Beyond the 13 factors: Poor organizational change management

Looking beyond the 13 factors, we consider how organizations with poor (or no) plans for change can harm workers’ psychological health and safety. Change is inevitable, and how organizations manage it can mean the difference between a thriving workforce and one experiencing significant psychological distress.

As noted by the government of Australia, poor organizational change management refers to changes that are poorly planned, communicated, supported or managed. It encompasses more than just unpopular workplace changes. It becomes a psychosocial hazard when it is severe, prolonged or frequent.

This hazard can manifest in various ways:

Insufficient consultation with affected workers
Inadequate (or no) consideration of how changes impact workers’ health and safety, including the instruction on new hazards, changes to risk profiles or the way employees can perform their work
Disorganized implementation without clear goals
Poor communication about the change process

Examples of practices observed during poor management of change include insufficient consultation, inadequate consideration of new types of hazards or performance impacts when planning and implementing change, insufficient support, lack of information or training during change periods and failing to communicate key information to workers.

Recognizing poor change management as a potential risk is essential because organizational change affects virtually every aspect of work life. Workers facing poorly managed change often experience increased stress, uncertainty about their roles, reduced job security and confusion about expectations.

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Assessment methods and tools

Australia’s national work health and safety regulator has created an employee self-assessment survey that includes the following 10 questions using a five-point scale (strongly disagree to strongly agree) to allow workers to rate aspects of their perception of change:

I understand the reason and requirements for change.
I have the opportunity to participate in the change process (such as attending forums and meetings and providing feedback) if my work is affected by change.
I am aware of the agency’s health and safety policies and procedures, including how to conduct my work with regard to workplace health and safety.
If I need support, I am aware of how to access support and information to assist me.
I am confident that I will receive assistance and support if I experience any health-related difficulties (physical or mental) as part of the change process.
My workplace supports workers to remain or return to work following ill health, with suitable duties if required.
Senior management and leaders provide clear instruction, detailed information and support during change.
Senior management and leaders are open and transparent about the change process and provide feedback to issues raised by workers.
I am confident undertaking new roles and implementing the changes required as part of the change process.
I am clear about what is expected of me.

In addition to qualitative measures, employers should observe workplace behaviours and engage in scheduled and spontaneous check-ins to understand employees’ readiness for change and how they are coping and adapting to the imposed changes.

Employers and leaders may detect challenges with their workforce when they see patterns that planned tasks are taking longer than expected, deadlines are being missed, frequent mistakes are being made and there is decreased quality or increased confusion about how to get work done, all of which may be signs of poor change management. Managers should monitor other lagged indicators such as overtime records, time off requests, injury reports, incident data and workers’ compensation claims for patterns that coincide with change periods.

When speaking with employees in any type of leadership or influence role, lead with empathy. Be open to listening for mentions of feeling stressed, frustrated, or ignored about a process or raising concerns about changes and their implementation. Address such concerns without judgment or dismissing concerns as poor attitudes.

Employers and leaders can keep a keen eye on how well change is facilitated by measuring this psychosocial factor during a workplace risk assessment to get a baseline. Regular pulse surveys, focus groups and feedback sessions during change periods can provide valuable early warning indicators and allow the organization to discover when planned changes are not going as expected.

Practical controls and implementation strategy

Managing organizational change management requires a systematic approach that addresses immediate change-related stressors while establishing robust processes to ensure all future organizational changes protect workers’ well-being.

The following framework is an applied roadmap for transforming reactive change practices into building organizational habits for proactive, worker-centred approaches that prevent psychological harm and build organizational resilience during transition periods.

Immediate actions

If poor organizational change management is identified as a concern, immediate action is essential to prevent the escalation of risks. Start by establishing clear, frequent communication channels specifically for the change process. This means daily or weekly briefings for affected teams, dedicated email updates and ensuring managers are equipped with consistent messaging. The primary goal is to keep the lines of communication open and demonstrate a willingness to facilitate two-way versus one-way communication.

