SME owners' time consumed by admin
Many SMEs spend more time on admin than on strategy planning, a survey finds
RESEARCH has found that administration is one of the most time-consuming activities for small business owners in the UK.
According to the American Express Small Business Barometer, 55% of SME leaders listed admin as one of the three activities they spend most time doing. In addition, 48% listed strategy and planning, whilst 43% put customer relations in their top three.
The results suggest that many SME leaders are spending too much time with administering their businesses rather than utilising their creativity and dynamism to drive their business forward.
The research also found that SME leaders UK are happy with their jobs and optimistic about the future of their business. Around 93% of small business owners are either “very” or “quite” happy with their business.
The main factors that promoted this job satisfaction were cited as “being master of my own destiny” (70%), “doing something I like or believe in” (66%) and “reaping the benefits of my own efforts” (42%).
Commenting on their performance for the first five months of this year, 40% of those interviewed said they had achieved growth, with 43% saying business had remained flat.
Looking ahead to the future, the barometer found that 56% of small business owners expected their business to grow over the coming year, with only 12% believing their business would contract.