Small business owners in the UK work an average of 2,366 hours per year in order to make their business a success, compared to 1,950 for an average UK employee, according to new research by Opus Energy.
The research found that on average, SME owners work 45.5 hours per
Closer analysis reveals – perhaps to the surprise of some – that millennial entrepreneurs work the longest hours on average. Defying the label of the ‘snowflake’ generation,
By comparison, small business owners aged 35-44 claim to work an average of 46.4 hours per week, which results in 463 hours or 19.2 days overtime per year.
The extra time that Brits are ploughing into their business is so severe, that to put the sheer scale of it into perspective:
-They could fly from London to New York 52 times
-They could watch every episode of The Apprentice twice
-They could learn a new language
This revelation comes despite the fact that 29% of entrepreneurs actually started their own business in order to achieve greater control over their workload and time. That said, just a fifth (21%) of
Instead, nearly half (46%) of millennial entrepreneurs claimed to start their business in order to follow their passion, as opposed to just three-in-ten (29%)
Nikki Flanders, Chief Operating Officer at Opus Energy, commented: “It’s worrying to think that entrepreneurs are having to sacrifice such a vast amount of time in order to make their businesses successful. Not only do British entrepreneurs risk burning out, but we also risk potential business owners putting their start-up aspirations on hold, so as not to jeopardise their personal lives. SMEs are vital to our economy and we must ensure that entrepreneurs have the support required to succeed. There are valuable resources available from organisations like the Federation of Small Businesses, which will help entrepreneurs to avoid situations whereby they must rely solely on themselves.”
The research also revealed that even with the vast amount of overtime that they put into their business,
