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The introduction and use of artificial intelligence (AI) across workplaces is only the most recent major change employers and workers have had to navigate — or risk being left behind. But new data shows many employees think business owners frequently fall short in orchestrating changes they introduce, and consequently wind up with less effective results and lower return on investment. That’s the broad finding of consultancy Eagle Hill’s 2025 Change Management Survey, which polled 1,448 full-time workers about how well their companies oversee shifts in organization, work arrangements, and tech. While 63 percent of respondents said their workplaces had gone through significant changes during the past year, opinions about how those were overseen and the value of their outcomes differed significantly. Just one third of survey participants said workplace or business modifications they’d participated in had been worth the effort of making, with many saying they’d had negative results. Reasons for those views came from large portions of respondents who said management changes to workplaces had decreased their efficiency, increased their workloads, and boosted stress levels. As a result, they said, innovation efforts fell short of the improvements sought through them. Featured Video An Inc.com Featured Presentation What kind of changes were involved? They ranged from introducing new tech like AI, to launching new products or projects, changing return office (RTO) requirements, expanding or decreasing headcount, cutting costs, altering company culture, and adjusting to taking over another business or being acquired by a new owner. Employees frequently found these actions were more disruptive than productive, in large part due to ineffective management. There were several reasons why participants thought their employers had failed to fully capitalize on workplace modifications — whether those were big, or relatively limited. The leading problem cited 27 percent of the time was that businesses didn’t prioritize what employees believed were the most important changes their workplace needed. From there, respondents listed insufficiencies in managing shifts, supporting employees adapting to changes, and monitoring the progress of worker adoption of new structures, methods, or tech introduced to gauge staff adherence. Reflecting that view, only a third of respondents said they felt employers listened to them in identifying the most pressing changes that needed to be made. A contrasting 40 percent said their input was overlooked when it came to pinpointing and undertaking initiatives. “Organizations are introducing important changes but failing to bring employees along on the journey,” president and chief executive officer of Eagle Hill Consulting, Melissa Jezior, said in comments about the findings. “The key to successful change is not just what you change, but how you change,” she noted. “When employees experience increased workload and stress without adequate support during change, that ultimately impact the effectiveness of change efforts. Smart, effective, and efficient change management strategies engage employee along the way.” To help with that, Eagle Consulting offered tips to employers on how to maximize the results of workplace changes they introduce — or which are imposed by outside forces like new technologies, sector challenges, or shifts in ownership. The first is to take more than enough time needed to rollout out changes, possibly doing so in phases to allow reinforced communication, support, and oversight of staff adoption. As part of that, employee workloads may be temporarily reduced as people adjust to new practices, structures, or assets. Secondly, business leaders need to continue interacting with workers as they navigate change. A key focus of that is to make certain employees understand the reasons for innovating, and are clear about the desired results from that process. As part of that, the report urges business owners to anchor all change they introduce to the outcomes being sought. In maintaining that longer-term perspective, Eagle Hill said employers need to continue reminding themselves that true “transformation requires persistent storytelling: messaging that connects strategy to purpose, tailored to teams, and reinforced across channels.” The final tip is to recognize that the majority of modern workplaces are now shaped by the teams that drive most activity and success. Major initiatives come from the top, but their success relies on the base embracing those. For that reason, Eagle Hill’s survey found many employees wanting to play a bigger role in the changes management decides to embark upon. “Change is experienced collectively, not individually,” the report’s conclusion notes. “That means the team, not the org chart, must be the core unit of change.”
