SME Owners Work Three Months Of Extra Hours A Year On Back Office Tasks

Those at the top of SME companies in Britain are working a 15-month year due to extra hours spent on back office tasks such as insurance and IT, new research has revealed.

The British Insurance Brokers' Association (BIBA) has found that the leaders of SMEs work an average of ten hours a week, increasing to 13 hours a week for bosses of just medium-sized businesses.

A survey conducted by Populus interviewed 500 SME directors, senior managers, and owners. These additional hours equate to an extra three working months a year, with much of the time spent on back office tasks.

An additional 90 minutes a week on marketing, 77 on HR, 73 handling insurance, 62 managing IT requirements, 45 processing expense claims, and 37 dealing with office supplies were the biggest contributors to the extra hours.

Steve White, Chief Executive of BIBA, said of the research: "It is concerning to think that SMEs work an extra quarter a year, effectively doing a full year’s work by October.

"Much of this time is spent on tasks that have nothing to do with their core business goals."

Expert Opinion

This kind of research demonstrates the huge amount of work that many small businesses are undertaking in order to drive forward their operations and compete with larger organisations in their respective areas. <br/> <br/>"It is important for SME owners and managers to consider the best approach to handling such issues and also to recognise how they should not ignore the benefits of utilising a support network to help them on their way. <br/> <br/>"Central to this mix should be input and guidance from a legal expert, who can ensure that a business stays on the right path in terms of regulatory compliance, key employment policies and other key aspects of running an organisation." Steven Beahan - Partner