As Mental Health Awareness Week gets underway, a raft of new surveys have highlighted how stress is affecting the UK's self-employed workers and small business owners.
Running your own business can be bad for both your mental health and your physical wellbeing - that's the worrying conclusion of a number of surveys published to mark Mental Health Awareness Week which runs from15 to 21 May 2023.
Small business burnout
New research by FreeAgent has found that 37% of small business owners polled say they have experienced burnout as a result of running a business and 47% say running a business has negatively impacted their physical and/or mental health - up from 44% in 2022.
The findings show that long hours are a key issue, with 41% reporting that they often or always work at the weekend. More than three-quarters (78%) of respondents also say they have worked through an illness because they couldn't afford to take time off and 84% have no sick pay provision or business insurance to cover circumstances under which they fall ill.
Despite this, 66% of small business owners say they have a good work/life balance compared to 27% who feel they don't.
Stress and lack of sleep
A new report conducted by Simply Business in conjunction with Mental Health at Work has found that 56% of small business owners have experienced poor mental health over the past 12 months - representing 124% more than the national average. Business owners report that anxiety (59%), depression (38%) and loneliness (22%) have all been major issues for them and 41% say financial worries are currently having the single biggest impact on their mental health. In addition, 44% of those polled say that they have difficulty sleeping, with one-third getting less than five hours' sleep a night.
The vast majority of respondents (90%) say that the government is not doing enough to support the mental health of the self-employed, especially as small business owners cannot claim the same rights as employees when it comes to statutory sick pay and holiday entitlement.
"The self-employed are working at capacity. Long hours, rare breaks and sleepless nights are leaving many on the brink of burnout … From financial worries and stress, to isolation and insomnia - it's critical that the real people behind the country's SMEs are given the support they need." Bea Montoya, chief operating officer, Simply Business.
Simply Business is giving one small business owner the chance to win a £2,000 wellbeing package, including holiday vouchers, access to a virtual assistant and financial and business coaching. Business owners can enter the competition on the Simply Business website.
SME money worries
A survey conducted by Purbeck Personal Guarantee Insurance has found that almost half of business owners (49%) believe their mental health has suffered from the stress of managing their business finances in the past year. Of those who are stressed about their finances, 60% have taken on personal debt to finance their business while 69% have taken on or will need new finance in the next year.
Late payment is also a major concern for small business owners. The latest research by NerdWallet has found that 55% of small businesses in the UK still have unpaid invoices from 2022.
Written by Rachel Miller.