About 45% of CEOs do not expect business to return to ‘normal’ till 2022, while 31% believe it will happen later this year, as per a KPMG report.
The report further says, the majority of CEOs globally will wait for more than 50% of the population to be vaccinated before returning to the office.
In India, this number stood at 76%. More than half said they are concerned about employees’ access to a COVID-19 vaccine, while 94% of Indian CEOs will ask employees to return to work post-vaccination.
The 2021 KPMG CEO Outlook Pulse Survey also finds that changes prompted by the pandemic have resulted in one-quarter (24 per cent) of CEOs saying that their business model has been changed forever by the global pandemic.
The study conducted in the month of February and March this year by KPMG, asked 500 global CEOs about their response to the pandemic and the outlook over a three-year horizon.
A majority (55%) of CEOs are concerned about employees’ access to a Covid-19 vaccine, which is influencing their outlook of when employees will return to the workplace.
A significant majority (90%) of CEOs are considering asking employees to report when they have been vaccinated, which may help organisations consider measures to protect their workforce. However, one-third (34%) of global executives are worried about misinformation on Covid-19 vaccine safety and the potential this may have on employees choosing not to have it administered.
The Covid-19 vaccine rollout is providing leaders with a dose of optimism as they prepare for a new reality. CEOs are scenario planning for difference across certain key markets that could impact their operations, supply chains, and people, leading to uneven economic recovery.
Nine out of 10 leaders globally (90 per cent) intend to ask their employees to report when they have been vaccinated in order to protect the wider workforce. In India, 94 per cent CEOs intend to do so.
Majority of CEOs globally will wait for more than 50 per cent of population to be vaccinated before returning to the office. In India, this number stood at 76%. A total of 66 per cent CEOs in India as opposed to 74 per cent CEOs globally felt the pandemic has accelerated the digitisation of operations and creation of next-generation models.
