CEO Monthly Issue 1 2018

CEO MONTHLY / ISSUE 1 2018 19 CEO Optimism Booms Despite Increasing Anxiety Over Threats to Growth g next 12 months. This year, the US reinforces its lead on China (46% US vs 33% China, with the US lead over China up 2% compared with 2017). Germany (20%) remains in third place, followed by the UK (15%) in fourth place, while India bumps Japan as the fifth most attractive market in 2018. “Even with high levels of global growth confidence, business leaders want and need safe harbours for investment to secure short-term growth,” comments Bob Moritz, Global Chairman, PwC. “Access to consumers, skills, finance and a supportive regulatory environment are reinforcing leading markets’ positions, for business leaders to achieve their short-term growth targets.” Jobs and digital skills: headcounts to increase; leaders concerned about availability of digital talent Confidence in short-term revenue growth is feeding into jobs growth, with 54% of CEOs planning to increase their headcount in 2018 (2017: 52%). Only 18% of CEOs expect to reduce their headcount. Healthcare (71%), Technology (70%), Business Services (67%) Communications (60%) and Hospitality and Leisure (59%) are amongst the sectors with the highest demand for new recruits. On digital skills specifically, over a quarter (28%) of CEOs are extremely concerned about their availability within the country they are based, rising to 49% extremely concerned in South Africa, 51% in China and 59% in Brazil. Overall, 22% of CEOs are extremely concerned about the availability of key digital skills in the workforce, 27% in their industry and 23% at the leadership level. Investments in modern working environments, learning and development programmes and partnering with other providers are the top strategies to help them attract and develop the digital talent they need. Impact of technology on employment and skills While recent research by PwC showed that workers were optimistic about technology improving their job prospects, CEOs admit that helping employees retrain, and increasing transparency on how automation and AI could impact jobs is becoming a more important issue for them. Two thirds of CEOs believe they have a responsibility to retrain employees whose roles are replaced by technology, chiefly amongst the Engineering & Construction (73%), Technology (71%) and Communications (77%) sectors. 61% of CEOs build trust with their workforce by creating transparency, at least to some extent, on how automation and AI impact their employees. Bob Moritz, Global Chairman, PwC, commented on the findings and how they affect the global corporate landscape. “Our education systems need to arm a global workforce with the right skills to succeed. Governments, communities, and businesses need to truly partner to match talent with opportunity, and that means pioneering new approaches to educating students