This is according to a new survey of East Africa CEOs by consultancy firm KPMG.
The freeze is also likely to coincide with job cuts in the interim as nearly half of CEOs surveyed consider shrinking their staff base.
“In preparation for the anticipated recession, 25 per cent of East Africa CEOs have frozen hiring and 49 per cent are planning to implement a freeze in the short term. 49 per cent of the CEOs are considering downsizing their employee base in the short-term,” noted the report.
East African CEOs are however more optimistic than their global counterparts with only 28 per cent of the business heads anticipating a recession in the next 12 months.
Over the medium term, however, 84 per cent or eight of every 10 regional CEOs expect their staff headcount to increase in the next three years while 14 per cent expect staff levels to stay the same.
“Traditionally, organizations have opted for staff reduction or freezes during turbulent economic times. While it has short-term benefits, the downside and impact of downsizing are also well known,” the report adds.
“That both global and East Africa CEOs would still consider it as an option demonstrates the tension between the immediate need for survival and the long-term benefits of having a stable workforce. We have learnt during the last two years that turbulence is the new way of life.”
Already, tech companies in advanced economies including Twitter, Meta and Apple have effected both hiring freezes and layoff in anticipation of a global slowdown/recession in 2023.
Meta for instance cut 11,000 jobs last week while Twitter shed half of its workforce on the backdrop of the platform’s takeover by billionaire Elon Musk.
Apple is meanwhile freezing new hires apart from jobs in research and development (R&D).
The KPMG CEO Outlook was conducted with 1,325 CEOs between July 12 and August 24.
The survey covered 51 CEOs from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Ethiopia.
No comments :
Post a Comment