Yahoo Finance UK cities with the worst work-life balance revealed
Aberystwyth in Wales has been revealed as the UK city with the worst work-life balance for small business owners, according to a new report.
Just under half of business owners in Aberystwyth said that they struggle to maintain a healthy work-life balance and 40% did not take a two day rest period in a working week, the report by financial experts Takepayments Limited found.
Liverpool came in a number two as 32% of Liverpudlians exceed the EU’s maximum working limit for health and wellbeing, working more than a 48 hours per week, according to the survey of 1,000 small business owners and sole traders.
In third place is Coventry where 30% struggle to maintain their work-life balance. Business owners in Coventry are putting their staff first with 70% saying they take the time to check in with the health and wellbeing of their employees.
The report found that one in six business owners in the UK do not take any rest days at all and almost half (46%) are struggling to forward plan for their business because of the current political landscape and Brexit uncertainty leading to more stress and a poorer work-life balance.
Read more: UK workers are tired, undertrained and mismanaged
The worst industry for business owners’ work-life balance is recruitment & HR with half (50%) of those surveyed saying they do not feel they had a good balance between their work and personal life. Over a quarter (34%) said that they do not take at least two days off in the week.
For those in publishing and journalism, a huge 70% do not keep to a 48-hour working week or less, and 40% said they do not have at least two days of rest per week, increasing the likelihood of burning out.
Over half (52%) of business owners in the transport and logistics industry struggle to stick to the legal limit of a 48-hour week.
Financial worries are impacting the work-life balance and mental health of small business owners as 46% said the find themselves constantly chasing up invoices and over half (56%) said payment delays have a worrying effect on their cash flow.
The fear of a cashless society another of the biggest concerns for small business owners in 2020, according to the report, with 42% of SME’s said that turning into a cashless society will negatively impact their business.
Read more: Micro-breaks at work lead to faster thinking employees
UK cities with the worst work-life balance:
Aberystwyth
Liverpool
Conventry
Bristol
Birmingham
