Which European country's small business owners work the hardest?
Small business owners are the backbone of the European economy . Micro and small enterprises (fewer than 50 employees) make up 99% of the EU total, according to Eurostat. Small entrepreneurs also work longer hours in business. They tend to work at least 41 hours a week, compared to the EU average of 36 hours.
A new study by fintech company SumUp of nearly 4,000 small entrepreneurs in Ireland, Italy, the UK, Germany and France reveals big differences in how they spend their workday.
In the UK, 43% of small business owners say they rarely take a lunch break, according to the report. This is in stark contrast to Italy and France, where only 11% and 17% skip lunch, respectively.
Italy had the highest percentage (33%) of respondents admitting to taking lunch breaks of more than an hour. France followed at (15%), followed by Germany (12%) and Ireland (6%), while the UK came in last (5%).
Although 38% of Britons like to spend time with their family when they have free time, they are also the ones who place the least importance on self-care (34%) among the countries surveyed. Self-care is at 38% in Ireland, over 41% in France, 47% in Germany and over 52% in Italy.
Which entrepreneurs have the longest work week?
Eurostat data gives us a clearer picture of how many hours the self-employed work. Looking at entrepreneurs across all company sizes, 99% of which are small businesses, the hardest workers are Belgians, with an average of 48.9 hours per week. They are followed by Cypriots (47.5) and Greeks (47.3).
At the other end of the scale, the Baltic countries have the fewest hours, with Latvia (37.8), Estonia (38.8) and Lithuania (39.3) at the bottom of the list. The UK is not included in Eurostat’s data, however, SumUp research says that 41% of British small entrepreneurs work over 40 hours a week, with 10% working over 60 hours.
There is more consistency across the board in the amount of holiday taken during the year. Britons are more likely to take less than a week of holiday. However, this rate is only 13.8%, followed by France at 12%, Italy at 11.9%, Germany (11.1%) and Ireland (8.1%).
However, there is a gender gap in some countries in this regard. Italian and Irish female entrepreneurs are more likely to sacrifice their holidays for work than their male counterparts: +9.1% in Italy and +6.3% in Ireland.
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