Change? Again? Employees Have Had Enough

Digital transformation. Right-sizing. Outsourcing. New revenue initiatives. Cultural shifts. The average employee now experiences 10 enterprise changes a year.

The more things change, well, the more they…change again.

Employees have had enough. Gartner’s research shows a major shift in the way employees view change. In 2016, 74% said they were willing to support changes in the workplace. Now, just 43% say they will.

So, next time to roll out your latest initiative, you need to know that less than half of your team will likely support it — even fewer will embrace it enthusiastically.

The Project Management Institute calls this “change fatigue.” Harvard Business Reviews calls this the “transformation deficit.” Regardless of what you call it, it’s a real thing organizations need to manage. Without expert leadership and change management strategies, organizations may struggle mightily. Not only might initiatives fail, but they can undermine employee morale, accelerating disengagement and increasing turnover.

“The irony is that many of the goals of transformation — redesigning teams and structures, automating drudge activities, reengineering corporate culture — seek to ease burnout and fatigue and increase efficiency,” write Cian O Morain and Peter Aykens.