WorkSafe Tasmania

WorkSafe Tasmania

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Poor organisational change management

Poor organisational change management

Poor organisational change management:

  • is when changes happening in the workplace are poorly planned, managed, communicated or supported
  • means there is a lack of information on the change process, or the information is unclear, or there is the perception that management is withholding information
  • includes not consulting workers on changes in the workplace that affect them: not talking with workers about the change, or genuinely considering their views
  • includes a lack of practical support (like training) for workers for the change.

Identify and assess the risks

To learn if there is poor organisational change management in your workplace (or the potential for them) look at everything from the work environment to work tasks, how they’re carried out, and the way work is designed and managed.

  • Consult your workers. They may tell you they feel stressed, frustrated or ignored. They may raise concerns about changes including its impact (on safety and performance) or how it was done. Talk with your health and safety reps and committee too.
  • Observe work and behaviours. Tasks taking longer than expected, gossip, or frequent mistakes or confusion can be caused by poor change management.
  • Review information such as overtime records, time off, injuries, incidents and near misses, and workers compensation claims.
  • Use surveys and tools. If you have more than 20 workers may find the People at Work psychosocial risk assessment tool useful. Head4Work is suitable if you have 20 or less workers (see Psychosocial hazards resources).
  • Have a way for workers to report their concerns, and treat these seriously and respectfully. That will encourage reporting and help you fix the problem.
  • Identify other hazards present and consider them together. Hazards can interact and combine to create new, changed or higher risks. For example, poor change management may create a higher risk in workplaces with a lack of role clarity if workers are already unclear on who does what.
  • Consider how long, how often and how severely workers are exposed to hazards. The longer, more often and worse the exposure to poor organisational change management, the higher the risk that workers may be harmed.

Practical control measures

Here are some ideas for control measure that can help you prevent and manage poor organisational change management.

Remember under the work health and safety laws, employers must consult with their workers who are, or are likely to be, affected by a work health and safety matter. See the code of practice Work health and safety consultation, cooperation and coordination.

Do

Don’t

Involve workers in the change process by consulting and communicating with them and their health and safety representatives

Disregard the impact the change may have on workers or teams. Even minor changes can affect individuals

Encourage workers to engage with consultation and change management processes

Keep workers in the dark

Provide clear, authoritative information about upcoming changes as soon as possible and regularly

 

Make sure workers understand the changes, why they’re happening, and the implications for them/their work

 

Identify different ways of communicating to meet worker’s needs: meetings, emails

 

Allow for a change period when setting work plans: for example, giving workers more time to do new tasks while they get used to them

 

Make sure changes are reasonable and fair

 

Provide practical support for changes, such as training on how to do new tasks

 

Tell customers and suppliers about the changes and any impacts: for example, warn customers in advance if they may have to wait longer for an order

 

Be empathetic to any frustration and help with any challenges

 

Review your control measures

You must review your control measures to check they are working as planned. If your control measures aren’t managing the hazard or is creating new risks, you must make changes.

Get feedback from those affected by the changes, and include them in any modifications to their workplace or work routines. Look at your incident records to see if numbers are going down.

Last updated: 21 March 2024