Managing Change in the Workplace: Key Strategies, Examples & Tools

In today’s workplace, the only constant is change. Most of these shifts are now driven by technology. According to Deloitte, 65% of organizations are prioritizing technology modernization as part of their transformation programs. Tech upgrades are often seen as safe bets, backed by clear ROI potential.

When the transformation involves physical devices, such as during device rollouts and software upgrades on existing tech, the workplace change management process becomes complex. Inventory must be staged, devices prepared and rolled out, and employees trained — all while ensuring critical work still gets done on time. Managing change effectively is now a defining capability of successful teams.

If not executed well, even proven initiatives can stall. Employees may resist the added burden, IT teams can become overwhelmed, and productivity may suffer despite good intentions.

In this article, you’ll find strategies, tools, and examples on how to deal with change management in the workplace, especially technology rollouts, to reduce employee resistance, ease IT burden, and preserve productivity.

Key takeaways:

• Resistance to change rarely comes from the technology itself. It stems from employees feeling extra burdened.
• Clear, measurable goals keep transformations from drifting off course and make progress visible to all.
• Digital platforms like Asana and Slack align teams, but physical tools such as smart lockers ensure change is practical on the ground.
• Productivity survives transitions when device handoffs are seamless, IT is not overloaded, and employees feel supported rather than anxious.

What is change management in the workplace?

Change management in the workplace is an intentional process of moving an organization and its people, technologies, and workflows from its current state to a new state. It’s about guiding teams through transformation so they can adapt with minimal friction.

Why is change management important in the workplace?

The importance of change management in the workplace is hard to underestimate. Effective management supports morale, productivity, and operational stability when things shift. Without a solid change strategy, stress can quickly build up, and business operations stumble.

Gartner reveals that approximately 50% of all change initiatives fail, while only 34% are a clear success. However, when organizations get it right, the results speak for themselves. According to Prosci, 88% of enterprises with strong change management meet their objectives, compared to just 13% of those with poor change management.

Common challenges in change management

Before building a transformation plan, it’s worth understanding why such initiatives fail. Knowing these common pitfalls is the first step toward building adaptability in managing change in the workplace.

Resistance to change

In 2022, the average employee faced 10 planned organizational changes — compared to just two in 2016. Support for these initiatives has dropped sharply, from 76% to only 44%. With change coming this fast, skepticism is inevitable: workers wonder why reliable tools are being replaced, whether upgrades will cause glitches, or if they’ll spend hours relearning tasks they already mastered.

Addressing these concerns provides a clear path on how to manage resistance to change in the workplace. In contrast, without a clear, credible answer from the leadership, even well-intentioned initiatives can encounter disproportionate pushback. 

Lack of resources

According to a recent Capterra report, 83% of employees who suffer from change fatigue say their employer hasn’t provided enough tools and resources to support that change. This often means no dedicated staging space for pre-rollout device configuration, a lack of spare units, and limited IT availability to manage device handovers.

Skill gaps

According to Gartner, 64% of managers believe their employees are unable to keep pace with future skill needs. Employees echo the issue – 70% say they haven’t mastered skills they need for the job today, let alone for the future.

When skills lag, technology adoption rates drop significantly. This is especially true in diverse organizations. Diversity in the workplace can further complicate adoption if skill gaps within varying roles and responsibilities aren’t carefully addressed.

Time pressure and conflicting priorities

PwC’s Global Workforce Hopes and Fears Survey 2024 reveals that 53% of workers feel like there are too many changes happening all at once. Multiple device upgrades, software migrations, and process changes compete for attention from IT teams and regular workers. This contributes to change fatigue, when employees are burnt out from constant context switching, which exacerbates the above-mentioned change management issues.

Working strategies for managing change in the workplace

The goal of technology change management lies not only in pushing the initiative forward but also in removing the adoption barriers. Here are the tips for managing change in the workplace in a way that removes delays and resistance from employees:

1. Assess change readiness

Understand employee pain points with existing technology before implementing new hardware/software. It’s worth surveying stakeholders who deal with technology daily, including workers, IT staff, and managers.

