Fearing the axe in 2022: Top CEOs sweat supply chain more than Covid

The C-suite is a bundle of nerves this winter. A new survey shows that 72 per cent of chief executive officers are worried about losing their jobs in 2022 because of business disruptions, tracking closely with the 94 per cent of bosses who say their corporate models need to be overhauled within three years. 

“That’s eye-poppingly high,” says Simon Freakley, the CEO of management consulting firm AlixPartners, the source of the survey. “Disruptive forces like the supply chain and labour market are all playing out simultaneously.”

Big bosses are always worried about losing their jobs, especially at public companies, where the potential for a sudden adios comes with the cushy chair. But the fear-of-imminent-firing figure surged from 52 per cent in 2020, which itself was a high-anxiety year. AlixPartners took the pulse of 3,000 CEOs and executives at the director level and above across 10 industries, half with revenues more than $1 billion. The pool was dispersed across North America, Europe and West Asia, and Asia-Pacific.

Supply chain, labour market and digitalisation topped the executives’ lists of concerns. Only 3 per cent of executives cited the virus as their main worry.

Freakley said he has a theory as to what’s driving the fear of getting ousted: Leaders who were relieved to survive 2020 with their business intact discovered in 2021 that, instead of pressures ebbing, they were mired in a continuing pandemic even as shareholders demanded growth. 

So far, the anxiety isn’t yet showing up in data. CEO departures in the US — regardless of whether they were axed or just retired or moved to different jobs — rose just 1.1 per cent through November from the same period in 2020, according to researcher Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

Fear Factor

• 72% CEOs worried about losing their jobs in 2022
• Supply chain, labour market and digitalisation top list of worries
• 94% say their corporate models need to be overhauled within 3 years
• Covid-19 missing from top 10 concerns for 2022
   

On The Move 

• 1.1% Rise in CEO departures in the US — whether they were axed, retired or moved to different jobs — through November from the same period in 2020 
• 17% Rise in CEO departures in tech firms
• 39 Tech CEOs left in October and November, totalling 162 exits through November

Source: AlixPartners;  Challenger, Gray 

& Christmas