UK family business stress is on the increase

Nearly half (44%) of all family businesses in the UK saw their stress levels increase or increase significantly over the past year, according to new research conducted by leading business and financial adviser Grant Thornton. However, given that this year's figure has increased by 10% since 2005 (34%), stress levels look set to continue rising in the future, it warns.

Only family businesses in Sweden (20%), the US (39%) and Italy (43%) were ahead of the UK in terms of seeing their levels of stress increase at a lower rate over the past year.

At the other end of the scale the results differed quite dramatically, with 90% of Taiwanese family businesses seeing an increase or significant increase in stress levels (nearly double the UK's result and up from 76% in 2005), followed by China (84%) and the Philippines (78%).

Grant Thornton's, head of family business, Howard Hackney, says: "As a rule, family businesses experience dramatically high levels of stress, mostly due to the line between personal and business life being all too close for many. Only 10% make it to the third generation indicating all too clearly the effect stress can have on a family business."

"Levels of stress appear to be on the increase, with the UK's figure rising by ten percent on last year's figure and Taiwan's figure rising by 14 percent since 2005. This is clearly an early warning sign for family businesses that they need to deal with their stress levels in an appropriate manner now before they cause even more problems in the future," he continues.

Job Security
Job security is one of the key contributing factors for those who suffer from stress. If employees feel as if their job is secure, then they are less likely to suffer from stress and are more likely to be more productive.

The survey found that only 8% of family businesses in the UK and Ireland felt that job security caused high or extreme levels of stress. These results were well below the EU average of 18% and significantly below the global average of 27%.

Again these results are in stark contrast to those at the other end of the spectrum, with more than half (53%) of family businesses in Thailand saying job security caused high or extreme levels of stress - a result that was ahead of Japan (49%) and Turkey (46%).

"These results show that even if you work for a family business, job security can still be a big concern and significantly add to your levels of stress," says Hackney.

"Traditionally, UK family businesses are more narrowly owned and have tightly controlled shareholding which is why these businesses are amongst the least concerned for their job. Whereas, in many Asian countries where the business is held amongst a significant number of shareholders, concerns over job security tends to be at a much higher level," continues Hackney.

Business Travel
Business travel is another factor that can significantly add to the stress levels experienced in business, particularly if it is frequent and involves numerous international trips.

Only 7% of UK family businesses say that business travel causes them stress or severe stress - a result not far behind Ireland's family business of whom only 1% say that business travel causes them high or severe levels of stress. Comparatively, more than one third (36%) of family businesses from India, one quarter (25%) from China and 21% from Botswana found that business travel caused them high or extreme levels of stress.

Commenting on this result, Hackney says: "It is clear that family businesses in the UK do not allow travelling to add to their stress levels. They have obviously developed mechanisms for dealing with such stress, such as video and web conferencing, and to be honest, have far greater issues to worry about than travel."

Holidays
French family business owners take the most holidays, taking on average 26 days leave each year. This is followed by UK, Swedish and Italian family businesses who all take 21 days leave per annum.

On the other hand, family businesses from Turkey and Botswana take 10 days leave, Taiwan eight days leave and Thai family businesses only take 4 days leave.

"As a whole European family businesses tend to be a lot less affected by stress than their Asian counterparts. Given that European family businesses take, on average, nearly twice as many days leave as those in Asia, could hint at a direct link between stress and the number of days holiday business owners take.

Summary of findings
"It is stressful enough being in business with your nearest and dearest, where the line between family and business is intertwined on a daily basis," says Howard. "It would appear that UK family businesses seem to have found the right balance, as they experience amongst the lowest levels of stress in Europe and the world."

"A lot of workplace stress comes down to how much control individuals feel they have over a situation. For those family businesses who are experiencing extreme levels of stress, their owners need to develop clear strategies for dealing with stress and work smarter rather than harder, which will ensure that people feel as if they have resumed control of their own destiny" he concludes.

UK Regional Picture
Family businesses in London and the south saw their stress levels rise by nearly double over the past year, with 59% saying their levels of stress had increased or increased significantly in the past year - up from 37% in 2005. This is in marked comparison to their northern counterparts who actually saw their levels of stress decrease from 33% in 2005 to 32% in 2006.

The survey also found that family businesses in London and the south had higher concerns for job security with 8% saying it caused high or extreme levels of stress, whereas only 5% of businesses in the north believed it caused high or extreme levels of stress.

In addition, business travel added equally to family businesses in the north and London and the south, with 8% saying it caused high or extreme levels of stress.

However, family businesses in the north are more generous with holidays than their London and southern counterparts, with northern family businesses taking on average 24 days in contrast to only 21 in London and the south.