Many small business owners across the country are fully aware how demanding their jobs can be, and how much time it takes to do so every week. Likewise, many are probably also fully cognizant of just how difficult it is to take time off.
Today, just 57 percent of small business owners say that they’re even going to be able to take any vacation this year, according to a new survey from OnDeck Capital. Of that group, about 3 in 5 say that they’ll take just one week, and slightly more than a quarter report that they’re planning to take just a few days away from the office. Only 9 percent believe that they have the ability to take a full two weeks off.
Who’s most likely to get time off?
Interestingly, it’s the owners with more established businesses who feel as though they have that kind of flexibility overall, the report said. In fact, 7 of 10 who have owned their businesses for more than 10 years say they’re taking at least a few days off, while less than half of entrepreneurs whose firms have been open for less than 10 years reported the same.
Not surprisingly, this was also true of companies that had more employees: The more they had, the greater their owners’ chances for ducking out, the report said. In all, 63 percent of owners with between six and 10 employees were planning to take vacation, compared with 57 percent of those with one to five workers. Only 42 percent of those with no employees at all said they’d be able to get out of the office.
Further, it should be noted that when the vast majority of owners “go on vacation,” they’re not totally disconnected from their firms, the report said. Just 15 percent say they’re going to be completely out of touch with their companies in their time off, while 2 out of 3 say that they’re planning to check in at least once every day.
Owners who want to give themselves a little more flexibility when it comes to their companies overall might want to think about the ways in which they can further cut expenses to keep ongoing costs down. That might include finding more affordable small business insurance coverage, including errors and omissions insurance, that could end up saving them thousands of dollars annually.
