Holiday blues for small firm owners
NOT only do SME owners work some of the longest hours in the UK they’re more unlikely to get away on a holiday.
That’s the finding of telecommunication firm Unicom, which specialises in telecommunication services for small businesses.
Unicom asked 433 business owners whether they would be able to take a holiday at all this summer and 183 (42%) said they would not be able to because of work pressures.
Meanwhile of 365 business owners who responded to the question of whether they could go on holiday at a time that suited themselves or their family – school holidays, for instance – only 142 (39%) said they could.
Chris Earle, Unicom’s operations director, said:
“Small business owners and managers are clearly working harder than ever to weather the current economic storm, and just when many of them really need a break they find they can’t take one.”
“What is notable is that we’re not seeing any fall off in the levels of phone calls made by small businesses during what should be a period when they should be taking summer breaks – they’re working much harder just to stand still.”
The news comes hot on the heels of another study by the Manchester-based firm. Earlier research commisioned by the firm, which also has offices in Leeds and Sheffield, revealed that 44% of businesses are being forced to raise their prices because of increasing costs creating further pressures.
