Employees experiencing more change are more engaged
Data shows employees may respond differently to instability than change itself.
Employees experiencing significant organizational change reported higher engagement levels than employees experiencing relatively little change, according to new data from Qualtrics.
The company’s 2026 Global Employee Experience Trends report found that employees experiencing significant change reported engagement levels of 74%, compared to 59% among workers experiencing little disruption. The report surveyed more than 33,000 employees across 24 countries.
That finding casts some doubt on the conventional wisdom about employee change fatigue and suggests workers may be more responsive to uncertainty and instability than to change itself. In addition, the data suggests that employees are even more attuned to what internal communicators have to say when the stakes are higher.
The report also stated that certain types of change led to increases in employee sentiment, while others unsurprisingly led to decreases.
The data suggests employees may be responding more negatively to instability than to change itself. Technology rollouts and strategic shifts can signal forward momentum and a plan for the organization. But layoffs and leadership changes can disrupt employees’ sense of stability, especially when communication about those changes feels inconsistent or lacks clarity.
Internal communicators need to remember that in moments of change, employees keep a close eye on how leaders explain the change. In many situations, change comms focuses a great deal on the details of how things are changing, like updated reporting structures and timelines, and employees often need more of the why behind the changes in messaging. That’s likely why the report found that the single biggest driver behind employee expectations was feeling supported to adapt in times of change.
Internal comms pros need to remember that team-level guidance in times of change is just as important as the top-line details. Some tactics that work to get the message across include:
- Drafting and distributing manager comms toolkits to explain changes to teams.
- Creating predictable cadences of messaging to keep stability.
- Emphasizing what’s not changing in addition to what is.
Employees are adapting faster than communicators can keep up
The report’s AI-related findings found that employees are already using automation to change how their work gets done, sometimes faster than companies can establish clear communications pathways about it.
The study stated that 52% of employees use AI weekly or daily at work, a 7% increase from 2025. In addition:
- 65% reported that AI helped them complete tasks faster
- 58% said it helped their quality of work
- 51% said it helped them increase their work output
But it’s also worth noting the ties that the study found between AI adoption and employee pressure to produce.
- 51% of employees under high pressure use AI daily or weekly
- 40% of employees under low pressure use AI daily or weekly
With the knowledge that so many employees are already using AI, internal communicators need to find pathways to encourage people to use AI within the guardrails their companies establish. For instance, sharing use cases of employees innovating with AI can help signal a sense of encouragement that employees under pressure can look to as permission to experiment within the rules to help with their roles.
Employees are already experimenting with AI. The internal communicators who succeed will be the ones helping shape how those tools get used instead of playing catch-up later.
Sean Devlin is an editor at Ragan Communications.
