Nearly half of small enterprise house owners state that working their very own enterprise has negatively impacted their bodily and/or psychological well being – up barely from 2022 at 44%.

That’s in line with new analysis from cloud accounting supplier FreeAgent.

A survey of small enterprise house owners from throughout the UK, carried out by FreeAgent, has revealed the size of the problem going through the SME sector with regard to psychological well being, with findings exhibiting greater than a 3rd (37%) have skilled burnout on account of working a enterprise.

In keeping with respondents, many SMEs are working extra hours each week with extra time changing into commonplace, with two out of 5 (41%) enterprise house owners saying they work as much as 48 hours per week on common, and a fifth (20%) working as much as 64 hours per week. Greater than a 3rd (36%) of enterprise house owners said they typically work within the evenings and two-fifths (41%) typically or at all times work on the weekend.

The information reveals that there isn’t a relaxation if you personal your individual enterprise. With over three-quarters (78%) of respondents working via an sickness as a result of they felt they couldn’t afford to take time without work and the bulk (84%) don’t have any sick pay provision or enterprise insurance coverage to cowl circumstances below which they fall sick, it’s clear that UK entrepreneurs are placing their hearts into their companies.

Nevertheless, regardless of this, two-thirds of small enterprise house owners (66%) really feel they’ve a great work/life steadiness in comparison with only one quarter (27%) who really feel they don’t.

Roan Lavery,  CEO and co-founder of FreeAgent stated: “Our analysis suggests {that a} important variety of SME house owners within the UK are feeling the bodily and psychological well being pressures of working a enterprise. Many say they’ve skilled burnout on account of working for themselves, whereas many extra are spending lengthy hours on their enterprise ventures – together with evenings and weekends.

“Nevertheless, regardless of these challenges, it’s actually constructive to see that almost all of small enterprise house owners nonetheless really feel they’ve a great work/life steadiness and say they’d advocate self-employment as a profession. That’s an excellent basis to construct upon because the UK continues to navigate the continuing price of residing disaster.

“What I want to see going ahead, although, is extra assist for small enterprise house owners to handle these bodily and psychological well being challenges. Whether or not it’s offering extra funding for psychological well being assist applications, growing entry to sick pay and medical insurance, providing tax incentives for companies that prioritise worker well-being, or just growing assist for enterprise schooling and coaching applications, there are many alternatives for the federal government to step in and supply assist the place it’s badly wanted.

“By taking these steps, I imagine the federal government may assist to strengthen the SME sector and promote financial progress, whereas supporting the well-being of the UK’s 5 million small enterprise house owners.”