Employee welfare related to Organisational Change

Abstract

This Thesis presents existing theory regarding Organisational Change and Employee Welfare related to that. Organisational changes come in many forms, but they always include employees and the employee welfare is always affected by the change in some way. How does organisational change affect employee welfare, and is employee welfare sometimes the reason for implementing change, have been selected as the research questions. Changes create various emotions and these can range from positive to negative, whether expected or a total surprise for the employees. If the change comes as a surprise and creates confused emotions, employees can start to resist the change.

Both qualitative and quantitative research methods were conducted for this Thesis. The qualitative data consisted of an interview with the Head of Human Resources in one of the largest companies in Finland and the aim was to better understand the company perspective on change processes. The quantitative research consisted of an online questionnaire spread through social media and personal connections, to get a wider picture of how changes are seen and how they affect the employee welfare.

The research concluded the effects of change on employee welfare are really wide and unfortunately the employee welfare curve does not show change in a positive light. It is very rare for employee welfare to be the reason for implementing change, but research shows maybe it should be. The research concludes employee welfare should be considered more when planning a change, and the change processes should be improved to better support the employee welfare.