This doesn’t need to be a lengthy questionnaire. The goal is to capture where frustration and friction already exist so the new rollout can be positioned as a solution rather than another burden. For example, if you’re planning to introduce new hardware that is more rugged, more feature-rich, and doesn’t malfunction as often, you can consider the following questions:

• How often do your current devices malfunction, and how does this affect your work?
• When devices fail, how much time is typically lost before you can get back to full productivity?
• Do your current devices have the durability and features needed to handle the demands of your role?
• If new devices could reduce downtime and eliminate current frustrations, which improvement would make the biggest difference in your day-to-day work?

Feedback will help leaders understand how to implement change management in the workplace in a way that directly addresses existing frustrations and builds trust.

2. Set S.M.A.R.T. goals

Clear, well-defined goals are the backbone of any technology rollout. Many organizations use the S.M.A.R.T. framework, ensuring that goals are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound.

This helps leaders set change benchmarks and communicate the vision of what success looks like in day-to-day work. For example, “within 45 days, 90% of employees use new sets of scanners and handheld radios for inventory checks and shift communication on the warehouse floor. Average downtime from device malfunctions is reduced by 30% and shift handoff delays are reduced by 50%.”

3. Build awareness and create a buy-in through relevance

Be transparent about the reasons for change and explain what it means for day-to-day work in plain language. If device and system upgrades improve the processes, reduce downtime, and generally make work easier, make that clear. 

Address common concerns, from learning curve to compatibility worries, and create opportunities for employees to ask questions before rollout. Link your value proposition with survey insights to maintain two-way communication. This will foster adoption as employees will feel heard rather than dictated to.

4. Drive engagement through change champions

McKinsey shows that organizations that unite teams and foster cross-functional collaboration around a shared goal implement transformations 30% more effectively. The difference often comes from change champions — regular workers or IT staff who actively support the change and help others with adoption.

How do you spot the right person to become a change champion? This should be someone well-respected, solution-oriented, well-connected, and a strong communicator.

“...change leaders should move beyond their traditional skills to those that inspire purpose, set medium-term strategy and long-term vision, and help remove obstacles—all while showing up as their authentic selves.” McKinsey

5. Equip employees with targeted training

It’s hard to disagree that end-user training improves the outcomes of technology adoption. The real challenge lies in making training targeted and realistic. Too often, companies expect employees to learn new skills in their spare time or pack already tight schedules with lengthy training modules. Busy workers, under pressing deadlines, understandably push training to the latest possible time or rush through it just to check the box.

A better way is to make end-user training targeted and properly integrated into the workday. This can be a 20-minute session on equipment charging at the warehouse or a focused software walkthrough for office staff, all within 30 minutes after lunch.

“Finding a way to build training into employees' schedules helps keep them productive and ensures they get the most out of their training.” Box

6. Monitor progress and adapt

Tech rollouts may not always go as smoothly as expected. That’s a part of workplace change management. The key is to keep a close eye on the implementation progress and refine it where necessary. Focus on these signals:

• Device adoption rates
• Spare unit swaps
• Device failure/swaps downtime
• Training completion 
• User support requests
• Average time to resolution for device issues
• Percentage of devices fully charged and ready at the start of the shift
• Output per hour before and after rollout

Tools to support change management in the workplace

Email remains the most common way coworkers communicate. However, project management software and online chat tools are quickly closing the gap. According to Project.co’s 2024 Communication Statistics Report, 24% of workers use project management tools, such as Asana or ServiceNow, and 26% use online chat tools like Slack.

Coordinating change with digital platforms

Organizations use these digital platforms to break technology rollouts into clear, trackable phases, from staging and piloting to full deployment. These solutions are essential for digital workplace change management, particularly in hybrid environments where teams rely on clear communication to stay aligned.

Managing devices with smart infrastructure

Technology rollouts almost always involve two dimensions: digital workflows and physical devices. Both need support for change to stick.

On the digital side, platforms like Asana and Slack keep teams aligned. They break initiatives into clear phases, assign responsibilities, and provide transparent progress updates that reduce confusion.

