Supply chain resilience depends on employee well-being: new report

Geneva, Switzerland — Investment in worker health and well-being is essential to enhance business resiliency in the face of growing stress on global supply chains, according to a new report from the World Economic Forum.

In its 20th annual Global Risks Report, WEF presents the findings of the 2024-2025 Global Risks Perception Survey, which gathered insight from 900 experts worldwide. The report explores how employers can strengthen supply chain stability while focusing on worker health and well-being, along with business-aligned strategies. 

Among its conclusions: Supply chain systems can’t truly be resilient if workers are vulnerable.

The survey identified the top current, short-term and long-term global risks to supply chains and workers. At present, state-based armed conflict, extreme weather events, geoeconomic confrontation and misinformation/disinformation are deemed the biggest risks.

Topping the list of short-term risks (over the next two years) is misinformation/disinformation, while extreme weather is considered the biggest long-term risk (over the next decade).

The report features five actions business leaders can take to address supply chain resilience:

1. Investigate supply chain health risks and assess how those vulnerabilities can affect operations, just as organizations prepare for disruptions, cyberattacks or natural disasters.
2. Incorporate health-focused climate risk management into human resources, operations and supply chain planning.
3. Explore shifting away from reactive health spending to proactive resilience measures, including heat stress mitigation, accessible diagnostics for disease prevention and early warning systems.
4. Leverage insurance and financing innovations to support workers and at-risk communities.
5. Strengthen partnerships with health systems, governments and civil society to scale up community-based health solutions, expand access to health care and emergency systems, and mitigate climate risks.

“Foresight based on informed, expert views remains critical for better planning and preparation, in both the short and long term,” WEF Managing Director Saaida Zahidi says in the report. “Leaders across the public and private sectors, civil society, international organizations, and academia must seize the baton to work openly and constructively with each other.”