Leaders see progress, employees see friction: Inside the change capability divide

For years, organizations have treated disruption as something to weather before returning to business as usual. That assumption no longer holds true.

Employees are juggling new systems, reshaped roles and AI anxiety all at once, while leaders juggle a growing portfolio of competing initiatives, often without a clear view of the combined load landing on their workforce.

The result is a growing disconnect. Fewer than one third of employees strongly trust leadership to make the right strategic calls, and most organizations still aren’t using skills data to make real workforce decisions.

Yet The Adecco Group’s A new workforce reality: Closing the gap between transformation ambition and workforce execution report shows that the companies building change capability into how they operate are pulling ahead financially.

The research is based on findings from Opinium's global Workforce Agility Study, a quantitative survey of 17,750 white-collar workers and organizational leaders.

UNLEASH digs into the report’s key findings and what HR leaders should decide next.

Volatility is no longer an exception to plan around

What the report says: Uncertainty is now an operating condition being felt differently at every level of the organization; leaders manage changes as a portfolio of strategic initiatives, while employees absorb transformed roles, new systems and AI anxiety simultaneously.

This leads to initiatives colliding across the business, with employees absorbing the combined load: 67% have recently lived through a major technology implementation, the report states.

With 66% of leaders facing a continuously evolving daily environment, anticipation of change matters. Among the organizations classed as ‘deliberatively transformative’ in the report – those that design change capability into the operating model – 77% reported revenue growth and 73% a net profit increase during FY2025.

What this means for HR leaders: HR needs to be the link between the employees and leadership, mapping the organization’s total change load and providing leaders with a clear view of what must be supported, sequenced or stopped before new initiatives start.

Leaders see strategic progress; employees see operational friction

What the report says: The gap between leadership intent and what the workforce experiences is growing larger.  Less than half (44%) of leaders expressed strong confidence in their executive team to lead transformation through technologies like AI.

Workers are less convinced: just 29% are strongly confident in leadership’s ability to make strategic decisions that lead to future success.Workers are less convinced: just 29% are strongly confident in leadership’s ability to make strategic decisions that lead to future success.

The report states that the issue goes beyond communication; employees doubt that ambition will become clear priorities, practical support and a credible path through change. As a result, friction grows and initiative delivery stalls.

Leadership is not ignorant of this issue; 34% of C-suite leaders name trust, engagement and transparency as a top people-strategy priority.

What this means for HR leaders: Closing the ‘Say/Do gap’ between intent and delivery requires HR leaders to bring evidence of employee experience to executive teams and name leaders that own acting on this.

Skills data only matters when it changes workforce decisions

What the report says: Most organizations are ‘skills aware’ at best, meaning that they recognize skills matter and are beginning to build visibility on this. Only 41% of business leaders use skills data to guide real workforce decisions, and 38% have a data-backed view of current and future skill needs.

At the same time, AI is changing skills more than it is reducing jobs, according to the findings. Around half of leaders (49%) said AI has changed the skills certain roles require, while 22% reported reduced headcount because of the technology.

There is also a mismatch in what organizations value. 75% of leaders prioritize technical capabilities in hiring, yet employees said they rely on problem-solving (52%), communication (46%) and adaptability (44%) on a daily basis. Internal mobility can close the gaps, but it requires governance and incentives to succeed.

What this means for HR leaders: HR needs to move skills intelligence from a visibility exercise into decision-making on hiring, development and workforce redesign – the things that matter most to employees. Enable managers with incentives and authority to empower talent across traditional work boundaries.

Imperatives that turn insight into execution

What the report says: The report highlights four leadership imperatives: creating capacity for change, closing the Say/Do gap, mobilizing capability around the work, and redesigning work for a hybrid workforce. It also underlines that these should be examined together, since weakness in one undermines the others. Credibility and trust grow when insight leads to visible choices, measurable progress and sustained action.

What this means for HR leaders: HR leaders should select a single critical business priority to run through all four imperatives first, then assign an accountable leader for the workforce and business outcomes that must change.