But software alone can’t solve the challenges of physical device handoffs. Employees still need a reliable way to pick up, swap, or charge equipment without losing time — and IT teams need visibility without chasing down manual reports.

Consider Bob, a warehouse worker whose tablet freezes mid-shift. Without spare devices nearby, he hikes half a mile to IT, waits, and hikes back — adding fatigue in a role where workers already walk 20 miles a day. Situations like this erode trust in the rollout, making change feel like more work, not progress.

That’s where smart lockers come in.

Smart lockers for seamless tech adoption

For leaders exploring how to manage change in the workplace sustainably, smart lockers provide the required physical infrastructure. At their core, smart lockers are secure, networked storage units that enable employees to pick up, charge, return, and swap devices, including tablets, laptops, handheld scanners, and radios, without involving IT teams. Each interaction is logged automatically, providing visibility to managers and freeing employees from extra reporting.

Organizations use smart lockers to deploy, charge, repair, and loan devices at scale, and without overhauling existing infrastructure or extending staff. They require minimal space and can be strategically placed in high-traffic areas, ensuring device support is always within reach.

In a warehouse, that means a worker whose scanner fails mid-shift can walk to the nearest locker, drop off the faulty device, and pick up a fully charged replacement in under two minutes. The network of smart lockers allows IT staff and managers to see every exchange in real time and track key indicators from a centralized cloud platform.

This kind of connected infrastructure bridges the gap between digital coordination and physical execution — a core challenge of hybrid workplace change management.

Looking to strengthen your device strategy alongside change management? Explore our guide on how smart lockers support mobile device management and security.

Change management examples in the workplace

The physical side of change management becomes clear in real-world rollouts:

• Keolis Commuter Services, the rail operator for Boston’s commuter network, introduced card payments directly on trains. This required rolling out iPads, card scanners, and mobile printers to more than 450 conductors. To make the shift seamless, Keolis adopted LocknCharge’s FUYL Smart Lockers to automate device handoffs. Shortly after rollout, 85% of conductors were equipped with new devices.
  
  Keolis stands out as one of the most practical examples of managing change in the workplace. Smart lockers directly addressed adoption challenges: conductors gained autonomy without extra reporting, IT reduced workload through automated tracking, and productivity stayed high because devices were always charged and ready between shifts. As a result, passengers experienced faster, more convenient payments.
  
  
• Another example is Cullen Diesel Power Ltd., a Canadian heavy-equipment service provider. It modernized how its mechanics access diagnostic tablets by adopting FUYL Smart Lockers. Instead of wasting time locating or waiting for devices, mechanics could pick up charged, ready-to-use equipment directly from lockers. The result was less downtime in the field and more billable work hours.
  
  
• Smart lockers have proved valuable across industries. Brompton Bicycle, the UK folding-bike manufacturer, used FUYL Smart Lockers to keep staff devices always available, tracked, and charged. Employees avoided the frustration of missing or dead equipment, while customers enjoyed a smoother experience in stores and service centers.

The return on investment

Beyond smoother adoption, smart lockers deliver measurable savings. By automating device exchanges, organizations reduce device swap time from 30 minutes to less than two minutes, 93.3% time savings. That translates into thousands of dollars saved in IT labor costs, while keeping employees productive and technology systems sustainable.

Conclusion: Making change sustainable

Ultimately, success depends on managing and implementing change in the workplace with tools that support both strategy and execution. The lesson is clear – in most change initiatives, employees resist the upcoming burden, not the progress. The best strategies for change management in the workplace are:

• Identifying employee pain points
• Setting realistic, measurable goals
• Communicating openly and involving staff as change champions
• Automating device logistics to ease employee strain

The ability to stand apart now lies in leading change management in the modern workplace with solutions that remove friction rather than add it. With the combination of digital tools and smart lockers, change management becomes visible, sustainable, and far less disruptive to daily work.

To take the next step, explore how LocknCharge FUYL Smart Locker solutions can help reduce friction, sustain adoption, and deliver lasting results in technology rollouts.