It’s common to feel tired, anxious, or flat when the organisation is “restructuring,” “realigning,” “pivoting,” or “going through transformation.” That reaction is not you being negative. It’s your nervous system reacting to uncertainty.
Why change is so exhausting
When there’s change, three things often disappear at once:
- Clarity: “What is my job now?”
- Security: “Will I still have a job in three months?”
- Control: “What can I personally influence right now?”
Those three factors — clarity, security, control — are core predictors of wellbeing at work. When they’re unclear for too long, stress stays elevated. That long-term stress is linked to fatigue, sleep problems, disengagement, and higher intention to quit.
Modern work health guidance (including Australian psychosocial hazard codes) now says: “poorly managed organisational change” is a workplace risk employers are expected to control. That means if change is chaotic, last-minute, or secretive, the harm it causes is considered foreseeable – not just “that’s business.” (Safe Work Australia treats this as part of managing psychosocial hazards.) https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/doc/model-code-practice-managing-psychosocial-hazards-work
What makes change harder than it needs to be
- You’re still expected to deliver BAU while everything around you shifts.
- You hear different stories from different leaders.
- You feel pressure to “prove your value” without knowing what “value” means anymore.
- Nobody names the emotional load.
This creates what psychologists call “role ambiguity” and “insecurity.” Both are associated with higher stress and lower engagement.
What’s normal to feel
- Brain fog, trouble focusing
- Irritability and shorter fuse
- Emotional whiplash (motivated in the morning, flat by afternoon)
- Tired but wired at night
Those are stress responses, not character flaws.
Why this matters for wellbeing
If you stay in high-alert mode for weeks or months because you don’t know what’s happening, you burn energy just staying vigilant. That’s energy you don’t get back.
Further reading & resources
- Safe Work Australia. Managing the risk of psychosocial hazards at work. Lists “poorly managed change” and “low role clarity” as known health and safety risks.
- WHO Guidelines on Mental Health at Work (2022). Recommends that employers provide clear communication, realistic workload, and supportive supervision during periods of change – not just tell staff to “be resilient.
- CIPD. Change Management. Guidance for organisations on transparent communication and defined decision-makers to maintain trust during change.
Quick take-away:
Feeling unsettled during change doesn’t mean you’re not coping. It means your brain is doing exactly what it’s designed to do under uncertainty.