Constant Change Is Rewriting the Psychological Contract with Employees

In the face of rising dissatisfaction, leaders need to revisit their unwritten agreements with workers — and agree on a sustainable path forward.

Growing employee dissatisfaction in the workplace can be explained by the likelihood that “psychological contracts” between employees and organizations — the implicit mutual understanding of each side’s obligations to the other — in many companies still reflect a past in which change was intermittent. The author of this article argues that in a time of continuous change, these contracts will need to be revisited, and she proposes some actions that companies can take to renegotiate the terms.

Let’s face it: We are massively failing at change. According to research from Gartner published last May, employees’ willingness to support enterprise change collapsed to just 43% in 2022, compared to 74% in 2016. And Gallup’s “State of the Workforce 2024” report, which came out this June, highlighted significant frustration: While 23% of employees are thriving and are fully engaged at work, 62% of employees are ”quiet quitting,” employed but disengaged. The report also included data that just broke my heart: A whopping 15% of employees worldwide are ”loudly quitting” — “directly harming the organization, undercutting its goals and opposing its leaders.”

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