Business owners reveal if they’re ready for a recession

There's nothing these business owners and executives can't handle – even an economic downturn.

A new international survey of 3,700 business owners and executives found a varying degree of confidence when it comes to their business’ ability to weather potential financial storms if they were to hit.

In America, for instance, 73% of owners believe their businesses can survive economic downturns.

Likewise, a high percentage of Asian and Oceanic nations surveyed had a strong sense of economic resilience for their businesses: India (97%), Philippines (90%), Australia (82%), Malaysia (80%) and Singapore (76%).

In the European nations surveyed, however, it’s a different story. Only two in three German (68%) and French (66%) business owners feel confident they can weather a crisis. In the UK, a mere 43% felt confident.

Commissioned by GoTo and conducted by OnePoll, this news comes in as 69% of respondents globally believe a recession is likely to occur within the next six months.

In America, it’s enough to cause 70% to prepare their business for economic headwinds at any given time. While 71% admit they’re “nervous” about the state of their business, 36% claimed to already have plans in place in case of an economic downturn.

Another 36% stated they’ve begun implementing their plans to get ahead of any pending crisis.

In the States, execs are preparing their businesses to be economically resilient by understanding how to access economic relief in the form of grants or loans (43%), consolidating or evaluating technology needs (39%) and making plans of action for potential disasters (36%).

“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 them, 93% of owners and execs 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 76% said it was important to keep their employees protected during economic downtown and 77% said it was important to keep the morale of your employees high during a potential recession.

In fact, three out of four 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 percent of Global businesses have had important work interrupted by technology issues and 74% believe making sure employee devices are working properly is vital to keeping their businesses running and prepared for any future issues.

TOP WAYS TO KEEP BUSINESSES RESILIENT Globally

• Understand how to access economic relief - 39%
• Consolidate technology or evaluating technology needs - 37%
• Make plans of action for potential disasters - 36%
• Ensure three months' worth of "cash in bank" - 35%
• Diversify the business’ cash flow - 32%
• Improve digital security measures - 32%
• Explore outsourcing certain processes - 29%
• Do internal risk assessments - 31%
• Hire contractors - 12%
• Prepare to reduce staff headcount if required -11%

Survey methodology:

This random double-opt-in survey of 3,700 Senior-level executives and IT decision makers in America, the UK, Germany, France, Australia, India, Malaysia, Philippines and Singapore was commissioned by GoTo between August 25 and September 2, 2022. It was conducted by market research company OnePoll, whose team members are members of the Market Research Society and have corporate membership to the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) and the European Society for Opinion and Marketing Research (ESOMAR).