Employee theft is a big issue for small business owners, with 49.4 percent of small business owners saying that employees had stolen from them in the past.
Bank of Queensland’s Straight Talk survey also found 77 percent of respondents believed that their employees would not be as effective when working from home.
BOQ Group Executive David Marshall said while those two negative issues were identified, the survey also showed that most small business owners were happy with what they were doing.
“In spite of the stress and pressure involved in running a small business, 57.8 percent said they saw themselves running the same business in 10 years time,” Mr Marshall said.
“The happiness of small business owners was further illustrated by the 35.4 percent saying that if they won $10 million in the lottery, they would pay off their debts and then invest the rest of the money in the business.
“While 31.1 percent said they would sell their business and retire, only 13 percent said they would walk out the door and never look back.”
The need for businesses large and small to be flexible to the needs of workers if they wanted to retain staff was also shown in the survey.
“Flexibility within a workplace was favoured by many small business owners, with 40.7 percent of respondents choosing flexible working hours as the main thing that would improve their office environment,” Mr Marshall said.
“The next most popular response in this category (21.2 per cent) was a desire for more natural light, showing that good quality office accommodation is a worthwhile investment for businesses, to keep employees happy.
“Working hours were also a popular theme, with 44.8 per cent saying that the one thing they would change about their workplace would be to work shorter hours. This was chosen over longer holidays, more pay, working in a different industry or having different colleagues.
“More than half want to avoid sitting in traffic, with 51.9 per cent saying they would prefer 7am-3pm working hours to the standard 9am-5pm to avoid the peak hour,” Mr Marshall said.
The Bank of Queensland Straight Talk Survey was sent to a sample of several hundred of the bank’s national small business clients.
