Albert Galarza is the Global Vice President of Human Resources at TELUS International.
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The only constant is change—it's a saying that resonates now more than ever given the nature of the past few years. Because it brings new opportunities and incites innovation, change can be a good thing. Conversely, it can lead to stress and resistance, which in turn negatively impact employee engagement, productivity and business outcomes.
Change fatigue, defined as a general sense of apathy or passive resignation toward organizational changes, has plagued companies for years, most recently with the onset of the pandemic. In 2020, digital health consultant Simon Terry summarized the situation, writing, "Change fatigue. Resilience fatigue. Agility fatigue. WFH fatigue. Video-conference fatigue. Online schooling fatigue. Restriction fatigue. Conflict fatigue. Fatigue fatigue. 2020—the international year of fatigue."
Two years later, employees continue to feel the effects of all that change, and it's impacting their mental health. According to the Mental Health America "Mind the Workplace 2022" report, four out of five workers say that workplace stress affects family, friends and co-worker relationships, while 56% report that they've spent time looking for a new job.
Acknowledging that change fatigue exists in your organization is a start, but companies must develop and execute a thoughtful and holistic strategy to address it. By doing so, leaders can better ensure their teams can prepare for and navigate through the many organizational, operational and other changes associated with these unpredictable times.
Recognize Signs Of Change Fatigue
By educating leaders on how change fatigue presents itself, they can have a better chance of intervening more quickly and have a higher probability of successfully re-engaging their teams while avoiding costly attrition and losses in productivity. Here's what to look for when gauging a team's organizational change fatigue:
• Noise: You'll notice louder, more frequent concerns about changes within your organization.
• Apathy: Growing indifference about project changes, including lower levels of engagement and fewer questions, are all warning signs.
• Burnout: Are your employees visibly tired? Burnout may be to blame.
• Stress: If your employees seem stressed and anxious about change, consider that a red flag.
• Resistance: Some workers will push back on change with more energy than others, but all signs of resistance are likely related to dissatisfaction associated with change.
• Negativity: Have you noticed that cynicism seems to prevail? That kind of passive resignation is often linked to change fatigue.
• Skepticism: When individuals express doubt about the success of the changes you're planning, it's another sign that they've reached a saturation point.
Offer Resources And Autonomy
Once leaders recognize the signs of change fatigue, it’s equally important to provide them with the autonomy and resources to make decisions and take action to improve their team’s well-being. That could include adding a new health benefit, organizing a team-building activity or enacting a broad process change like implementing a new technology platform. Leaders should also be consulted about their team’s capacity to absorb a change in order to help determine the best timing and potentially delay it if not time-sensitive.
A recent HR.com study shared that 92% of surveyed employees are still grappling with some of the unique challenges brought on by the pandemic. Thus, offering meaningful programs and support to employees is crucial. At TELUS International, we offer a variety of initiatives to support our team members’ well-being, including flexible work schedules, employee resource groups, expert-contributed blog posts on our intranet, counseling sessions in a variety of access options, as well as three paid personal days per year in addition to vacation days.
Consider Personalized Wellness Programs
Alongside any wellness initiatives, companies can also turn to external partners to support a holistic wellness strategy. For example, employee assistance programs (EAPs) have taken on an even greater role since the pandemic as they serve as a confidential source that employees can use to find resources within their own communities. Typically provided as part of a larger benefits package, EAP connects employees to experts, short-term counseling and follow-up services for longer-term support.
Consider how employees might be able to customize their personal wellness plan. As such, giving them the ability to allocate funds where it’s most needed can also be beneficial. For example, my company offers an annual wellness spending account that our employees can use toward gym memberships, medical equipment, meal delivery services and even fees associated with child or older adult care.
Focus On Authentic Two-Way Communications
All organizations have multiple projects in various stages of execution, so it's vital that leaders have a holistic view of what’s happening across all departments in order to understand the full breadth of change efforts underway to accurately assess the risk of change fatigue. Engaging in regular communications between teams and developing a process to centralize change requests can help ensure leaders are aligned across the organization.
Communicating the rationale behind change decisions early on and often can help to ease tensions and eliminate incorrect assumptions. It may not always be possible to mitigate change fatigue, but inviting feedback and answering questions along the way can make that change easier to accept.
Additionally, conducting regular check-ins with your team to uncover concerns can help you identify change fatigue early on. However, if you do ask for feedback, it’s crucial that you take action to implement it to encourage continued participation. At my company, we conduct an annual employee engagement survey and a mid-year checkpoint to measure employee sentiment in areas like career development, diversity and pay. Town halls and leader webinars are also great ways to connect with a broad audience. During our company’s quarterly earnings calls, we also dedicate time for our employees to ask executives about everything from operations to sales. These unscripted moments are a critical element for building an open and authentic environment.
Resistance to change is a very human instinct and is often a symptom of change fatigue. But organizations that take a thoughtful and holistic approach to recognizing, addressing and mitigating the impacts of change fatigue could be better positioned to support their employees meaningfully in times of uncertainty.
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