With over half of employees and leaders rating inability to adapt to change as the number one threat to the future success of their organisations, a global workplace study reveals that only 43 percent of employees believe their employer to be future ready with a strategy they have confidence in.
Involving over 6,000 leaders and employees, the report by ENGINE Transformation is titled A Future That Works: Winning Workplaces.
It looks at the trends that will shape the workplace of tomorrow, and reveals that while front-line employees want to take collective responsibility for organisational change, many leaders are failing to harness this resource, with only one-third of front-line employees saying they can share ideas on how change is implemented.
While employees have a more positive experience of change when they can see a clear vision, have regular communication, and are involved in designing the change, the survey shows that this remains rare in practice. This failure to engage employees means that while the pace of change is increasing, Employee Experience of change remains poor with only 17 percent reporting a positive experience of change in the workplace.
Emma Robertson, CEO of Engine Transformation said: “The age of traditional change management and consultation is over. Against the backdrop of continuous and rapid disruption in the workplace, to avoid change fatigue and employee burnout, organisations must adopt a more employee-centred approach to achieving sustainable change. Leaders need to adjust their mindset to put employees at the heart of every change programme and allow teams to work in a more agile and empowered way.”
Meanwhile, speaking of the report, Andy Freeman, Marketing Lead at Santander UK, added: “Be clear with your ambition from the outset and don’t waver from it. It’s your north star. The journey to it won’t be linear, but if you stay true to your ambition and make it clear to your teams, they will respect the decisions and changes along the way. Even when decisions are difficult, people will understand why they’re necessary to achieve your overall ambition.”