A sense of ‘permacrisis’ could leave employees vulnerable to burnout and paralyse decision-makers when it comes to coping with threats to business continuity.
This was among the findings from global medical and security firm International SOS’s Risk Outlook 2024 report, which highlights major risks affecting employees in 2024. It is based on survey responses from senior leaders.
Five key risks were identified for businesses in 2024: burnout from the permacrisis; extreme climate events; the supply chain threat from wars; misinformation from AI; and new expectations from employees around duty of care.
The report stated that the disruptions caused by the Covid pandemic were still reverberating when the Russian invasion of Ukraine “unleashed new waves of supply chain and service disruptions across various industries”. Further conflicts, such as in Israel, coupled with political instability have continued without respite, with many large international corporations being affected. This in turn increases the risk of employee burnout.
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The report’s findings noted that organisations have experienced a noticeable surge in stress-related absences. Surveyed respondents emphasised that the perceived risk level for the next 12 months was the highest ever recorded – 65% believe global risks will continue to grow in 2024 – compounding their crisis management fatigue beyond pre-pandemic levels.
This has led 80% of surveyed global senior risk professionals to predict burnout will have a significant impact on businesses in the next year. Only 41% of them feel that their organisations are equipped to deal with it.
Instability
Sally Llewellyn, global security director, International SOS, said instability was highly damaging to organisations: “The near-continuous pace of crises makes it even more challenging for organisations to navigate. Crisis management teams have been running consistently since Covid, creating a real risk of burnout in this critical function.
“Being proactive regarding risk management will be key as many surveyed expect the risks companies are facing to increase in 2024. Partnering with other organisations or experts can help organisations understand which risks – and their second or third order impacts – they are most likely to face based on geographic reach, industry or travel patterns.”
She added: “Building resilience within crisis management functions is also important. Expanding pools of leaders able to step in during crises and empowering them through training is critical to ensuring permacrisis does not derail wider business operations.”
Climate crisis
Only half of respondents said they had factored climate change into their health and security plans, emphasising how vulnerable many organisations could be. Dr Irene Lai, global medical director, International SOS said rising temperatures brought about extra health risks: “Many of the extreme weather events we witnessed in 2023 may become commonplace in the year ahead, potentially driving climate anxiety amongst a growing number of employees. With rising temperatures comes the increased possibility of disease spread, as the conditions are opportune for mosquito-borne diseases. We have already seen this in some regions.”
AI risks
AI was the next source of concern for those surveyed. It was seen by leaders as further complicating the vital task of sorting reliable information from misinformation and deliberate disinformation for businesses. More than two out of five respondents to the Risk Outlook research said they were worried about the effect of medical misinformation and disinformation on their workforces. This rises to three in five when asked about inaccurate political information – a potentially difficult situation as the US heads into a highly consequential election year.
Duty of care
Finally, three-quarters of surveyed organisations reported increased employee expectations for duty of care. A similar number are now also shouldering duties previously seen as government responsibilities, including two-thirds who acknowledge extending responsibilities to support workers’ families in times of need. This underlines how the era of offering only basic occupational health services for work-related conditions is over. While still essential, occupational health provisions must be enhanced with diverse support and interventions to safeguard and nurture employees globally, concluded the authors.
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