CEOs speed up digital push, cut office space amid Covid-19: Survey

LONDON • Companies around the world have moved more of their operations online, plan to reduce office space and have made recruiting and retaining staff their top priority since the coronavirus pandemic struck, a survey showed yesterday.

A survey by accounting firm KPMG showed that 80 per cent of business leaders had accelerated their digital expansion plans during the lockdown as they adjusted to staff working remotely and dealing with customers online.

There was uncertainty about the eventual scale of the shift away from shared workspaces in favour of working from home, but 69 per cent were planning to cut their office space in the short term.

"Maybe some kind of hybrid finds its way into the new everyday reality," said Mr Bill Thomas, global chairman and chief executive of KPMG International.

Seventy-three per cent said the shift to working from home had increased the pool of job candidates.

That could lead to teams that are more spread out globally and interact more online.

"There's a comfort level with this that people have never had before," Mr Thomas said.

Talent risk - covering recruitment and retention as well as the well-being and health of staff - had jumped from 11th to first in a ranking of risks over the next three years for chief executive officers.

Following behind were risks related to supply chains, as trade tensions grow on the back of the pandemic, and environmental and climate change risks.

The Covid-19 crisis has split CEOs over the three-year outlook for the global economy, with 32 per cent saying they are less confident than they were at the start of this year and another 32 per cent saying they are more confident.

In Britain, despite the uncertainty of trade terms with the European Union after a post-Brexit transition period ends on Dec 31, CEOs were more bullish about their country's economy than in all other countries apart from China and Japan.

KPMG surveyed 315 chief executives in Australia, Canada, China, France, Italy, Japan, Britain and the United States between July 6 and Aug 5 as part of its CEO Outlook, having initially spoken to 1,300 CEOs in January and February.

REUTERS