Organizational changes within a business can happen for many reasons. Whether it’s because of financial concerns, merger or acquisition, company growth or a shift in your business model, change can be a challenging time. Whether you choose to hire a transformation director to help the process run smoothly or not, before you begin making big changes it’s important to put yourself in the shoes of your employees. They’re often the ones that suffer the most in the process.
This crucial step will help you to understand how they might react to the changes being made, and also how you can mitigate any potential risks.
Change related stress
If any big organizational changes are made to your business, it can often cause unwanted stress for your employees. Whether you’re making changes to management or to the overall hierarchy of the business, it could leave your workforce feeling as though they’re being treated unfairly.
Should you be making changes to your business, it’s recommended you give employees a good amount of notice. This will allow them time to process the change, ask any questions and become accustomed to what’s happening.
Loss of loyalty
Have you ever made a big change to the structure of your business and lost employees as a result? It’s more common than you think. Most companies look to salaries and benefits as the first places to cut back when looking to make changes that involve savings on costs. It’s only natural that some of your workforce will look to leave the company to seek employment elsewhere as a result.
It’s important to note that those employees who do remain faithful to the business may experience a dip on job performance. So, when the change is happening, think of ways in which you can boost moral!
Productivity may decrease
That dip in performance can have a negative impact on productivity too. So, it’s important to consider how your overall business will be affected because of these changes. If you’re downsizing or scaling up your business, it may force you out of your current premises meaning your employees may have to temporarily have to work from home or a shared office space. As a business you’ll have to find ways to maintain motivation and keep productivity high.
Whatever your reasons for your organisational changes, it’s crucial you consider all the impacts it will have on those who work for you. No matter how high they are up in the chain of command, everyone is affected differently.
