Communicating through Disruption: Helping Employees Manage Uncertainty & Change

For many employees, the new year is off to a dynamic start. Multiple disruptive shifts–including economic volatility, political transitions, technological advances, and cultural changes–are creating excitement for some and anxiety for others. 

Researchers have found that such external events can spillover into work settings and impact employees’ engagement, commitment, stress, and performance levels. 

To explore if recent sociopolitical, socioeconomic, sociotechnological, and socioenvironmental trends are affecting workforces, we recently conducted a field study of just over 250 employees working in a cross-section of US companies and industries. Results reveal a wide range of experiences with and concerns about this new technology. 

In this Insights Report, we highlight key findings from this field study and discuss implications for communications specialists, benefits administrators, people leaders, and HR decision makers.