Work pressures cause small business owners to miss social and family time

The pressures of running a business are forcing Britain’s small business owners to sacrifice social and family time, according to research by Simply Business.

The report found that a fifth of respondents “can’t afford” to take a single day off of work this summer, with a further 30% only able to holiday at home or within the UK to make sure they can still look after their business.

The survey also estimated that over 750,000 small business owners are unable to take their children on holiday during the summer break due to work commitments.

Despite being entitled to 20 days holiday, 25% of entrepreneurs surveyed admitted they take fewer than 10 holiday days a year, including bank holidays.

50% of the business owners surveyed also admitted to cancelling plans with friends and family at least once a week because of work, and many said they make no social plans at all because they know they will be too busy with work to commit.

Rather surprisingly two thirds of the survey respondents said they were happy with their work/life balance but added that being overworked and stressed had caused them to fall ill in the past

Jason Stockwood, CEO of Simply Business, commented on the research: “Setting up and running your own business demands a huge commitment that many employees would never want to undertake. It requires more than your expert skill and knowledge in your field and unending perseverance to get your business off the ground.

“Microbusiness owners and sole traders have to be more than the CEO of their company-they have to play every important role from finance director to chief marketing officer.

“The time and effort needed to survive can be punishing so it is all the more important for small business owners to ensure they balance their work with a social life to prevent getting run down and ultimately putting their business in jeopardy.”

Simply Business is headline sponsor of the Startups Awards 2015. If you think you have an award winning start-up business, enter here.