Behind the rise of the chief productivity officer and what it means for companies and employees

"A recent prediction in a Fast Company article raised some eyebrows in the HR profession, proposing that by 2026 the traditional HR director title will begin to give way to another executive role: chief productivity officer. Rather than simply merging HR and IT, the newly created position of CPO (not to be confused with the already common chief people officer) is envisioned as the leader who orchestrates people and technology together to drive business outcomes."

"Cliff Jurkiewicz, the author of the Fast Company article and vp of global strategy and GM of the Customer Advisory Council at tech company Phenom, said the rise of the CPO is a correction to a problem employers created: turning "humans-in-the-loop" into a job description rather than a technical safeguard. "Employees became the final catch for broken processes and half-built workflows," he says. "That's where work becomes draining instead of meaningful.""

"Jurkiewicz argues that the chief productivity officer title puts people back in the lead. The role establishes shared ownership of productivity across HR, IT and business teams, aligning skills development, workflow design and intelligent automation. "People and technology now operate as one system," he explains. "Without someone stewarding that system, organizations drift into inefficiency.""

By 2026 many organizations may replace the HR director title with a chief productivity officer who orchestrates people and technology to improve business outcomes. The CPO role aligns HR, IT and business teams around measurable productivity through skills development, workflow design and intelligent automation. Early adopters include Moderna and the British government. The role corrects treating humans as fallback for broken processes and instead stewards human-digital work as one integrated system. The shift responds to outdated leadership models, HR's need to redefine strategic purpose, and the imperative to manage human and digital work together.

Read at Digiday