60+ Helpful Change Management Statistics & Facts To Know

Every organization needs to experience change once in a while. Unfortunately, many (over 70%) of change initiatives fail. 

What does it mean for companies in 2024? 

As your business explores various effective change strategies, you need to know these vital change management statistics. 

These statistics will guide you in making data-backed strategies for better improvement in your company.

Key Change Management Statistics

• The digital change transformation market is projected to reach $1,009.8 billion by 2025.
• The failure rate for change management initiatives was reported at 70%.
• For 25% of employees, change management is a significant strength of their organization’s senior leaders.
• The four major factors influencing change in organizations are duration, integrity, commitment, and effort.
• 29% of surveyed employees in the UK said their company didn’t clearly communicate the issue of change.
• 32% of change-fatigued employees claim that the stress from work has made them less productive.
• Over 70% of change initiatives fail because of the initial employee resistance it faces.
• 78% of employees have experienced more changes at their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic than at any other point in their careers.
• 58% of organizations use AI to improve their consistency and quality.

General Change Management Statistics

1. The global market for digital transformation has been expanding rapidly. It is valued at $937.20 billion in 2023 and is projected to reach over $7,033.01 billion by 2032. (source)

2. The digital change transformation market is projected to reach $1,009.8 billion by 2025. (source)

3. Only about 34% of implemented change initiatives succeed. (source)

4. 73% of organizations expect more change initiatives, 14% expect the same number of change initiatives, and 13% expect fewer change initiatives. (source)

5. About 79.7% of organizations need to change their business strategies every 2-5 years. (source)

Employee Experience And Change Adaptability Statistics

6. About 43% of employees claim that their organization is good at managing change, a reduction from the 60% of employees in 2019. (source)

7. About 25% of employees claim that change management is a significant strength of their organization’s senior leaders. (source) 

8. 64% of employees have the skills required to adapt to change successfully, 19% have fewer skills, and 17% have no skills. (source)

9. 74% of employees say they are willing to adapt to change just to achieve the company’s new goals. (source)

10. 17% of employees quickly changed their behaviors to implement change effectively. (source)

11. 75% of employees claim that the heads of HR are more responsible for implementing change management strategies. (source)

12. 42% of employees claim that they are included in contributing to a company’s change strategy. (source)

13. When employees primarily own implementation planning, change success increases by 24%. (source)

14. Involving employees in decision-making increases change success by 15%. (source)

15. 75% of organizations are implementing a top-down approach to change, where leaders establish the change strategy, develop detailed implementation plans, and distribute a large volume of change communications. (source)

16. The four major factors influencing change in organizations for the better were duration, integrity, commitment, and effort. (source)

17. A UK survey found that 37% of employees resist change. (source)

18. 74% of those employees believe their leaders need to be more active in understanding why employees resist change. 55% agreed that if leaders do this, it will improve staff retention. While 45% said it would increase productivity. 43% say it will encourage more collaboration, and 45% agree it will improve their mental health. (source)

19. 41% of employees stated that they resisted change due to distrust in leadership or the organization. Another 23% said they resisted change because they felt excluded. (source)

20. 29% of surveyed employees in the UK said their company didn’t clearly communicate the issue of change. Also, 28% complained that they didn’t receive the vital information necessary to understand change. (source) 

21. 29% of employees have a lower level of change receptivity, and 31% experienced a lower level of inclusion in response to the immediate shift in where and how people work. (source)

22. The average employee experiences at least ten planned enterprise changes, from a total restructure to achieve effectiveness to a culture transformation that would help unlock new working methods. (source)

23. The involvement of employees in decision-making is a shift that increases change management success by 15%. (source)

24. Employees owning their implementation plans increases change management success by 24% and improves the possibility of the initiative being received and sustained better. (source)

25. Engaging in a two-way conversation all through the process of change management increases success by 32%. (source)

26. 83% of employees currently operate at or above their capacity. This means the increased workload also led to a 30% decrease in workforce health. (source)

27. Only 57% of managers say they have enough capacity in their day-to-day work to help their teams navigate change. (source)

28. Managers who help their teams self-navigate through change can boost employee long-term performance by 29% while also protecting their own performance. (source)

29. 85% of employees have experienced higher levels of burnout, and there is also a 40% decrease in work-life balance. (source)

30. The COVID-19 pandemic led to 41% of employees having lower trust in their teams and 37% having lower confidence in their leadership. (source)

