GenAI will change the nature of work and encourage people to spend more time working together

UK chief executives see implementing Generative AI (GenAI) as an opportunity to change the nature of work and create highly skilled workforces without reducing the number of jobs in the market, according to KPMG’s 10th annual CEO Outlook survey. KPMG surveyed more than 1,300 CEOs around the world – 150 in the UK – in July and August, revealing that two thirds of UK CEOs (65 percent and 76 percent globally) see GenAI as a positive disruptor with 68 percent (65 percent globally) agreeing that GenAI remains a top investment priority.

The majority of UK chief executives (71 percent and 76 percent global) said GenAI will not fundamentally impact the number of jobs in the market, instead existing jobs could be redeployed, and the new tech is expected to enable upskilling. A further third said it will create more jobs. This belief is replicated across the broader population of CEOs around the globe.

And while UK chief executives see GenAI as an opportunity, they see cyber security as the main risk to growth over the next three years – a risk that wasn’t even top three last year.

The debate about hybrid working continued for chief executives, with 83 percent of UK bosses (also 83 percent globally) believing there will be a return to pre-pandemic ways of working (in-office) within the next three years, up from 64 percent in 2023. While 81 percent (87 percent globally) say they are likely to reward employees who come into the office, up significantly from 56 percent in 2023.

UK bosses are evenly split in terms of prioritising investment in skills (49 percent) and capital investment (51 percent), while the number of employees retiring without a skilled workforce to replace them with is the largest issue for almost a third (30 percent) of UK CEOs when it comes to workforce management.

While encouragingly 75 percent of CEOs in the UK are still upbeat about their companies’ growth prospects, this has seen a slight drop from 77 percent last year. Business leaders surveyed also revealed they are less confident in the growth of the UK’s economy compared to last year (79 percent down from 83 percent), with this confidence dropping to 70 percent when considering global economic growth (down from 73 percent last year).

Economic uncertainty and embracing new tech are the challenges chief executives face today, while cyber security and supply chain issues pose the greatest threat over the next three years – risks that weren’t top of mind last year.

Despite these concerns, over the next three years a third of UK CEOs said they expect their headcount to increase between 6-10 percent (34 percent UK and 31 percent global) with M&A activity and organic growth driving their strategies, alongside investment in GenAI.

Climate change and the environment dropped out of the top three risks for UK CEOs in 2024, having been the second highest risk in 2023.

Only 55 percent of UK chief executives (51 percent global) are confident that they will meet their Net Zero goals by 2030, with the complexity of decarbonising supply chains (31 percent UK and 30 percent globally) cited as the greatest barrier to achieving these ambitions, followed by lack of appropriate technology to gather and analyse data (21 percent UK and 16 percent global).