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In January, the team was reorganised. In March, a new system was introduced. In May, there was talk of cutting positions. Since June, people have been discussing which tasks might eventually be taken over by AI. None of these changes, on its own, was a disaster. And yet at some point, the next announcement alone is enough to make you feel irritated. Someone says in a meeting, “We need to reorganise things once again,” and you can already feel your attention drifting. Not because you are fundamentally opposed to change, but because you more or less know what is coming next: new processes, new responsibilities, unanswered questions, and a transition period in which several versions of the same reality seem to exist at once.
There is now research showing that this feeling is far from unusual. A Germany-wide study by TU Dresden in 2025 surveyed 2,808 employees about what is known as change fatigue. Thirty-four per cent reached scores that the authors classified as indicating change fatigue. The term describes exhaustion or a sense of overload that can arise in connection with repeated or simultaneous change processes. Employees in larger organisations were more frequently affected than those working in small and medium-sized companies.
Familiar routines save energy
A large part of our working day feels manageable because we do not have to consciously think through every single step. We know how a process works, whom to ask when something goes wrong, and roughly what is expected of us. After a while, many things happen almost automatically. Once a process changes, it suddenly demands more attention again. You notice this even with small things. A new piece of software may objectively be better than the old one and still be annoying at first. Functions have moved, familiar shortcuts no longer work, and tasks that used to take seconds suddenly take longer.
On its own, that is rarely a serious problem. But when the team structure changes at the same time, priorities shift, and no one can say with certainty what the next few months will look like, the extra effort begins to add up. Things that used to be self-evident have to be checked again. That does not drain huge amounts of energy all at once, but it does take a little more, again and again. Research on change fatigue suggests that this accumulation matters. Early studies on the topic found links between change fatigue, emotional exhaustion, and less favourable attitudes towards the organisation. More recent research also suggests that frequent organisational change is associated with higher levels of change fatigue. That does not mean every restructuring process will inevitably leave people exhausted. But it does suggest that there is a difference between occasional change and a workplace in which constant adaptation becomes the norm.
The in-between can be the hardest part
Not every change is equally stressful. Often, the new situation itself is less difficult than the period before it, when nobody quite knows what is going to happen. If you know that a new system will be introduced in October, when the training will take place, and what exactly will change afterwards, you can prepare for it. It feels different when people have been saying for weeks that “things are going to change”, but nobody can tell you who will be affected or when decisions will actually be made.
The issue then tends to stay present in the background. You listen more carefully when budgets are discussed, pay more attention to casual comments, and try to work out from small pieces of information where things might be heading. This does not have to happen consciously all day long. Even so, uncertainty can occupy part of your attention because there is still no clear situation to adapt to. Research on psychosocial risks at work has long shown that job insecurity and low levels of control over one’s work are associated with a greater risk of psychological strain. One large scientific review, which examined 37 reviews of work-related risk factors, found evidence for the importance of factors including low job control, high demands, role stress, poor social support, and job insecurity.
When the next change comes too soon
Usually, change needs time. At first, things feel unfamiliar. Later, they become routine. A new task eventually just becomes part of your job. A new team stops feeling new. A process that initially seemed cumbersome starts to run more smoothly. It becomes difficult when that point is hardly ever reached. As soon as people get used to one process, it changes again. A project is introduced with considerable effort and is abandoned a few months later. Responsibilities are redistributed before the previous structure has even had a chance to settle.
Over time, people begin to react differently. New announcements are met with less curiosity. People may hold back when the next major initiative is presented, or simply wait to see whether it will still exist a few months later. In organisations, that is quickly interpreted as resistance to change. Sometimes, though, something much simpler is happening: people who have repeatedly experienced new structures disappearing after a short time are more cautious about investing effort the next time around. That is not necessarily stubbornness or a lack of flexibility. It may simply reflect what they have learned from experience.
A little control makes a difference
Interestingly, major changes can also be experienced positively. Starting a new job, moving house, or beginning further training all require adjustment and can be exhausting too. One important difference is that these changes are often chosen. At work, that is not always the case. New structures, systems, or priorities are decided elsewhere and then communicated. Employees have to adapt, often without having had much influence over the decision itself.
