HR and risk professionals in the United States see ineffective leadership as their number one concern, with increasing health and benefit costs also ranking among their top three concerns.
This finding comes from Mercer's "People Risk 2024" report, based on input from 4,575 HR and risk professionals around the globe, including 1,024 in the U.S.
In the U.S., respondents ranked ineffective leadership, improper rewards and decision-making, and rising health and benefit costs as their first, second, and third top concerns, respectively.
Ineffective leadership is defined by Mercer as weak decision-making, communication, emotional intelligence, vision and direction, succession planning, and/or disconnect from organizational values that drives mistrust, high employee turnover, decreased productivity and reputational issues.
HR and risk professionals consider weak leadership to be the most severe potential risk to their organizations over the next 1-2 years. Respondents expressed primary concern that ineffective leadership would hinder their ability to motivate the workforce towards a unified organizational vision and purpose, and would contribute to a negative organizational culture or work environment, tense team dynamics, and mistrust.
Access the 98-page Mercer report in full here.