PwC Global Survey: 70 percent of CFOs are very confident they can provide a safe working environment, but only a half think can manage employees’ morale

As worksites reopen, over two thirds of CFOs are very confident they can meet employees and customers’ safety expectations, according to the most recent PwC CFO Pulse survey. So, 75 percent of CFOs feel very confident they can meet customers’ safety expectations, and 70 percent are very confident they can provide a safe working environment for employees. Though, only about half of CFOs say they are very confident about their company’s ability to manage their employees’ well-being and morale.

”As restrictions relax and return to work take place, companies face a series of decisions aimed to meet employees and customers’ safety expectations , adapting the business to the new social rules and business continuity in an uncertain climate. As we see from this survey, organizations are generally convinced that the measures for worksites reopen will work, but they have difficulty managing people’s morale, a factor that may significantly affect productivity and possibly decelerate the pace of future economic recovery. Thus, the great challenge for companies is to regain the trust of employees, consumers, business partners. Confidence will be the key to economic recovery and will depend on how governments and business leaders manage to think and implement recovery plans, after the health crisis ends”, says Ionuț Simion, Country Managing Partner, PwC Romania.

Regarding the future of finance, 85 percent of CFOs expect some decrease in revenues and/or profits this year as a result of COVID-19. Capex investments are CFOs’ most likely source of deferrals or cuts (83 percent), compared to just 18 percent who are planning cuts to R&D and 16 percent who expect to scale back their investment in digital transformation.

More than one-third (37 percent) of CFOs also expect changes in staffing — temporary leaves or furloughs — due to low or slow demand, and another third anticipate productivity loss to occur over the next month due to lack of remote work capabilities.

Industrial manufacturing and automotive CFOs are more likely than average to expect changes in staffing (46 percent) and layoffs (39 percent) in the coming month. Meanwhile, health industries CFOs are more likely to expect higher demand for employee protections (58 percent) and insufficient staffing for critical work (36 percent).

Given the need to limit the number of people in close contact, about half (49 percent) of CFOs are considering making remote work a permanent option where feasible, which corresponds to another finding: 72 percent of CFOs say that the work flexibility they have created in response to the crisis will benefit their company in the long run.

Other conclusions of the survey

• Although 42 percent of CFOs believe their company could return to ‘business as usual’ within three months if COVID-19 were to end today, there is a growing sentiment in many territories that recovery may take much longer.
• Of health industries respondents, 82 percent note that human interaction is required to deliver products and services, and 49 percent will not be able to effectively work remotely
• CFOs in Denmark (72 percent), Germany (67 percent) and Mexico (69 percent) are most likely to consider making virtual working arrangements a permanent option.
• 48 percent of CFOs are looking at accelerating automation and other new ways of working — among Germany CFOs, this jumps to 76 percent.

The survey was conducted on  4- 10 May  among 867 CFOs in Central and Southern Africa, Brazil, the Caribbean, China/Hong Kong, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, the Middle East, Netherlands, Portugal, Singapore, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the US and Vietnam.