Managing Change, Managing Your Sanity
Change management in the workplace has to be one of the most frequently studied phenomenons. We now know a lot about how to move through change at the group and organization levels and on how counter resistance at an individual level. Less known is the effect of change on employee mental health.
Change can be stressful, no doubt. But not all employees experience change in a similar way, say researchers Loretto (U Edinburgh), Platt (U Edinburgh), and Popham (U St. Andrews). Downsizing, for example, could have a positive effect on mental health, they write in the British Journal of Management, if they lead to clearer roles and responsibilities for employees and increasing worker participation.
FACTOID: Employers in the UK are under legal obligation to prevent and control factors leading to stress in their workforce.
To fill in the research gap, Loretto et al set out to devise a comprehensive measure of organizational change (based on self-report questionnaires) and then to use that tool to explore the effects of change on employee mental health (using the well-validated General Health Questionnaire). Their study focused on nearly 5,400 employees in the National Health Service in the UK.
The study did show that the prospect of changing employers and terms and conditions of employment are likely to have detrimental effects on staff health and well-being.
But the researchers’ findings also challenge the assumption that change necessarily has an adverse effect on health. “Our findings indicate areas, such as promotion and development, where a positive impact can be anticipated.” They speculate that training and promotion may reduce employees’ uncertainty by increasing their control over their future.
Loretto, W., Platt, S., & Popham, F. (2009). Workplace Change and Employee Mental Health: Results from a Longitudinal Study British Journal of Management DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8551.2009.00658.x