As companies continue to invest in transformation initiatives, new research shows those that treat change management as durable, always-on business capability could see better returns. Deloitte + Workplace Intelligence 2026 Deloitte Change Management Study finds every $1 invested in change management was associated with $4 in realized business value.
Organizations managing more simultaneous transformation initiatives while change management initiatives struggle to keep pace and employees feel strain. Greater investment correlates with stronger adoption, companies that invested most in change management 1.7 times more likely to report employee adoption very successful and exceeded expectations. However realizing full value may demand more than simply increased dollars.
In fact, 66% of surveyed change leaders said employees left company as direct result of most recent initiative at estimated average of $20.5 million in turnover-related expenses. Among change leaders overseeing AI implementation specifically, average turnover-related cost climbs to $25.5 million, and 61% feel AI transformation moving faster than employees can handle.
"Change is no longer something organizations can manage one initiative at a time — it's a constant operating reality. The organizations 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," said Allyson Dake, US Strategy and Technology Change Market Offering leader, Deloitte.
Research identifies five priorities organizations can consider: embed change capability into everyday work with 52% traditional communications training champions vs 48% modern AI-enabled support, manage change capacity across enterprise with 84% saying employees assigned more work, measure human cost alongside business case as 1 in 5 do not formally measure human impact, connect adoption measures to business outcomes as 39% primarily measure activity like training completion, equip leaders to model behaviors they asking employees to adopt with organizations where leaders model change twice as likely to report strong positive ROI.
"Organizations 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. Leaders need to understand how change is experienced across the workforce because the strain of poorly managed transformation initiatives could cost an organization top talent who feel overwhelmed and burnt out. Enhanced, personalized approaches to change can turn it into an enduring capability that supports employees," said Sue Cantrell, Human Capital Eminence leader, Deloitte.
About survey
developed with Workplace Intelligence and fielded by Walr in June-July 2026 surveyed 1000 change management leaders 51% C-suite across US UK Australia Canada all led at least one large-scale initiative budget US$1M+ within past two years.
