The Qualtrics 2026 Employee Experience Trends Report reveals that employees who experienced significant organizational change over the past year report higher engagement and productivity than those with little to no change, challenging assumptions about change fatigue.
Quick Intel
The annual study, based on 33,831 responses from 24 countries and 30 industries, highlights employee resilience to change as a central finding.
Change Drives Engagement, When It's the Right Kind The type of change significantly influences outcomes. Positive changes—such as investments in new technologies like AI, updated work policies, and strategic shifts—correlate with higher engagement. These signal future-building and equip employees for success. In contrast, disruptive changes like layoffs, reorganizations, and leadership turnover lead to lower engagement.
"Employees can tell the difference between changes that build toward something and equip them for the future and changes that feel like cuts that don't benefit them," said Dr. Benjamin Granger, Chief Workplace Psychologist at Qualtrics. "The former signals investment in the future. The latter signals they might not have one."
Most Employees Use AI Tools Employers Don't Know About Frequent AI use at work rose seven points year-over-year, yet only 20% of employees limit themselves to approved company tools. This trend is stronger among those under high productivity pressure, indicating shadow AI adoption to meet demands.
"AI is helping employees work faster and do things they couldn't before," said Granger. "But when they go outside approved tools and policies, the risk extends to customers and the broader organization. It's essential that HR leaders partner with IT leaders to regularly measure AI usage and sentiment among employees to ensure that the tools they're providing meet both employees' and leaders' expectations."
Employees cite top AI benefits as completing tasks faster (65%), improving work quality (58%), increasing productivity (51%), and enabling new capabilities (37%).
Frontline and New Hire Experiences Are Declining, Impacting Customers Customer-facing and part-time employees report worsening experiences. Frontline workers identify customer experience issues—such as communication problems and service delivery—more accurately than leaders, who often point to product quality or post-purchase support.
New hires face the lowest engagement since 2021, with sharp drops in ability to challenge the status quo (from 64% to 50%) and open communication (from 71% to 63%).
"Organizations that neglect or fail to invest in the experience of their part-time, frontline, and new hires will likely experience a reciprocal drop in engagement and loyalty, which will inevitably manifest in productivity problems and churn," said Granger. "Down the road, this will impact customers too. By failing to invest in the experiences of these critical employees, organizations risk losing their most valuable first line of defense against poor customer experience."
Employee Listening Delivers Widespread Benefits Organizations that increased listening frequency during change see significantly stronger employee experience metrics. A growing share of workers (25%) note more listening, while 42% want even greater frequency.
"Times of change are precisely when employees need to feel heard the most," said Granger. "Beyond signaling to employees that leaders care about them, it leads to action that moves the signal to reality. High-performing organizations have come to embrace this and have increased the frequency of employee listening. Others, however, have done precisely the opposite and will feel the pain eventually."
"Contrary to popular belief, the constant change and uncertainty workers have experienced has hardened them and those experiencing more change today are generally more engaged," said Dr. Benjamin Granger, Chief Workplace Psychologist at Qualtrics. "There's a Goldilocks zone for the right amount of change to keep employees engaged. Too much can leave them burned out, and too little, bored and stagnant. In the face of more change to come, the organizations that come out ahead are the ones that build strong connections between employees and the mission, and support them throughout with the right tools and processes."
These insights emphasize that well-managed change, supported by listening, AI enablement, and targeted investments in key employee groups, positions organizations for sustained engagement, productivity, and customer success.
About Qualtrics
Qualtrics is trusted by thousands of the world's best organizations to power exceptional customer and employee experiences that build deep human connections, increase customer loyalty, boost employee engagement, and drive business success. Our advanced AI and specialized Experience Agents™ allow businesses and governments to proactively interact with customers and employees in personalized ways across every channel and touchpoint, respond in-the-moment to fix or improve experiences, and stay across the latest market trends and opportunities.
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