When a new or unexpected change occurs, implement consultation and communication that allow for scheduled listening sessions with affected workers within 48 hours to hear questions and to share what information is known that can be shared. Create safe spaces where employees can voice concerns without fear of reprisal and offer leaders instruction, such as crisis-ready interventionist training, to deal with employees who may be emotional.

Document all feedback systematically. This information will be crucial for developing longer-term solutions.

Be proactive and review workloads after any changes have been implemented to ensure that planned changes are happening. Be mindful that during change periods, employees often need additional time to adapt to and learn new processes, systems or roles. Build in buffer time for tasks and temporarily reduce non-essential demands where possible. This prevents the compounding effect of high workload pressures during already-stressful change periods.

Planning for systematic changes

Within the next month of change, develop a comprehensive communication strategy that goes beyond basic announcements to educate employees on the changes that will impact staffing, schedules, product, processes or service.

This communication should include:

Who will be impacted by the change. Be upfront and honest and acknowledge challenges, barriers and potential delays.
Clarification of employees’ and teams’ expectations and goals.
What, if any, changes there are to employee roles and functions.
Planned and scheduled regular progress updates.
Defining what “good” looks like and the expected timelines with defined milestones and key performance indicators when appropriate.

Determine how the organization can create multiple communication channels to accommodate different preferences, such as written updates, team meetings, general awareness (posters), digital communication channels, videos, texts and one-on-one discussions.

Implement a risk assessment process focused on the interactions between organizational change and other workplace hazards. Poor change management can create higher risks when combined with other hazards, such as a lack of role clarity, where workers are unclear about their responsibilities. Map out how the changes might amplify existing workplace stressors such as work demand, access to equipment, role clarity, interpersonal conflict and leadership approach.

Develop clear policies and/or procedures for managing future organizational changes to provide a road map. This should include mandatory consultation periods, impact assessment requirements, communication protocols and support service provisions. Having these frameworks in place prevents reactive, poorly planned change management.

With any change management program, it is critical to build in a continual improvement (Plan-Do-Check-Act) approach to drive accountability and learning.

Key implementation principles for change management

Train leaders to lead through change: Do not assume leaders know how to lead through change. Provide them with change management and psychological health and safety leadership training and communications and coaching skills.
Integration over isolation: Change management should be integrated into existing health and safety programs or psychological health and safety programs, rather than being viewed solely as a human resources function. This means embedding psychosocial risk considerations into every change process from the outset, not as an afterthought.
Consultation is essential: Move beyond token consultation to genuine employee engagement throughout the change process to build trust and confidence in the employer’s intentions. This principle requires establishing multiple feedback channels, dedicating sufficient time for meaningful input and demonstrating how worker feedback influences decisions. Effective consultation involves employees in problem-solving rather than simply informing them of predetermined solutions.
Consider the impact of other psychosocial hazards: Recognize that the effects of poor change management will not exist in isolation but will interact with other psychosocial hazards, including role clarity and workplace and job control.
Measurement and continuous improvement: Establish robust measurement systems that track both process indicators (how well change is being managed) and outcome indicators (impacts on worker well-being and business performance). Use this data to continuously refine change management approaches and share lessons learned across the organization.

For additional discussion on this topic, we suggest reviewing “Use change management to improve your psychological health and safety plan,” which introduces leveraging change. The awareness, desire, knowledge, ability, reinforcement (ADKAR) model is an evidence-based change management approach developed by Jeff Hiatt, the founder of Prosci, to support psychological health and safety programs.

Poor organizational change management represents a significant and often underestimated psychosocial hazard that requires systematic attention as part of an organization’s psychological health and safety program. By understanding its definition, implementing robust assessment methods and following a structured approach to prevention and control, organizations can transform potentially harmful change processes into opportunities for positive workplace development.

Want to learn more about psychological health and safety? Register for our Psychologically Safe Workplaces Summit – Part 2 on Sept. 10, 2025.

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