The dawn of a new year is a time to reflect on the accomplishments and struggles of the previous year and a great time to celebrate successes and acknowledge shortcomings. It’s also a time to look forward and plan for the future. While a lot of that planning will focus on taking advantage of new opportunities, it’s also essential to be pragmatic and consider the many risks companies will face in the year ahead.
Top Threats to Business as We Enter 2022
International SOS, a risk mitigation company, recently released its annual 2022 Risk Outlook report predicting the top threats to businesses, employees, and managers heading into 2022.
Unsurprisingly, the COVID-19 pandemic and its ancillary impacts are high on the list of causes of productivity decrease in the coming year. The top five causes cited by the Risk Outlook report are:
- COVID-19
- Mental health
- Natural disasters
- Transport concerns
- Security threats/civil unrest
The pandemic impacts productivity not only directly but also indirectly by increasing the complexity of managing health and safety and diverting resources to manage that complexity.
Need for New Health and Safety Measures
The report found that 58% of organizations feel that new health and safety measures will increase the complexity of supporting the health and security of employees. Furthermore, the report notes that slightly more than one-third of American businesses see COVID-19 policies generally, and the need to define testing and vaccine policies for COVID-19 more specifically, as a major challenge for the next year.
While companies should always look forward to new opportunities, it’s also important not to overlook the many risks businesses face now and in the future.
The new year is a great time to take stock of those risks and start planning risk mitigation strategies. After all, unless risks are successfully managed, it’s extremely difficult to take advantage of available opportunities.
Lin Grensing-Pophal is a Contributing Editor at HR Daily Advisor.