Which Tiny European Country Boasts the Hardest-Working Small Business Owners?
Entrepreneurs form the cornerstone of Europe's economic structure.
Micro and small enterprises (fewer than 50 employees) make up 99% of the EU total, according to Eurostat.
Small business owners are among the most diligent workers in the industry. On average, they put in around 41 hours per week, which is notably higher than the European Union's typical worker who clocks an average of 36 hours weekly.
A new study by fintech company SumUp on nearly 4,000 small entrepreneurs in Ireland, Italy, the UK, Germany and France reveals huge differences in how they go about their working day.
The British decline lunch breaks, while Italians take more than an hour for theirs.
According to the report, 43% of small business owners in the UK mention that they seldom take lunch breaks.
This shows a stark difference when compared to Italy and France, where merely 11% and 17% choose not to have lunch, respectively.
In Italy, the highest percentage (33%) of participants admitted to having lunch breaks exceeding one hour.
France trails at (15%), followed Germany (12%) and Ireland (6%), while the UK was bottom (5%).
Germans and French prioritise self-care, Brits like family-time
Even though 38% of British people enjoy spending time with their family during their leisure moments, they place the lowest priority on self-care (34%) compared to other nations polled.
Self-care stands at 38% in Ireland, above 41% in France, 47% in Germany, and more than 52% in Italy.
"Small businesses in the UK have been hit by wave upon wave of misfortune, from COVID-19 to the cost of living crisis and a rise in national insurance in the budget. Owners are doing everything they can to stay afloat," says SumUp Corin Camenisch, who is the Product Marketing Lead,
"But without looking after yourself, you can quickly burn out or suffer physical symptoms. The glorification of constant work can lead to misconceptions about what it means to be successful."
Who are the entrepreneurs with the longest workweeks?
Eurostat data gives us a clearer picture of how many hours self-employed people actually work.
When examining entrepreneurs from companies of every size—where 99% fall into the category of small businesses—the most diligent among them are found in Belgium, putting in an average of 48.9 working hours each week.
They are followed by Cypriots (47.5) and Greeks (47.3).
On the lower end of the spectrum, Baltic nations report working the fewest hours, with Latvia (37.8), Estonia (38.8), and Lithuania (39.3) occupying the last positions on the list.
Although the UK does not appear in Eurostat statistics, SumUp’s findings indicate that 41% of small business owners in Britain put in more than 40 hours per week, with 10% working over 60 hours.
Irish and Italian women are more prone to forgo vacations compared to their male counterparts.
The consistency regarding the amount of vacation time utilized throughout the year has improved overall.
British people are the most prone to taking fewer than one week of vacation, accounting for just 13.8%. They are trailed by France with 12%, Italy with 11.9%, Germany with 11.1%, and Ireland with 8.1%.
However, there is a gender gap in some countries concerning this issue.
Female entrepreneurs from Italy and Ireland are more prone to giving up their vacations for work compared to their male peers: an increase of 9.1% in Italy and 6.3% in Ireland.