Small business owners burning the midnight oil

Almost half of company owners admit to regularly taking work home with them, research finds.

Some 48 per cent of entrepreneurs find the working week encroaching into evenings and weekend, according to a study by Sage.

Two fifths (39 per cent) admit to taking work on family holidays, and more than 43 per cent have spent at least one full weekend this summer catching up on work.

Some 22 per cent of respondents admit to answering emails in bed and 24 per cent have missed a family occasion to catch up on work.

When asked, 64 per cent report feeling worried or stressed about work when at home.

Paul Cairney of Sage UK & Ireland says that having more time to think strategically outside the office significantly benefits business success and growth.

‘However more than a quarter of people (28 per cent) we’ve spoken to said that finding ‘headspace’ was impossible in their working lives, because they get bogged down and consumed by administrative tasks.

‘Finding business headspace is in fact a vital ingredient to fulfilling our personal professional potential, and building business confidence.’

The study also finds that particular places are more conducive to finding headspace than others, with the most popular places being in at home (29 per cent), whilst exercising (11 per cent), when walking the dog (10 per cent) or even during the journey to or home from work (26 per cent).

Further reading on office and homeworking

The pros and cons of running a business from home

Ben Lobel

Ben Lobel

Ben Lobel was the editor of SmallBusiness.co.uk from 2010 to 2018. He specialises in writing for start-up and scale-up companies in the areas of finance, marketing and HR.

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