Gen Z Emerges as the Most Optimistic "Change Cheerleaders" While Gen X and Baby Boomers Report Significantly More Skepticism and Stress During Workplace Transformation
, /PRNewswire/ – New national research from Eagle Hill Consulting finds that employees across all generations agree on one thing: organizations struggle to effectively manage major change. Just one-quarter of U.S. workers (25%) say their employer manages significant organizational changes well. But beneath this shared concern lie stark generational divides, including differences in enthusiasm, stress, motivations, and perceiv…
Gen Z Emerges as the Most Optimistic "Change Cheerleaders" While Gen X and Baby Boomers Report Significantly More Skepticism and Stress During Workplace Transformation
, /PRNewswire/ – New national research from Eagle Hill Consulting finds that employees across all generations agree on one thing: organizations struggle to effectively manage major change. Just one-quarter of U.S. workers (25%) say their employer manages significant organizational changes well. But beneath this shared concern lie stark generational divides, including differences in enthusiasm, stress, motivations, and perceived benefits of change that dramatically shape how employees experience transformation.
Generations are united in their sentiments that organizations aren’t managing change effectively.
Gen Z employees are more likely than older generations to say organizational changes have positive impacts.
The positive perspectives on the personal impacts of change decrease with age.
Generations Apart on Change research report reveals that Gen Z workers are consistently the most positive about organizational change. They report higher optimism about how changes – from process updates to reorganizations – improve their organizations and their day-to-day work. In contrast, Gen X and Baby Boomer workers are far less likely to view change as beneficial, often seeing new initiatives as disruptive or adding to already heavy workloads.
"These findings underscore something leaders can’t ignore: change today is a multigenerational experience and employees aren’t starting from the same place," said Melissa Jezior, president and chief executive officer of Eagle Hill Consulting. "Gen Z tends to see change as possibility, while more experienced employees see it through the lens of promises made and disappointments delivered. Leaders who understand these differences and then design change strategies that combine clarity, empathy, and authenticity will dramatically increase their chances of achieving durable, meaningful transformation."
Key findings from the research include:
- Only 25% of employees say their organization effectively manages major changes across the workforce, with little variance across generations.
- Gen Z is the most optimistic workforce cohort, with 70% saying process changes made their organization better, compared to 36% of Gen X and 45% of Baby Boomer workers.
- Gen X stands out as the most skeptical generation, with only 3% reporting that return-to-office changes improved their organizations, representing the largest generational gap in the survey.
- Younger employees are more motivated by social factors during change: 27% of Gen Z and 23% of Millennials say workplace friends are their most influential change supporters, compared to just 11–12% of older employees.
- Older generations feel less supported during change, with only 18% of Baby Boomers and 20% of Gen X saying their organizations make change easy to embrace.
- Across all generations, the two most important drivers of change acceptance are understanding the reason for the change and effective communication.
"The findings point to a fundamental shift: a one-size-fits-all approach to change management is no longer sufficient," Jezior added. "To make change stick, leaders need to manage organizational change as a multi-generational experience, anchored in a shared purpose and tied to the different motivations, needs, and expectations that each generation brings to work."
"Smart leaders will use this research as a roadmap. The organizations that succeed will be those that anchor employees in a shared purpose, tailoring the support, communication, and engagement strategies to meet people where they are," Jezior explained.
The report outlines several actionable steps for leaders, including turning Gen Z’s optimism into cross-generational influence, meaningfully engaging more experienced workers who may feel skeptical or fatigued by repeated change efforts, and empowering managers to act as the essential bridge between generational needs.
The findings are from the 2025 Eagle Hill Consulting State of Organizational Change Management survey conducted by Ipsos from August 21–25, 2025. The nationally representative sample includes 1,448 U.S. adults, ages 18 and older, employed full- or part-time.
Eagle Hill Consulting LLC is an award-winning business that provides unconventional management consulting services in the areas of Organizational Performance, Business Intelligence, Technology Enablement, Talent, and Change Management. The company’s expertise in delivering innovative solutions to unique challenges spans across Fortune 500 companies, government agencies, and global nonprofits. Eagle Hill has offices in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, Boston, MA, and Seattle, WA. More information is available at www.eaglehillconsulting.com.
SOURCE Eagle Hill Consulting LLC