31. Employees’ willingness to support enterprise change fell to 43% in 2022 from 74% in 2016. (source)

Statistics Of Success And Failure Rates Of Change Initiatives

32. The performance of change initiatives has been seen to have 50% evident failures, 16% mixed results, and 34% apparent successes. (source)

33. Organizations that implement open-source change strategies are 14x more likely to achieve change success. (source)

34. Most organizational change initiatives fail, with an estimated 60-70% failure rate. This high failure rate led to many concerns about the factors that can increase the success of organizational changes. (source)

35. A common barrier to change success is that executives tend to underestimate the importance of operating model changes within their organization and its impacts. (source)

36. One of the reasons why 70% of change initiatives fail is because of the initial employee resistance they face. For every change initiative to work out, it needs the support and cooperation of the workers of that organization. (source)

37. An open-source change management strategy will increase the probability of change success by up to 22%. (source)

38. Open-source change management strategy also reduces time spent on change by up to 12 hrs per week per employee. (source)

Statistics Of Workforce Adaptability And Change Fatigue

39. 43% of employees who experience above-average change fatigue intend to stay with their organizations, compared with 74% of employees with low fatigue levels. (source)

40. 66.67% of workers experience burnout when adjusting to change management. This further leads to transformation failure. (source)

41. Workplace stress due to change management records about 8% of national healthcare spending. (source)

42. 73% of employees affected by change report feeling moderate to high stress. This stress affects their performance and productivity, which is 5% lower than the average employee. (source)

43. 51% of people claimed that market competition and growth opportunities were the significant causes for change in organizations. (source)

44. 71% of employees say that they are overwhelmed by the change that has happened at their organizations since the COVID-19 pandemic, while 6% experienced no changes at all. (source)

45. 83% of employees experiencing change fatigue say their employers do not provide enough tools or resources to help them adapt to the changes better. (source)

46. 93% of employees experiencing change fatigue claim their employer has backtracked on at least one change implemented during the pandemic. This has led to an increased rate of frustration among employees. (source)

47. 78% of employees have experienced more changes at their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic than at any other point in their careers. (source)

48. 79% of women are experiencing change fatigue compared to 70% of men undergoing change fatigue. (source)

49. 80% of employees at organizations with 101- 1,000 were experiencing change fatigue, and 73% at organizations with 100 or fewer employees were experiencing change fatigue. Lastly, 68% of organizations with more than 1000 employees were experiencing change fatigue. (source)

50. 32% of change-fatigued employees say that the stress from work has made them less productive. (source)

51. 48% of change-fatigued employees claim to be more stressed at work than before the changes were made. (source)

52. 38% of change-fatigued employees claim to be enjoying their jobs way less than they were before the changes were made. (source)

53. 37% of change-fatigued employees claim to be less trusting of their employers since the changes were made. (source)

54. 54% of employees experiencing change fatigue consider looking for a new job. (source)

Statistics Of Leadership On Change Management 

55. 74% of organization’s senior leaders claim they always include employees in creating change strategies. (source)

56. 62% of companies utilize implementation plans predominantly owned by senior leaders. (source)

57. 47% of organizations that integrate change management are more likely to meet their objectives than the other 30% that do not. (source)

58. 1 in 3 CEOs did not achieve their desired result from the past utilized change initiatives. (source)

59. 97% of decision-makers in organizations claim that the pandemic sped up their company’s digital transformation process. As a result of this, 95% of companies were looking for new ways to interact with customers, which also led to changes in workplaces. (source)

60. 58% of organizations use AI to improve their consistency and quality, 26% use AI to improve their productivity, and 16% use AI to enhance knowledge. (source)

61. 75% of organizations expect to multiply the significant change initiatives they will undertake in the next three years. (source)

62. 52.8% of organizations in the US defined their approach to change management as open-minded, engaged, and flexible. (source)

63. 28% of medium-sized organizations expressed that they maintain a culture of change management. (source)

Conclusion

Change management is an essential tool for organizations to ensure that change is implemented smoothly and effectively. 

Without change management, change can be disruptive and cause chaos, leading to lower productivity and dissatisfied employees. 

Change management ensures everyone is on board with the changes and understands its benefits. Overall, change management is crucial for the success of any organization. 

Change management can lead to several other benefits, such as helping organizations save time and money by avoiding mistakes that could have been avoided with better planning. 

Finally, change management can increase employee morale and retention by making employees feel that they are a valued part of the organization and that their input is essential.

Frequently Asked Questions

2. What are the 5 Cs of Change Management?

This is simply a code to indicate how change management works best for organizations and businesses.

• C- Commitment
• C- Communication
• C- Conviction
• C- Collaboration
• C- Capacity