Holiday blues for small business owners
SMALL business bosses are feeling the impact of the credit crunch when planning time away from work this year, according to research.
The latest monthly business study by Continental Research shows that while two thirds of senior financial decision makers in medium and larger sized businesses are planning to take at least two weeks off, less than half of small business bosses plan to be away for this long and 12% will have no time off at all.
The current economic climate is also affecting behaviours of both groups. Small business bosses who are planning a holiday are more likely than those at larger firms to keep in touch with work while away.
Around 40% anticipate spending less money on their holiday due to economic pressures, compared to only 28% from large businesses.
The report also confirms that business optimism and confidence has plummeted since December.
At the end of last year small business owners remained optimistic about their own performance long after they had started to lose faith in the economy in general. However, they are definitely feeling the pinch with only 3% of small business owners expecting their turnover to increase in the coming year – a significant spiral downwards from 39% at the same period last year.
More than 40% said they felt less optimistic about economic prospects compared to 17% feeling more optimistic in 2007.
Shiona Davies, director at Continental Research, said:
“These are the lowest levels of confidence weve seen. As the credit crunch hit the headlines in the last quarter of 2007, small businesses stayed optimistic about their own business performance even while losing confidence in the economy.
“However, what were now seeing is many more small businesses facing up to a
challenging year ahead as concerns about their own businesses grow.”
The study’s findings were based on questions placed on Continental’s Business Omnibus in June 2008. More than 500 financial decision makers were surveyed from companies with a turnover of £50,000 to £20m plus.
