Press Release
Firstsource Solutions Limited, a global provider of customised Business Process Management (BPM) services and a RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group company today released new research into the human challenges of business transformation. It reveals that 36 per cent of respondents find transformation projects as stressful or more stressful than the COVID 19 lockdown.
Participants in the study were open about the mental health impact of transformation projects, with one CFO saying; “You actually live and breathe the whole project yourself. When it’s going badly, you’re going badly, and when it’s going well, you’re going well. You take on the personality of the stage of the programme you’re in. And that makes it very, very tough.”
With more local lockdowns looming and stronger nationwide restrictions in place, businesses need to pre-empt the mental health impact of staff says Rob Stephenson – CEO of Inside Out. This is especially true for business transformation leads, with a fifth of executives stating that the pandemic has kickstarted these high-pressure change projects.
“The second wave is likely to bring a further decline in employee wellbeing as people realize that we are in this for the long haul. We are already facing a crisis of burnout and leaders will need to really prioritise the mental health of their people to help guide them through these times. To do this leaders must also build their own resilience capacity as they will likely need it in the months ahead”.
With 70 per cent of companies either having a transformation strategy in place or in planning, this the issue of stress and mental ill-health needs to be addressed and tackled. This is particularly pertinent given that the pandemic has accelerated the need for transformation. Over a fifth (22 per cent) of respondents claim that COVID 19 has been a catalyst for new transformation projects to be commenced, with priority being given to digital initiatives (83 per cent) and agility projects (78 per cent).
The Firstsource study, ‘Overcoming the Human Challenges of Business Transformation’ draws on interviews and research with 120 senior executives and identifies 13 different causes of stress within transformation projects. The top three were:
– Resistance from stakeholders in other business units (49 per cent),
– Teams driving themselves too hard without stopping to celebrate wins ( 47 per cent), and
– Relationships with suppliers not panning out as expected (44 per cent).
