69% Of World Business Leaders Believe Recession Is Likely In Six Months

According to a report commissioned by GoTo and conducted by OnePoll, 69 pc of business leaders globally believe a recession is likely to occur within the next six months. Moreover, around 97 per cent of Indian Business leaders believe their businesses can survive economic downturns. The majority of respondents from India were in the IT industry (36 pc), followed by Healthcare (23 pc), Security (12 pc), Retail (6 pc) and Education (5 pc), Tech (4 pc), Financial Services (4 pc) and six other industries (10 pc).

GoTo conducted an international survey of 3,700 business owners and executives and found a varying degree of confidence when it comes to their business’s ability to weather potential financial storms if they were to hit. Likewise, a high percentage of Asian and Oceanic nations surveyed had a strong sense of economic resilience for their businesses: Philippines (90 pc), Australia (82 pc), Malaysia (80 pc) and Singapore (76 pc).

However, the story was different in the European nations. Only two in three German (68 pc) and French (66 pc) business owners feel confident they can weather a crisis. In the UK, a mere 43 pc felt confident.

In India, it’s enough to cause 94 pc of respondents to prepare their business for economic headwinds at any given time. To ensure preparedness, 60 pc of Indian businesses maintain work equipment (employee computer, office equipment etc.) on a regular basis and 54 pc create a company-wide emergency fund and equip employees with the technology they need to ensure that work continues uninterrupted. 98 pc of Indian respondents also agreed that ensuring their employees can connect to IT support is vital to them being able to work.

Execs in India are preparing their businesses to be economically resilient by making plans of action for potential disasters (56 pc), improving digital security measures (54 pc) and consolidating technology or evaluating technology needs (50 pc).

“Whatever is ahead, it is clear businesses need to be prepared in order to support their employees, protect their bottom line, and maintain business continuity. By taking relatively simple steps such as consolidating tech stacks to save money, creating plans for multiple scenarios, and improving their security practices, businesses of all sizes can stay resilient in the face of potential economic uncertainty.” said Paddy Srinivasan, Chief Executive Officer, GoTo.

On a global level, 51pc of businesses have come face to face with economic headwinds in the past. Of them, 93pc of owners and execs said they learned what to do for any future potential disruptions to their businesses.

When asked what piece of advice they’d give to survive economic headwinds, respondents claimed it’s important to “be prepared,” “plan ahead,” “keep calm” and “be optimistic with strategies and goals while going through the process.” In order to get ahead of potential economic headwinds, the survey found that 76pc said it was important to keep their employees protected during economic downtown and 77pc said it was important to keep the morale of your employees high during a potential recession.

Of the Indian business leaders surveyed, 97pc believe it is important to keep employee morale high during economic downturn, and 94pc believed that employee morale has improved since last year.

While three out of four global business leaders said they would “do anything” in their power to retain employees through a possible recession, 97pc of Indian business leaders said that retention was a key priority for them. 68pc of global businesses have had important work interrupted by technology issues and 74pc believe making sure employee devices are working properly is vital to keeping their businesses running and prepared for any future issues.