Northern small business owners are the UKs happiest

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18/03/2019

Looking for a better work-life balance? Head north.

According to our latest research, we have found that business owners should look north for guidance on achieving a better work-life balance. This is due to the fact that the country’s happiest entrepreneurs live in Leeds and Edinburgh.

The majority (62%) of business owners surveyed in those cities rated themselves as happy in their day to day working lives, and 14% said they were very happy. In Sheffield, the same number rate themselves as happy, although fewer (10%) said they were very happy. On a national level just 58% of small business owners rate themselves as happy.

As part of our commitment to supporting UK SMEs and understanding the challenges and opportunities they face, we conducted research which took into account the opinions of 2,000 entrepreneurs in the UK's 10 largest cities across a range of sectors and compared insights into work-life balance, growth ambitions, innovation, dynamism and diversity.

Maintaining a good balance is something that we really believe in, though the findings reveal that despite having some of the happiest cities, the north is also home to some of the most stressed business leaders, which offers an interesting juxtaposition. Given the current economic climate, it’s no surprise that stress is widespread among small business owners nationally, with 85% saying they are stressed to some level at work.

Take Liverpool, for example. Our research found the city has close to twice the national average level of acute stress, with 14% of small business owners saying they are very stressed. Only 14% of small business owners surveyed do not feel stressed at all. As a recent Health and Safety Executive study has shown, work-related stress and mental illness now accounts for over half of work absences. In total, 15.4 million working days were lost in 2017/18 as a result of either work-related stress, anxiety or depression, up from 12.5 million last year. This can have a significant impact on business productivity, which has a knock on effect on the wider economy.

On the surface, the above contrast offers seemingly contradictory results – the north is home to the happiest yet also some of the most stressed business owners. Offering one explanation for this contradiction, we can also reveal that UK small business owners, particularly in the north, know how to handle their stress. An impressive 75% of those included in the research use mindfulness techniques to manage their stress levels. The Mental Health Foundation describes mindfulness as a way of paying attention to the present moment, using techniques like meditation, breathing and yoga. It helps us become more aware of our thoughts and feelings so that, instead of being overwhelmed by them, we’re better able to manage them.

According to our research, a large proportion of entrepreneurs in Glasgow and Birmingham (36%) are the capitals of meditation with 36% participating in this activity, while in Birmingham four in five (80%) business owners practice other mindful exercises. London is the least mindful city: more than a quarter (27%) of business leaders here said they don’t use any such techniques to reduce stress.

Gavin Opperman, Group Banking Business Director, CYBG, said, “What this research indicates is the resilience of the UK’s small business owners. With so much uncertainty on the horizon, it’s easy to assume that SMEs are seeing the cup half empty, yet our research findings are refreshingly positive. The fact that many northern cities are home to some of the most stressed business leaders, but also the happiest is quite remarkable, indicating they’re managing their stress well and have got the right balance.

Running a business is tough and UK SMEs are the backbone of our economy at a tumultuous time. Yet despite this, our data has shown that many business leaders still hold the importance of downtime and happiness in high regard. It has a knock-on effect in terms of business profitability, aspirations, and the culture of an organisation. We don’t know what the future holds beyond Brexit but we do know that small business leaders are by no means defeated. I’d encourage SMEs to think bigger and expect more, of themselves, from the wider business outlook and from their business community.”

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