Despite fears about a recession this year, the majority of CEOs plan to continue hiring new workers in the coming year.
Key Details
- In the recent Fortune 500 poll of CEOs, around 60% say they plan on increasing their headcount this year, while only 25% anticipate it will shrink.
- As company leaders look forward to the coming year, only 26% report worrying about a recession. The rest worry about cybersecurity, inflation, and geopolitical tensions, Fortune reports.
- Even with talks about artificial intelligence (AI) and its potential to revolutionize the workforce, few CEOs see it as a challenge in the coming year.
Why it’s news
Recession worries have dominated headlines for the last year, yet relatively few CEOs have expressed pressing concerns about the effect on their businesses. Continued interest in hiring seems to indicate that CEOs are optimistic about the future.
In the last two years, company leaders have grappled with labor shortages and trends like quiet quitting, but these phenomena are coming to a close as the labor market stabilizes. A more stable market combined with advances in AI means that CEOs can hope for greater productivity in the workplace over the next year.
Of the CEOs surveyed, 59% say they have already started or were experimenting with using generative AI in the workplace. Another 29% said they plan to use generative AI eventually but have not started yet. Only 12% say there are no plans to use it in the workplace.
Most CEOs, around 58%, plan to primarily use AI for analyzing data in the workplace. Only 12% plan to use it for generating content or automating current processes.
While company leaders still plan to hire in the next year, many anticipate needing fewer employees in the next five years as AI tools become easier to use and more readily available. While around 75% of those surveyed said they expect fewer employees in the next five years, 60% expect their headcount to grow this year.
As leaders look forward to problems in the coming year, recession remains one of the most concerning issues. Around 26% reported concerns about a potential recession. Cybersecurity concerns were the second largest worry on CEOs’ minds, with 22% reporting that it was a significant concern. Another 16% reported that they were concerned about talent acquisition and inflation, Fortune reports.
Inflation has affected the majority of company spending. More than 80% of CEOs reported that inflation has caused them to reduce their spending, while only 19% reported no changes.