Many small business owners won't go on holiday this year

A recent study suggests that 42% of small business owners have too much work on to take a holiday this year, with a similar number unable to take a break when they really wanted to. No doubt these figures will climb higher if the economic downturn continues for some time.

Telecoms firm, Unicom, asked 433 business owners whether they would be able to take a holiday at all this summer, and 183 (42%) said they would not be able to because of work pressures.

Meanwhile of 365 business owners who responded to the question of whether they could go on holiday at a time that suited themselves or their family - school holidays, for instance - only 142 (39%) said they could.

Entrepreneurs working 50 hours per week

Another study from Bank of Scotland showed that UK entrepreneurs work an average 50 hours per week. A quarter of those polled said that they would work longer hours for the rest of 2008 as the "credit crunch" continues.

Interestingly, the Scots work the hardest (52 hours per week), compared to a relatively lazy 47 hours by residents of South East England!

Peter Wood from Bank of Scotland Business Banking, said: "Given that the stakes are so high, it comes as no surprise that Britain's entrepreneurs are burning the midnight oil to try and make a success of their business."