Business owners feeling downturn stress

Nine in 10 struggling business owners say stress from their business is having an impact on their personal life, according to a new survey from Microsoft Australia.

The survey of 205 Australian business owners found that about 38% of them say their business is struggling compared to this time 12 months ago, with 90% of these reporting that stress was having an impact on their personal life.

One third of SMEs said they were working longer hours this year (45% among struggling entrepreneurs) and 34% said the issue they were most struggling with was cost management.

But the news wasn’t all bad, with 60% of respondents describing themselves as healthy. Of these, 20% are still planning to replace staff as necessary, and only 6% are considering laying off workers.