Gulf between HR and Marketing

June 15 2005 - A survey by Corporate Project Resources, Inc. (CPRi), an interim marketing source for Fortune 500 companies, found that quality rather than quantity of communication between HR and Marketing departments is an ongoing problem. The survey showed that:

• 81% of HR and Marketing departments communicate on a daily/weekly basis
• 58% of marketers do not feel that HR understands what the Marketing department does on a daily basis
• 36% of marketers believe HR could work more effectively with Marketing if they took the time to understand Marketing's role within the organization

"When it comes to finding the right skills and experience, marketing might be one of the most challenging to master," said Sean Bisceglia, CEO of CPRi. "Roles within marketing have been quickly evolving since the inception of the Internet. As the economic pendulum swings back and companies are looking to rebuild their marketing departments, HR executives will be tasked with understanding their marketing department's needs."

CPRi surveyed over 500 HR executives and over 1,000 marketing executives within Fortune 500 companies. They found that over 45% of marketing executives said that their biggest challenge with HR was having HR provide qualified candidates for open marketing positions. Another 31% of marketing executives said their biggest challenge with HR was having HR understand the urgency of filling gaps within the Marketing department. CPRi says that it aims to help bridge the communication gap by:

• being a strategic partner to the HR department
• helping them understand what marketing is looking for
• quickly helping fill the gaps with quality marketing professionals on an interim or temp-to-perm basis.

Using contingent marketers

The survey found another disconnect over the use of contingent (temporary/agency) employees to fill gaps within marketing departments. While 71%of marketing executives said they would consider using contingent workers to fill gaps, only 45% of HR executives agreed.

"Since most marketing departments go through certain spikes throughout the year, whether it's the launch of a new product or an event, interim marketers are a great way for marketing departments to fill gaps that are only needed for certain period of time," stated Bisceglia. "In order to be a strategic partner to marketing, HR must understand the marketing department's workflow. CPRi helps provide insight to the ebb and flow of marketing departments and can be a resource to quickly fill needs with interim marketing professionals."

The full study is available at www.cpri.com.

• More US Communication Articles
• UK Communication Articles
• Corporate Communications Books
• Communication Skills Books