies, all to enhance EX.

​Workleap​ has merged HR and IT helping create seamless onboarding experiences for the 400-employee distributed global workforce.

​Radian​'s Chief People + Operating Officer has combined responsibility for People, Facilities and Procurement functions, Title and Real Estate Services businesses, Corporate Marketing, Corporate Communications, and ESG.

​Lloyds Banking Group​'s Chief People and Place Officer oversees 60,000 people and 1,000 buildings including all branches and HQ.

Your Integration Plan

Step 1: Diagnose the Friction - Audit employee pain points: onboarding delays, app-switching, space underutilization, inconsistent hybrid norms. Ask: Where are results suffering most—people processes, tech tools, or workspace?

Step 2: Map Current Ownership & Influence - Who currently “owns” each function? HR to CEO, IT to CFO/COO, RE/Workplace under Ops? Where are the strongest relationships today e.g. HR and CIO already collaborating, or HR and Head of RE/Workplace aligning on hybrid work? Existing evolving collaborations often reveal the easiest two-way integration path.

Step 3: Assess Urgency vs. Feasibility

• HR + IT first if: you’re digitizing core processes, rolling out AI tools, or struggling with adoption and Employee Experience..
• HR + RE/Workplace first if: hybrid policies, utilization, and Employee Experience are in conflict with your space strategy.
• IT + RE/Workplace first if: your company is investing heavily in smart offices, sensors, or collaboration infrastructure.
• HR + IT + RE/Workplace if: your business is heavily tech-based and predominantly tech employee populated.  

Step 4: Decide Your Initial Integration Mode

• Two-way integration (phased approach): Ideal if budgets and reporting lines are entrenched; lower organizational resistance; and quick wins in adoption and employee experience encourage progress.
• Three-way integration (system-first): Ideal if you’re in a constant transformation industry (biotech, fintech, global tech); CEO and COO sponsorship is strong; transformation backlog is significant; and change fatigue is high to generate company-wide momentum to advance.

Step 5: Create Shared Metrics - Define cross-functional KPIs: onboarding time-to-productivity, tool adoption rates, space utilization, EX-NPS. Make all leaders accountable for the same outcomes.

Step 6: Establish Governance & Roadmap

• Phase 1: Integrate 2 functions (or all 3 is feasible).
• Phase 2: Build a “Change Factory” (enablement + comms + adoption).
• Phase 3: Scale into full system integration over 3–5 years

📘  ​Team of Teams​, General Stanley McChrystal - more flexible, flatter work.

🗞️  ​People and Place: How HR took over commercial real estate​, Raconteur.

📹 ​ Systems Thinking​, Dr. Russell Ackoff - systems have important differences.

🎶 ​ Come Together​, The Beatles - upbeat support during integration!

For leaders and teams, integrating people, technology, and workplace systems is no longer optional—it’s the engine of performance and transformation. By aligning HR, IT, and Workplace, you can remove friction, amplify results, and create a seamless, enabling, and empowering Digital Employee Experience.

Every company’s starting point is different. Some should begin by integrating two functions where the most friction shows up; others can approach a full system shift from the outset. The destination is clear: operating as one system.

With insights tailored for your business, I can help you assess where to begin—HR and IT, HR and RE/Workplace, or all three—and chart a practical roadmap for systemic integration. ​Click here to book a 30-minute session.​

Next week, I'll discuss how best to drive the systems shift.

Until then!

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Sophie