A 2022 global study by EY and Oxford University’s Saïd Business School, covering over 900 senior leaders across 23 countries, reveals that organizations that prioritize people during their transformation are 2.6 times more likely to succeed. Putting employees at the center yields a 73% success rate, compared to just 28% for traditional approaches. This is particularly relevant when organizations undertake major restructuring, as changes to roles, teams, and reporting structures can create significant uncertainty for employees.
Most people, when they hear the word restructuring in an office, automatically think of downsizing or layoffs. In reality, it is a much broader and more complex topic. Recent developments in Bangladesh illustrate this clearly.
In 2025, five Islamic banks in Bangladesh merged under the guidance of the central bank to create a single state-run entity to address massive default loans. The merger left 16,000 employees uncertain about their future. This example shows why restructuring is not simply an organizational or financial exercise. It also directly affects the people expected to work within the new structure.
More broadly, restructuring can take many forms and can be more extensive than just layoffs. The key idea within restructuring is changing the organization’s work structure and the relationships between its various elements. It is about finding new and innovative approaches within the organization to obtain maximum efficiency and effectiveness. Importantly, employees are not necessarily concerned about the changes themselves when these transformations are taking place. They are concerned about the uncertainty and loss of control that come with these changes. How an organization manages this uncertainty therefore becomes as important as the structural changes themselves.
Yet this is often where organizations fall short. Most organizations restructure because it has become a go-to solution, and it tends to be embedded in their DNA. The problem is that organizations cannot always tackle restructuring in the same way. It is not a one-size-fits-all process.
A successful restructuring therefore needs to begin with a clear understanding of what the organization is trying to achieve and how the people within it will move towards that future state. The first step is to establish a clear strategic goal and have a picture in mind of the end state. It is important to involve the leadership of the organization explicitly in defining the result of the restructuring. Secondly, we must identify existing processes and strategies that can be integrated within the new system. The third step is to localize and drive the ongoing restructuring while minimizing dissatisfaction and resistance. These steps need to be adapted to the organization and its circumstances, rather than applied as a fixed formula.
Different organizations may therefore require different ways of working to reach that end state. Organizations worldwide are redesigning how they work to adapt to the constantly changing requirements of different stakeholders. Agile has become a leading approach in HR transformation, emphasizing customer focus, speed, resilience and smart prioritization to provide a better experience.
One example is ING Netherlands Bank, which used an agile approach as part of a major organizational and cultural transformation. In 2015–2016, ING Netherlands Bank changed its corporate culture into an agile one. Instead of traditional hierarchical departments, it organized multidisciplinary squads, tribes and chapters. The bank relocated over 3,000 employees in several months to manage the complex selection process. Its HR team became a thought leader in agile working by replacing fixed departments with autonomous “squads” and “tribes,” redesigning performance management around expertise rather than team size, and shifting the corporate culture towards continuous learning and customer-centric speed. These radical but successful measures helped ING Netherlands become a more agile, modern and customer-focused business, better positioned to compete with technologically advanced competitors.
The ING example also illustrates that restructuring does not have to mean reducing the workforce. It can mean changing how people are organized, how they work together and how their capabilities are used. As organizations face changing markets, technological disruption and regulatory pressures, the real question is often not whether they will need to change, but how they will manage that change.
The answer lies in placing people at the center of the transformation process. Successful restructuring requires transparent communication, strong leadership involvement, employee engagement, reskilling opportunities and a clear roadmap for transition. Organizations must move beyond viewing employees as positions to be adjusted and instead recognize them as partners who shape the success of the change.
A well-managed restructuring process does not simply redesign jobs and reporting lines; it rebuilds trust, develops new capabilities and prepares people to thrive in the organization’s future state.