On Point: From supply chain disruptions to an energy crisis: The biggest inflection points of 2022

Our 2022 year in review ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

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A 2022 retrospective

In the news

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RSVP yes. In-person corporate holiday parties have come roaring back after a hiatus of two years. While some businesses are tightening belts as the economic outlook worsens, others have shelled out substantial sums to bring together colleagues who may be meeting one another for the first time, given stalled efforts to bring about an all-out return to the office. In-person parties may help nudge employees back there, according to a company that has polled organizations on their end-of-year party plans for roughly two decades. [WaPo]

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The hybrid-work war. Executives thought 2022 would be the year employees returned to offices, but it wasn’t. At the beginning of the year, the office occupancy rate was more than 23%, which by April would jump to 43%, where it remained for the spring and summer. The occupancy rate reached 49% in December, after months of efforts to lure employees back with a mix of in-office perks and threats. As a result of the tug-of-war between employers and employees, the future of work is evolving in real time. [Fortune]

Looking back, 2022 was another year of upheaval—one of many recently. The changes we’ve seen this year are not garden-variety disruptions.

On McKinsey.com

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A focus on food. One of the year’s defining economic stories has been soaring food costs. The convergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, supply chain constraints, and climatic events disrupted the global food supply, and many countries remain highly vulnerable to food shortages. Waste is also a concern: an estimated $600 billion a year of food (up to half of total production) is lost at or near farms, during or just after harvest, according to McKinsey senior partners Clarisse Magnin and Björn Timelin.

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Transforming energy. Another theme that occupied the minds of leaders in 2022 is energy: Europe faced a record-breaking heat wave in August, and Pakistan was devasted by unprecedented floods. Meanwhile, geopolitical conflict created uncertainty in Europe’s energy supply. Conversations around the energy transition also accelerated this year, since energy use accounts for as much as 83% of all carbon dioxide emissions, as senior partners Hamid Samandari, Jonathan Woetzel, Sven Smit, and others note in a McKinsey Global Institute report. Discover the year-defining themes that shaped our world.

A look back at 2022

— Edited by Alexandra Mondalek, editor, New York

Please note: For our December 16 issue (“What role will women play in the metaverse?”), we printed that 17% of VC dollars go to women-led companies; to clarify, that figure is for women-led companies across all industries. For women-led metaverse companies, the figure is 10%.

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Follow our thinking

A 2022 retrospective﻿

In the news

Looking back, 2022 was another year of upheaval—one of many recently. The changes we’ve seen this year are not garden-variety disruptions.﻿

On McKinsey.com

A 2022 retrospective

Looking back, 2022 was another year of upheaval—one of many recently. The changes we’ve seen this year are not garden-variety disruptions.