Two-thirds of change leaders say staff quit because of their latest initiative, Deloitte finds
Organisational change is adding to employee workloads and prompting staff departures, according to new research from Deloitte, which encouraged employers to measure the human cost of transformation alongside the business case.
Nearly seven in 10 (69%) change leaders said their most recent change initiative increased employee workload and burnout. Another 68% reported at least one form of employee resistance.
Two-thirds (66%) said employees left their company as a direct result of their latest initiative. They estimated turnover-related expenses at an average of $20.5 million. Separately, 45% said poorly managed change contributed to the departure of high-performing employees.
The findings come from the Deloitte + Workplace Intelligence 2026 Deloitte Change Management Study. It surveyed 1,000 change management leaders across the US, UK, Australia and Canada, all of whom had led at least one large-scale initiative in the past two years.
Painful AI transformation
The strain is particularly visible in AI transformation. Among leaders overseeing AI implementation, the average turnover-related cost rises to $25.5 million, and 61% believe AI transformation is moving faster than employees can handle.
Across all respondents, 59% said AI overload is negatively affecting employees.
Despite this, 60% said their company treats change management as a project cost rather than a business capability.
"Organisations are asking their people to navigate more change, more often, making it increasingly important to build the capacity and support employees need to adapt successfully," said Sue Cantrell, Human Capital Eminence leader at Deloitte.
"Leaders need to understand how change is experienced across the workforce because the strain of poorly managed transformation initiatives could cost an organisation top talent who feel overwhelmed and burnt out. Enhanced, personalised approaches to change can turn it into an enduring capability that supports employees."
The research found that every $1 invested in change management was associated with $4 in realised business value. Companies that invested the most were 1.7 times more likely to report that employee adoption was very successful and exceeded expectations.
Measuring the human cost
The report sets out five priorities for building an always-on change capability. One of these priorities is measuring the human cost of initiatives alongside the business case.
According to the study, approximately one in five organisations do not formally measure the human impact of initiatives or assess workforce readiness before launching them.
Deloitte suggested leaders track workload, readiness, fatigue and other workforce indicators alongside financial and operational measures.
"That visibility can inform decisions to slow a rollout, add support, or adjust scope," the report read.
The other four priorities are:
- Embedding change capability into everyday work
- Managing change capacity across the enterprise
- Connecting adoption measures to business outcomes
- Equipping leaders to model the behaviours they ask employees to adopt.
"Change is no longer something organisations can manage one initiative at a time — it's a constant operating reality," said Allyson Dake, US Strategy and Technology Change Market Offering leader at Deloitte.
"The organisations that build change into how they operate, with the right visibility into workforce capacity and support embedded into the flow of work, could be better positioned to turn transformation investments into sustained business value."
