Top five risks Canadian businesses are facing: Aviva Canada report

Aviva Canada – Risk Insights Report (CNW Group/Aviva Canada Inc.)

TORONTO — Mar. 9, Aviva Canada released a research-based report to try and help Canadian business leaders better understand the unique risks they face.

Aviva Canada’s Risk Insights Report is an in-depth look at the current state of risk through the eyes of Canadian business owners and decision-makers and provides a blueprint for future resilience. Drawing on interviews conducted with 1,500 Canadian businesses of all types and sizes, the report reveals that the top five risks identified by Canadian businesses are:

• Public health events
• Cyber security and cyber incidents
• The health and mental wellbeing of employees
• Shortage of skilled workforce
• Business interruption, including disruptions in supply chain

One of the report’s main conclusions is that Canadian businesses now view risk much differently in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and are increasingly focused on risk management and Business Continuity Plans (BCPs). In fact, the research found that nearly 6 out of 10 Canadian businesses (58 per cent) said their continuity and risk planning needs to be updated.

Jason Storah, CEO of Aviva Canada says “We live in an unpredictable, fast moving and increasingly risky world. Our report highlights that reality. We can’t predict risk or remove it all together, it’s a fact of business life. As unforeseen as COVID-19-related risks were over the past two years, Canadian businesses already face new geo-political and inflationary risks that will impact everyone in 2022. We believe that gathering data is the first step to understanding the risks around us and helping Canadian businesses to become more resilient. We need to be able to see beyond the next curve in the road and identify future risks before they’re already upon us – because we know they’re coming.”