The Great resignation is cooling down, with 39 per cent of global chief executive officers implementing a hiring freeze, and 46 per cent considering downsizing their workforce over the next six months, according to the KPMG 2022 CEO Outlook released on Tuesday.
The survey asked more than 1,300 CEOs at the world’s largest businesses about their strategies and outlook, and included leaders from 11 key markets: India, China, US, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Canada, Australia and Spain. The three-year view, however, is more optimistic, with only 9 per cent expecting a further reduced headcount. The other good news is that more than half the leaders expect a recession to be mild and short.
A substantial number (14 per cent) of senior executives identify a recession among the most pressing concerns today — up slightly from early 2022 (9 per cent), while pandemic fatigue tops the list (15 per cent).
Over the next year, more than eight out of 10 (86 per cent) global CEOs anticipate a recession, with 71 per cent predicting it will impact company earnings by up to 10 per cent.
A strong majority of senior executives believe a recession will disrupt anticipated growth (73 per cent). However, three-quarters have already taken precautionary steps.
Despite the concerns, senior executives also feel markedly more confident about the resilience of the economy over the next six months (73 per cent) than they did in February (60 per cent), when KPMG surveyed 500 CEOs for its CEO Outlook Pulse survey. Further, 71 per cent of leaders are confident about the global economy’s growth prospects over the next three years (up from 60 per cent in early 2022) and nearly nine in 10 (85 per cent) are confident about their organisation’s growth over the next three years. FE
