Change Initiatives Directly Affect Employee Engagement

According to a recent global study by Right Management, 94% of employees who report that change was not handled well in their organizations - are disengaged.

Drawing from research of 28,000 employees in 15 countries, Right Management's key findings from the global study include:

• Employee engagement is a key driver of organizational effectiveness and directly impacts productivity and profitability.
• Best-performing organizations manage change nearly four times more effectively. In top-performing companies (defined as those achieving higher revenue and above-average customer loyalty profit results), 60% of employees responded that "change is handled effectively in my organization," compared to 16% of employees in below-average performing organizations.
• Less than half (43%) of employees are confident in their organization's change process. One in three employees believes their organization does not handle change effectively.
• The biggest downfall for senior leaders is the perception that they do not follow through on what they say they will do. Less than half (47%) agreed that senior leaders communicated change effectively; 54% of employees doubted senior leaders' ability to respond appropriately to changing external conditions.
• Organizations that do not manage change well are four times more likely to lose talent. Twenty percent of employees who perceived change was not handled effectively indicated they planned to leave within one year versus only 5% of employees who held a favorable view. The latter planned to stay for at least five years.
• Ineffective change management can lead to lower levels of job confidence. Of the employees who reported that change management was not handled well, 45% expressed favorable feelings about not losing their job within 12 months, while 32% did not. This is in stark contrast to organizations with effective change management, where 80% of respondents had positive feelings about keeping their job versus only 7% who did not.
• Ineffective change management negatively impacts an organization's ability to attract talent. When employees reported that change was managed poorly in their organizations, 75% of respondents had concerns with their company's ability to attract talent.