CEOs Feel Good About the Economy and Hybrid Work Is Winning, Says KPMG in This CEO Survey

Posted on April 11, 2024April 11, 2024 by Going Concern News Desk

old guy in a suit jamming out to big headphones and feeling good about the economy or something

The 2024 KPMG U.S. CEO Outlook Pulse Survey is out and 87 percent of the 100 CEOs surveyed say they’re confident in the growth prospects of the economy. That’s good, right? Almost three-quarters of them plan to increase headcounts this year, also good, while just four percent anticipate having to decrease their ranks. All respondents to this survey are CEOs with organizations of annual revenue over $500 million, a third of them are at businesses with more than $10 billion in revenue.

Graphic lifted from the 2024 KPMG U.S. CEO Outlook Pulse Survey

The section on Generative AI is of particular interest as it covers GenAI application, deployment, and concerns over the next 12-18 months. We have no way of knowing just how many of these CEOs actually know what generative AI is or how it can be used in their business beyond asking ChatGPT for some fun ideas for Employee Appreciation Day though 77 percent of them did say they’re confident leadership has a good understanding of it [X].

In order, the surveyed CEOs said the top challenges in deploying GenAI are:

Ethical challenges (38%)
Security and compliance (36%)
Integration with existing systems and processes (33%)

A bit concerning that only 19 percent of CEOs surveyed said they’re currently using watermarks or disclosures that would let consumers know content is made with the assistance of AI. And that only 37 percent of them say they’ve prioritized data privacy using “robust data anonymization techniques.”

The Talent & Culture section shows that hybrid work rules the day while fully remote models are on the decline. What happened between February/March 2024 and last year that made them pull back on 5 days a week in the office?

Revisiting the 2023 CEO Outlook released last October, 64 percent of CEOs surveyed for that report said they anticipated a full return to office within three years. And 87 percent of them said they were likely to reward employees who make an effort to come into the office with favorable assignments, raises or promotions (hey, we just talked about remote workers getting passed over for promotions and raises yesterday).

Although workplace wellness programs are a joke and scientifically proven to do jack shit for individual employee mental health if the workplace itself is broken, respondents say they’re doing the following to address employee well-being and prevent burnout:

Implementing more initiatives focused on mental well-being such as digital wellness solutions, mindfulness seminars, resilience workshops and coaching sessions (74%)
Encouraging employees to use GenAI to automate mundane tasks to better manage their workload and relieve stress (61%)
Facilitating opportunities for employees to strengthen personal relationships with coworkers, such as employee volunteering and in-person training and development (60%)
Implementing trainings for managers to more effectively address well-being concerns and burnout among their direct reports (56%)
Exploring new organization-wide work schedule shifts such as 4-day or 4.5-day workweek (30%)

That’s it. Well, there’s a last section on sustainability and ESG but who cares. Certainly not the CEOs.

KPMG Study: CEOs tackling risks to growth including geopolitics, cyber and structural changes such as tight labor market, new regulations [KPMG]

KPMG

KPMG Suggests Toronto Let the Lawn Get Out of Hand a Bit, Wait Longer to Shovel Snow to Cut Some Spending

Caleb Newquist
July 14, 2011

The City of Toronto needs some help with ideas of how to cut some spending in their budget. STAT. Enter KPMG. They have to find savings where they can and sometimes that means making suggestions that may not go over so well. For example, those perfectly manicured lawns you see around the city? That’s due to a weekly grass cutting regimen. And guess what? It’s gotta go:

The report […] says weekly grass cutting may not be necessary except for “high-use surfaces” such as playing fields. Public works chair Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong recently complained that a wet spring had grass and weeds growing out of control on city sites and called for more grass cutting.

Can you imagine if the City of New York let the grass go for an extra few days? You can just imagine the outrage. Anyone with a park view would be calling up 411 to complain that they can see “weeds” and “that jungle of a lawn” from their veranda on the 20th floor. “Absolutely shameful,” they’d say. Not sure if Toronto’s residents are so hung up on those sorts of details but it stands to reason that there are at least a few citizens who are meticulous about the city’s lawns.

Anyway, KPMG had another suggestion:

KPMG says the city could wait for more than five centimetres of snow before clearing parking lots and pathways, although there would be increased risk of “slip and fall claims.”

Of course Canadians are little tougher when it comes to the snow, so a couple more inches of snow is probably NDB. But with the offset of increased “slip and fall claims” this could be a net zero effect.

But the best savings idea of all? Those zoos and “farm attractions” that your kids love so much? Those should probably go too:

“Consider elimination of the zoo and farm attractions . . . Some zoo and farm attractions could be closed, however, these are enjoyed by many Toronto residents,” the report states.

Happy families out on a Sunday be damned! There’s a fiscal crisis to be averted! The city still has to decide whether to implement these suggestions but if they do, KPMG will have crying children to answer to. Ones that aren’t employees.

Close small zoos and Riverdale Farm, consultant suggests [Toronto Star]