Study finds remote work no longer has considerable well-being advantages; Gen Z employees see change as normal–yet they aren’t good at managing it.
BOSTON – Today, meQuilibrium (meQ) released its groundbreaking State of the Workforce Report, the only comprehensive analysis of the intersection of workforce performance and well-being. This inaugural edition focuses on how a lack of workforce change readiness and surging workplace psychosocial risks impact organizations and their people. The report analyzes survey responses from 6,724 employees and 248 HR executives. It provides actionable insights for protecting employee well-being in times of change, mitigating widespread psychosocial risks, and building resilient change readiness.
Who Is and Isn’t Change Ready?
meQ identified a significant vertical divide in change readiness among employee population groups. HR executives demonstrated the highest scores in emotional composure (83.3%) perceived personal benefits from change (63.4%), and goal clarity (82.6%). However, other groups did not fare as well in managing change. Managers displayed moderately positive attitudes but had notably lower scores than HR executives across all measures, with nearly a quarter (24%) reporting that change makes them unsure of how to proceed. Individual contributors reported the highest levels of anxiety toward change, with 34% expressing uncertainty about how to proceed during changes, while also expressing the lowest openness to change.
By equipping employees with practical resilience skills–emotion control, work engagement, positivity, stress management, and sense of purpose–organizations can improve overall change readiness and increase manager effectiveness in mitigating psychosocial risk.
The Gen Z Change Readiness Paradox
The report sheds light on a troubling trend among Gen Z employees, who have surpassed the number of Baby Boomers in the workforce. Despite their familiarity with change, Gen Z workers exhibited a startling 34% higher change anxiety and 25% lower emotional stability than their older colleagues. Gen Z employees are 64% more likely to struggle with morning motivation, 25% more likely to report burnout, and 50% more likely to experience high job stress compared to older colleagues.
The Closing of the Remote Work Gap: Work Location Doesn’t Shield Employees from Rising Stress
While remote and hybrid workers once enjoyed well-being advantages, those differences have dwindled. Systemic pressures–such as economic uncertainty, increased workloads, and an accelerated pace of organizational change–appear to be affecting workers regardless of their location. The well-being advantage held by remote/hybrid workers has eroded, with on-site workers reporting only slightly higher levels of physical discomfort (41.9% vs 37.6%) and burnout (27.5% vs 25.9%) than their remote/hybrid counterparts.
Psychosocial Risk Is Endemic—More Than Half of Workers Are Affected
meQ’s study found that psychosocial risks–hazards in the work environment that can cause psychological harm–are pervasive, with over half of employees reporting at least one significant psychosocial hazard at work. Specifically, 52% of workers said they struggle to get help from supervisors when needed, and 43% feel work is not distributed fairly. Meanwhile, managers, who are crucial to mitigating these risks within teams, face a “psychosocial risk paradox”—they experience nearly 40% higher quantitative demands than non-managers and 59% higher emotional strain.
“Despite these elevated pressures, managers report receiving less support from senior leadership than the individual contributors they oversee,” said Brad Smith, PhD, Chief Knowledge Officer, meQuilibrium. “Organizations that do not adequately address this paradox face mission-critical risks given the gap between what is asked of managers and the support provided. This gap results in elevated levels of burnout and turnover risk where the people at the heart of the organization are at higher risk of burnout and turnover than the people they manage.”
Key Recommendations for Organizations to Navigate Change and Mitigate Psychosocial Risks
meQ’s report presents several essential strategies for organizations looking to manage workforce change and reduce psychosocial risk:
- Close the Change Readiness Gap: Implement transparent two-way feedback mechanisms to bridge the gap between leadership and individual contributors.
- Support Managers at the Core: Provide targeted training and resources for managers to handle psychosocial risks and balance high emotional and workload demands.
- Foster Workforce Resilience: Focus on building emotional control, work engagement, positivity, stress management and a sense of purpose through targeted resilience training and wellness programs.
- Conduct Systematic Psychosocial Risk Assessment: Introduce regular systematic psychosocial risk assessments and mitigation strategies focused on workload management and emotional demands.
- Support Gen Z Workers: Build the specific resilience skills that Gen Z lack in order to support their change-ready attitude.
“The ability to manage change effectively is no longer a luxury—it’s a necessity,” said Jan Bruce, CEO and co-founder, meQuilibrium. “Successful organizations must shift from simply managing change to proactively preparing teams to be change ready by investing in specialized resilience programs that not only help employees survive change but thrive during it.”
To explore how your organization can build a more resilient and change-ready workforce, download the full State of the Workforce Report report here.
