The new research also reveals that almost a quarter of business leaders see the biggest risk facing their organisations as “a return of tight public health restrictions caused by Covid-19 and its variants”.The next biggest risk was labour sourcing and the ability to retain staff , followed by global supply chain issues , rising costs of raw materials , EU-UK trade and political relations issues , and geopolitical or economic instability .
There was a note of optimism, however, in the finding that 31 per cent of business leaders are more upbeat about the economy than in the previous quarter, with 28 per cent more pessimistic and 41 per cent indicating “no change” in their view from the previous three months.
“While the rollout of the booster vaccine programme has been swift and widespread, it looks like the public health restrictions already in place will remain so for the foreseeable future.”