A report released by accountancy firm The Wow Company reveals almost three-quarters of UK agency owners (74%) have felt "uncontrollable worry" about their company over the last month.
The Mental Resilience of Business Owners report by The Wow Company surveyed 300+ agency owners. According to the report, 31% cited finance-related issues such as having enough money in the bank, paying wages, chasing overdue payments or HMRC, as the main factor that keeps them awake at night, followed by clients, their team and the future.
Mental health issues are estimated to cost the UK economy almost £35 billion every year, while 15.4 million working days are lost to work-related stress, depression or anxiety.
The report also found that:
- 55% of agency owners feel badly under-supported by the Government and HMRC
- Over half of directors would put work before their family
- Owners of small businesses are 40% more likely to feel uncontrollable worry and anxiety, than owners of larger ones
Peter Czapp, co-founder of The Wow Company said: “We've conducted several research projects over the years and these have often looked at the fundamentals of running a business - staff, cash, projects, pricing, systems, profit. This time, we wanted to go much deeper and explore a topic that we believe is critical to the success of a business, but often not talked about - the mental resilience of the business owner.
“I am surprised so many agency owners feel uncontrollable worry and anxiety on a regular basis because this isn't the impression you get when you chat to people about their agencies. They tell you ‘all is going well’.
“I think agency owners feel the pressure every day to put on a brave exterior - to their peers, their suppliers and partners, their team, and their family. It’s a huge burden and it would be great if we could change this. As leaders of our businesses, our mindset will determine not only the mood within the business but ultimately its performance.
“The mental resilience to deal with constant change in our fast-paced world is essential to success. “
The full mental health resilience report can be found here.
