What keeps CEOs up at night?

America’s CEOs are concerned about taxes, optimistic about trade and eager to return to the office.

Those are some of the findings of a survey from The Conference Board that reveals the biggest issues that will keep business leaders up at night in the new year. The CEOs in the United States are more worried about higher corporate taxes and increased regulation, but less worried about global political instability and disruptions to global trade.

Also, compared to their global peers, U.S. CEOs are more eager to have staff return to the physical workplace. They also see the widespread availability of a vaccine as a game-changer for their businesses.

The survey gauged more than 900 CEOs and 600 C-suite executives from around the world about their biggest business challenges in 2021. Among the top stressors worldwide, respondents primarily cited COVID-19, recruiting and retaining top talent, recession risk, vaccine availability and accelerating digital transformations.

When it comes to external challenges, COVID-19, vaccine availability and recession risk ranked as the three biggest challenges by the U.S. CEOs. Regulation came in fourth, followed by corporate tax rates and shifting consumer/customer buying behaviors, which tied for fifth. Among global CEOs, COVID-19 ranked as the top concern. 

Regarding internal challenges, the need to accelerate the pace of digital transformation, improve innovation and lower costs ranked as the top three biggest challenges by U.S. CEOs, followed by streamline processes and employ, mergers, acquisitions and divestitures. Digital transformation was also the top concern of global CEOs.

On the human resources front, talent reigns supreme. U.S. CEOs and those from all other regions surveyed ranked recruiting and retaining top talent as the priority. The U.S. CEOs ranked developing “Next Gen” talent as their second biggest concern, followed by bringing employees back to the physical workplace, recruiting a more diverse workplace and building a more inclusive culture. Interestingly, U.S. CEOs were the most committed to bringing workers back than those from other countries. 

“While CEOs continue to fret about a possible downturn, 2021 is poised to be the light at the end of the pandemic tunnel,” said Dana Peterson, chief economist, The Conference Board. “In most regions – especially the United States – CEOs believe the distribution of a successful vaccine will have a significant impact on their businesses this year. The spread of COVID-19 vaccines will, among other benefits, provide greater clarity and predictability around short-term planning and operations.”