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"Over the past 15 years in HR, I’ve seen just how messy, human, and emotional change really is. I’ve been in the trenches through restructures, acquisitions, and even administration, so I know what it’s like when the People agenda risks getting buried under shifting priorities"
Right now, many of the HR leaders we work with are trying to balance transformation at pace with increasingly stretched teams. Engagement activity is being delayed, paused or deprioritised, and not because it’s not valued, but because there’s just too much going on.
This guide is for those of you who are in that exact place. It’s packed with insight, practical advice, and examples of what’s working across our client base. Whether you’re looking to reset your listening strategy, equip your managers, or just keep people connected through uncertainty, the aim is to give you tools you can use, without adding to your already full plate.
Michelle Johnson Head of Insights and Consulting, Inpulse
Across many of the organisations we work with, the pace and scale of transformation in 2025 is unmatched. Whether it is digitalisation, cost reduction, operating model redesign or structural reorganisation, business priorities are shifting rapidly, and understandably, people-related activities are taking a hit.
What we are seeing is this: HR leaders are being pulled in two directions. On the one hand, they are expected to drive the people strand of transformation – realigning roles, redesigning capabilities, and rolling out new structures. On the other hand, they are still responsible for maintaining a sense of stability, culture, and morale for teams facing daily uncertainty. As a result, engagement activity is often the first to slip.
We have observed a marked increase in the number of employee surveys being postponed, listening strategies delayed, or action planning shelved due to bandwidth constraints and competing operational demands. But when people strategies are parked, organisations risk losing the narrative. You may be building the future business model, but your employees are living the day-to-day reality now. Without regular, structured feedback, it is impossible to know whether the change journey is being experienced as energising or exhausting.
Furthermore, when people are going through change they can often feel powerless as they are not in control. Gathering their feedback and input helps them feel involved and eases the feeling of uncertainty and increases engagement.
The timing matters. During transformation, employees experience higher levels of ambiguity, which in turn leads to greater emotional strain. Engagement – the emotional connection and commitment people have to their work and their organisation – becomes even more critical. When this commitment fades, so too does discretionary effort, innovation, and resilience. The cost is not just cultural; it is commercial.
We must also recognise that HR teams themselves are not immune to change. Many are experiencing restructures, centralisation into shared services, or shifts to new operating models designed to improve efficiency. That means the people responsible for leading engagement are often themselves unsettled. The risk here is twofold – the function becomes reactive, and the culture drifts further from its desired state. Now more than ever, you need real-time insight into how people are feeling, what they need, and where they are struggling.
While some organisations have pressed pause, others are taking a more agile approach. We are seeing proactive HR teams repurpose their existing listening tools to focus on what matters most right now – emotional response, clarity, and connection. Rather than large-scale annual surveys, many are deploying short, targeted pulse checks to capture employee sentiment during key moments of the transformation.
This is not about ‘more data’, it is about the right data at the right time. Quick-fire insight into confidence levels, understanding of the change, and perceived leadership behaviours can inform how and where to focus communication and support. When teams feel heard, especially in turbulent times, trust builds, even when answers are not yet available.
The most effective teams are using a “lite” model: short, high-frequency pulse surveys (3–5 questions), fortnightly or monthly sentiment check-ins, and manager-led conversations informed by the pulse survey data. This approach keeps engagement alive without creating survey fatigue or adding to the pressure. In many cases, these teams are also leveraging the data to shape transformation communications – aligning tone, messaging, and leadership visibility with what employees are actually experiencing.
At the centre of this is leadership behaviour. Engagement cannot be outsourced to HR alone – it lives in how managers show up. Right now, teams are not looking for polished answers; they are looking for honesty, empathy, and acknowledgement. Leaders who practise active listening, who are emotionally present, and who are willing to say “we don’t have the full picture yet” are the ones creating psychological safety.
A useful framework to keep in mind: Acknowledge, Ask, Act.
Lastly, do not forget that how we communicate matters just as much as what we say. During transformation, people are bombarded with content: strategy decks, FAQs, restructure timelines. But what they are craving is context – meaning, connection, relevance. Engagement comes from helping people understand their role in the bigger picture, and feeling part of the journey, not just subject to it.
We know HR leaders are balancing unprecedented demands. So this is not a call to do more, but a reminder of how a few focused actions can make a big difference. Here are five practical ways to sustain engagement through change, even when your capacity is stretched.
1. Start Small, Stay Frequent
Use pulse surveys to ask: How are you feeling about the changes? What support do you need right now? What’s still unclear? These questions signal care, and the insights are immediate.
2. Use Survey Data to Shape Change Communications
Move from retrospective to realtime insight. Use sentiment data to tailor messaging, adjust the cadence of updates, and identify pockets of resistance or concern early, before they become blockers.
3. Stay Human and Present
Encourage leaders and managers to be visible – even informally. Virtual coffees, walkarounds, ‘ask me anything’ sessions – it all helps. Empathy, authenticity, and transparency are more powerful than polished scripts. Trust is fundamental to all transformation, and this will help build and maintain trust.
4. Reframe the purpose of Engagement
It’s common for organisations to hesitate about running engagement surveys during periods of transformation, fearing that the results may reflect negatively. But this mindset amongst senior leaders needs to evolve. Engagement should not be viewed as a score to protect - it’s about understanding
the emotional connection and commitment employees have to their work and the organisation. In times of change, listening becomes more important than ever. Rather than focusing on achieving a specific score, the goal should be to create a meaningful dialogue with your people.
5. Don’t Forget the HR Team
HR is often the cultural anchor during change, yet the emotional toll on the function itself is rarely addressed. Build in reflective sessions, peer check-ins, and shared learning to support your team through the same uncertainty everyone else is facing.
And finally, remember this: while it may feel like a relentless hamster wheel of delivery, engagement is the unlock. It is the difference between change being done to people and done with them. It drives trust, energy, and resilience – all of which will be needed not just to land the transformation, but to thrive beyond it.
Transformation isn’t something to be managed around your people; it has to be managed with them. When engagement drops off the radar, trust erodes, alignment falters, and momentum stalls. But when we pause, listen, and lead with intent, even in small, meaningful ways, we create the conditions for people to stay connected and resilient, even through uncertainty.
Whether you’re restarting your pulse approach, enabling your leaders, or just figuring out where to begin again, we’re here to help. Engagement doesn’t have to be perfect. It just has to be present.
Let’s make sure it stays on the agenda.
If you would like a partner for your 2026 engagement priorities, get in touch with your Inpulse consultant or reach out to us directly to explore advisory or coaching support.
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