That is why it can help to distinguish more clearly between the things you can influence and the things you cannot. This is not about convincing yourself that everything is under control. It is about not losing sight of the areas where you still do have some room to act. What has actually been decided? What information is still missing? Is there something you can prepare, clarify, or raise with someone? And where is there simply nothing you can do at the moment? Research on job control suggests that this sense of influence is far from irrelevant when it comes to psychological wellbeing at work.
Not every unanswered question needs an answer immediately
When clarity is missing, the mind often tries to create it by thinking things through. Sometimes that is useful. You prepare for a conversation, gather information, or make a decision. But there are also situations in which further thinking changes nothing. If a decision has not yet been made, going over it for the tenth time in the evening will not make it any clearer.
In those situations, a simpler question can help: Is there actually anything I can do about this right now? If the answer is yes, you can turn it into one concrete next step. If the answer is no, then the situation remains unresolved for the time being. That is not always comfortable, but it may be less exhausting than repeatedly running through possible scenarios for which important information is still missing.
Why small routines matter even more during periods of change
When a lot is changing at work, simple habits can provide a useful counterbalance. A fairly consistent start to the day, a lunch break that actually happens, a walk after work, or a set time after which you stop checking work messages. These routines will not solve a restructuring process or create certainty where there currently is none. But they do create parts of the day in which you do not have to make new decisions all the time.
That may sound unspectacular, but that is precisely the point. If you are already having to adapt constantly at work, not every other part of your life needs to be equally flexible or new. Some things are allowed to stay the same for a while. Reliable routines can reduce the need to keep deciding, adjusting, and working things out from scratch.
Change fatigue does not mean you are inflexible
If, after months of new processes, shifting priorities, and unanswered questions, you no longer feel enthusiastic about the next change, that does not automatically mean you are inflexible. Research on change fatigue suggests that repeated change processes can indeed be associated with exhaustion and withdrawal. The German study from 2025 is one recent example: change fatigue was not a rare phenomenon, but was found in roughly one third of respondents.
Organisations talk a great deal about how to get people on board with change. Less is said about what needs to happen afterwards: the period in which a new process is simply allowed to remain in place, a new structure has time to settle, and the next major initiative does not begin immediately. Being able to cope with change does not mean being in constant motion. Sometimes adaptation needs the opposite: enough time for something new to become familiar again.
A small exercise: What is actually still uncertain?
If you notice that changes at work are still occupying your thoughts after the working day has ended, take five minutes and write down the issue that keeps coming back to mind. Then divide a sheet of paper into two sections: “What I know” and “What is still uncertain.”
In the first section, write down only the things that are actually confirmed: decisions that have been made, specific dates, or information you know to be true. In the second section, write down assumptions, announced decisions that have not yet been finalised, and questions that currently have no answer.
Then look only at the second section and ask yourself whether there is anything useful you can do about each point today. Perhaps there is someone you can ask, information you can gather, or a small preparation that could help later. If so, write down that one next step. If there is nothing you can do at the moment, leave the point where it is.
The aim of the exercise is not to make uncertainty disappear. It is to stop treating everything that might happen as if it were already happening. When several things are changing at once, that distinction alone can bring back a little more clarity.
Sources:
Franke-Jordan, S., Berger, S. & Heilfort, J. (2025). Change Fatigue am Arbeitsplatz: Untersuchung des Zusammenhangs von Change Fatigue mit demografischen und betrieblichen Faktoren. In: Arbeit 5.0: Menschzentrierte Innovationen für die Zukunft der Arbeit. GfA-Press, pp. 312–326.
Bernerth, J. B., Walker, H. J. & Harris, S. G. (2011). Change fatigue: Development and initial validation of a new measure. Work & Stress, 25(4), 321–337. DOI: 10.1080/02678373.2011.634280.
Harvey, S. B., Modini, M., Joyce, S. et al. (2017). Can work make you mentally ill? A systematic meta-review of work-related risk factors for common mental health problems. Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 74(4), 301–310. DOI: 10.1136/oemed-2016-104015.
Lv, M., Zhai, J., Zhang, L. et al. (2025). Change Fatigue Among Clinical Nurses and Related Factors: A Cross-sectional Study in Public Hospitals. SAGE Open Nursing.
