Top CEO Concerns Post-COVID-19: Talent and Corporate Responsibility

Today we are publishing the first of a two-part look at the 2020 KPMG CEO Outlook. This study was conducted in two steps: the initial interview of more than a thousand CEOs of top organizations, conducted pre-COVID-19,  with a follow-up involving over 300 respondents late this summer.

Among the most noteworthy of the survey’s finding is the fact that in January and February of this year, CEOs ranked “talent” as number eleven in their list of ongoing concerns. Since the pandemic, the topic of talent recruiting, reward and retention has risen to the number one spot on the list of what is keeping CEOs awake at night.

Read Part I of the report below and be sure to read Part II, tomorrow.

FROM: KPMG 2020 CEO Outlook

Talent and corporate responsibility top list of CEO concerns in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis.

• Research conducted with global CEOs before COVID-19 and today show significant changes in the risks and priorities.
• Talent has emerged as one of the biggest risks faced by CEOs of some of the world’s largest organizations.
• A majority of CEOs are focusing on how to lock-in the climate gains of the lockdown.
• One third of CEOs are less confident now about prospects for global growth in the next three years.

As a result of COVID-19, CEOs of the world’s most influential companies have identified talent risk as one of the most significant challenges to growth, and are examining their wider societal contributions and company purpose. In the first study of its kind to measure how CEOs’ priorities and concerns have changed during the global pandemic, KPMG conducted two surveys, one at the onset of the pandemic in January and another in July/August.

The KPMG 2020 CEO Outlook finds that the agenda of leaders has radically shifted since the beginning of the year, as existing trends like ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) factors, flexible working and digital transformation have accelerated. When reflecting on prospects for growth over the next three years, 32 percent of CEOs are less confident now than they were at the start of the year in the global economy. CEOs, however, are more optimistic about their own country’s growth prospects (45 percent confident), and more confident again in the resilience of their own business over the coming three years.

Bill Thomas, Global Chairman and CEO, KPMG, said: “The significant change in CEOs priorities over the past six months is a clear indication that businesses have had to pivot at breakneck speed to deal with the challenges of the pandemic. Business leaders the world over are seeking to manage uncertainty with decisiveness. This crisis has accelerated strategies that were already in place around digital transformation and social responsibility. However, in other areas planning for the future is a lot harder, particularly thinking about future ways of working and problem solving. So it’s perhaps no surprise that CEOs are focused on the importance of talent to sustain and grow any future business.”

Key Findings

Talent risk rises eleven places, named the largest threat to businesses

In January, CEOs ranked talent risk behind 11 other risks to growth. However, since the start of the pandemic, talent has risen to be named as the most significant threat to their businesses ahead of supply chain and environmental risk.

Personal impact of COVID-19 on CEOs

Four in ten respondents (39 percent) have had their health, or the health of one of their family, affected by the virus and 55 percent changed their strategic response to the pandemic as a result. Global executives have also been impacted financially, with nearly two-thirds (63 percent) citing that they’ve made changes to their compensation as a result of the COVID-19 crisis.

Digital transformation key to improving operational resilience

CEOs have invested heavily in technology during the lockdown and they are betting on major dimensions of digital transformation to make their companies more operationally resilient, agile and customer-focused. A majority (80 percent) of leaders have seen the digital transformation of their businesses accelerating during the pandemic. The biggest advancements have been in the digital transformation of operations, where 30 percent say that progress has put them years ahead of where they would have expected to be right now. Two-thirds (67 percent) of CEOs are likely to put more capital investment into technology than they are people, a figure that hasn’t changed at all since the initial survey.

To view additional information about the study please visit home.kpmg/CEOoutlook.

About KPMG’s CEO Outlook

The KPMG CEO Outlook provides an in-depth three-year outlook from thousands of global executives on enterprise and economic growth.

KPMG initially surveyed 1,300 CEOs in January and February, before many key markets were beginning to feel the full impact of the pandemic crisis. KPMG conducted a follow-up survey of 315 chief executives 6 July – 5 August to understand how CEO thinking has evolved during the crisis. In both instances, all respondents have annual revenue over US $500M and a third of the companies surveyed have more than US $10B in annual revenue.

The January/February survey included leaders from 11 key markets (Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Spain, UK and US) and 11 key industry sectors (asset management, automotive, banking, consumer and retail, energy, infrastructure, insurance, life sciences, manufacturing, technology, and telecommunications). The recently conducted follow-up survey included CEOs across the industries mentioned above and from eight key markets (Australia, Canada, China, France, Italy, Japan, UK and US). NOTE: some figures may not add up to 100 percent due to rounding.

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About KPMG International

KPMG is a global network of professional services firms providing Audit, Tax and Advisory services. We operate in 147 countries and territories and have more than 219,000 people working in member firms around the world. The independent member firms of the KPMG network are affiliated with KPMG International Cooperative (“KPMG International”), a Swiss entity. Each KPMG firm is a legally distinct and separate entity and describes itself as such.