Eight in 10 Australian businesses believe recession inevitable

Seventy nine per cent of Australian business leaders believe that a recession will hit in the next six months, according to GoTo's Economic Headwinds Report, compared with only 38% of businesses in the UK.

Local business owners are confident they can withstand a downturn (82%), while UK counterparts are less positive, with only 43% of business owners believing they are equipped to survive a recession.

Nearly two-thirds (61%) of surveyed Australian businesses are currently preparing for economic headwinds, while 70% admit they’re “nervous” about the state of their business.

Australian executives are preparing their businesses to be economically resilient by taking a variety of steps, including ensuring three months’ worth of “cash in bank” (38%), consolidating or evaluating technology needs (29%) and making plans of action for potential disasters (34%).

“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, 51% of businesses have come face to face with economic headwinds in the past. Of those, 93% 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 88% of Australian business leaders said it was important to keep their employees protected during an economic downturn and 91% said it was important to keep the morale of your employees high during a potential recession. In fact, 85% of Australian business leaders said they would “do anything” in their power to retain employees through a possible recession.

The secret to creating a strong workforce and a recession proof-business, according to global respondents, requires maintaining work equipment on a regular basis (49%), having cost-effective products (44%) and equipping employees with technology needed for success (42%).

Sixty eight per cent of global businesses have had important work interrupted by technology issues, while 74% believe making sure employee devices are working properly is vital to keeping their businesses running and prepared for any future issues.

Image credit: iStock.com/gguy44