Most CFOs geared up to freeze hiring, survey finds
Dive Brief:
- More than eight out of 10 CFOs (83%) have enacted a hiring freeze or will do so soon, while most of the remaining 17% have not ruled out a future halt to hiring, acccording to a report from Dallas-based OneSource Virtual (OSV), a payroll, HR and finance services company, based on a survey of 100 top financial executives.
- At the same time, nearly one-third of respondents described their teams as “understaffed,” with the planned layoffs and short staffing highlighting a challenge many companies will be facing as “they’re heading into a potential recession with fewer employees than they would like,” the report states.
- The signs of a cooling when it comes to hiring contrasts with other indications of overheating in the U.S. labor market. The findings may partly reflect the heavy concentration of high tech companies represented in the survey, a sector that has recently reported a large number of layoffs and hiring freezes, OSV’s Chief Revenue Officer Courtny Cloeter said in an interview.
Dive Insight:
As the economy shows signs of slowing, many CFOs are bracing for a slowdown, with 70% of small businesses surveyed in separate study indicating they expect to see a recession within the next six months, CFO Dive reported.
Data suggests that disruption persists from the red-hot labor market and wage pressures. Layoffs in September declined and job openings increased 437,000 to 10.7 million, far exceeding the 5.8 million people seeking employment, the Labor Department said.
