CEOs Overwhelmingly Confident about Growth in 2024 - KPMG

Happy days are here again, according to KPMG’s latest survey of UK and global CEOs. 

CEOs are confident about growth in the coming year: 75% are confident in their own company, 76% in their industry, 79% in the UK economy and 70% in the global economy.

And CEOs are also feeling Tiggerish about job growth, with the vast majority expecting to increase headcount over the next three years.

Nine out of ten CEOs (92%) expect their headcount to increase over the next three years, and nearly four out of ten (36%) expect headcount to grow by 6% or more. 

And far from Eeyore-ish predictions of artificial intelligence creating mass unemployment, just 2% of UK CEOs think generative AI will reduce the number of jobs in their organisation - a figure echoed by wider global CEOs, 76% of whom also say generative AI will not fundamentally affect headcount.

That’s the good news. 

Not so good is that nearly two-thirds of CEOs (63%) feel under even more pressure to ensure the long-term prosperity of their business.

How CEOs plan to drive growth

So, given that CEOs see growth as their top operational priority, how do they plan to achieve this?

First, by advancing digitisation and connectivity across the business. And second, attracting and retaining the best employee talent. 

Indeed, nearly two-third (63%) say lack of the right talent will negatively impact their organisation’s growth over the next three years. 

Nearly 70% agree that organisations should invest in skills development and lifelong learning to safeguard access to future talent.

Biggest risks to growth  

Supply chain and operational issues are seen as the biggest risks to growth by CEOs globally. 

In the UK, cybersecurity is seen as the number one barrier to growth.

Use case for generative AI

Generative AI is the top investment priority for over two-thirds of UK CEOs. They recognise its huge potential to develop their workforce skills, and to drive efficiency and productivity gains.

Yet 83% of UK CEOs aren’t expecting to see any return on generative AI for at least three years.

Back to the office

Over four-fifths of global CEOs (83%) expect a full return to the office over the next three years, compared with 63% in 2023. 

And CEOs continue to be focused on ESG not for altruistic reasons but more likely because not doing so will see them held to account by shareholders. Or even impact their tenure as CEO. 

Just one third of global CEOs say they’re prepared to be scrutinised by shareholders and other stakeholders when it comes to ESG. 

Climate change targets

Many organisations have committed to hit net zero by 2030. And just 55% of UK CEOs are confident they can meet their net zero goals by 2030.

The biggest barrier is the complexity of decarbonising supply chains. That’s unsurprising given that for most companies, the majority of emissions are actually scope 3 - indirect emissions in the supply chain.

Another reason for the lack of interest in ESG is that CEOs don’t see the prospect of making any return on ESG investments. Nearly 90% of CEOs expect it will be three years or more until they see a significant return on what they invest in ESG.

KPMG surveyed 1,325 global leaders - including 150 from the UK - overseeing companies with revenues of at least US$500m for this year’s KPMG 2024 CEO Outlook

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