Month in Numbers
Men are given twice as much flexible
working time as women, working an
average of six hours flexibly each week,
compared to just three hours for women.
A study by conference call service
provider Powwownow reveals that in
an average week less than half (47%)
of female employees are given the
opportunity to work flexibly, compared
to two thirds (66%) of men.
One third (34%) of UK SMEs lack
insurance against the biggest risks they
face, according to a survey by business
insurance provider SME Insurance (SMEi).
Of those with insufficient insurance
cover, 34% cite cyber-attacks as the
biggest threat to their business, followed
by public liability (28%) and crime
(19%).
iPhone users are twice as likely to drop
their handsets as owners of Samsung
phones, claims mobile phone insurance
provider loveit coverit. Its analysis of
1,000 claims made in Q1 2016 shows
that four in 10 iPhone users (42%) cite
accidental damage in their insurance
claims compared to just two in 10
Samsung owners (21%). At 7.9%, iPhone
users are also more likely that Samsung
owners (4.6%) to claim for theft.
The younger you are, the more likely you
are to complain about workplace stress,
or so says Willis Towers Watson. In its
2015/2016 Global Benefits Attitudes
Survey,
50% of Generation Y workers
reported experiencing heightened
levels of stress, compared to 44% of
Generation X workers and 35% of baby
boomers.
Seven out of 10 (70%) IT decision-
makers view data protection as a
priority, yet only a quarter (26%)
are confident about complying with
current EU legislation. In the survey by
cloud services provider Node4, 46%
of IT decision-makers said they were
concerned about the lack of security for
their IT infrastructures; 41% admitted
they don’t know how many intrusions or
security breaches their organisation had
suffered in the last 12 months.
Almost three quarters (74%) of
small businesses surveyed by start-
ups specialist Company Formations
MadeSimple operate from home.When
asked why they started their business,
28% cited lifestyle choice as the driving
force. Other factors include the chance to
earn more money (24%) and a reluctance
to work for someone else (19%).
More than four out of five office workers
(83%) have a promotional item on their
desks, claims the British Promotional
Merchandise Association (BPMA).
According to its research, 96% of people
believe that promotional products help
to improve brand awareness. More
than half (56%) said they viewed a
brand more favourably after receiving a
personal promotional product.
Presenteeism is a persistent problem
in the UK workforce, with 90% of
employees admitting to coming to work
when feeling ill. This is almost identical
to last year’s figure of 89%. More than
one in four workers (28%) surveyed by
Canada Life Group Insurance said their
workload was too great to call in sick.
The Month in Numbers
In the last 12 months, 95% of IT
decision-makers have experienced an IT
problem resulting in an outage or data
loss. Problems identified by the iland
report
The State of IT Disaster Recovery
Amongst UK Businesses
include system
failure (53%), human error (52%),
corrupted data (37%), cyber-attack (32%)
and unexplained downtime (30%).
Freelancers working in the creative
industries lose an average of £5,394 a year
by not billing for work. Research by the
Association of Independent Professionals
and the Self Employed (IPSE) and The
Freelancer Club found that in the last two
years freelancers have spent an average of
31 days undertaking assignments without
pay.
More than 1 million incidents of financial
fraud, one every 15 seconds, occurred in
the first six months of 2016, according to
figures released by Financial Fraud Action
UK (FFA UK). This is 53% more than in the
same period last year.
There are now a record 5.5 million private
sector businesses in the UK, 23% more
than in 2010. The Business Population
Estimates show that at the start of
2016 the UK had a million more small
businesses, 4,000 more medium-sized
businesses and 900 more large businesses
than in 2010.
UK SMEs collectively endured 129.6
million hours of power cuts last year.
In a survey of 1,017 business owners
by Gocompare.com Energy, just
5% of respondents experienced no
interruptions to their power supply.
Higher rents helped push up the value of
the UK’s commercial property stock by
11% to an all-time high of £871 billion
in 2015. The Property Industry Alliance
(PIA) says this represents 10% of the
UK’s net wealth.
6
34
42.2
50
70
74
83
90
95
5,394
871 billion
1.007 million
5.5 million
129.6 million
businessinfomag.uk
magazine
42
Doing it for themselves
Despite the many challenges and long working hours,
83% of female micro-business owners would recommend
starting their own business to other women, according to
Vistaprint’s
Women-owned Micro Businesses Trend Report
.
More than half (59%) believe they have equal or more
opportunities than men to run a successful company.
Almost half a million (427,000) more women have taken
up self-employment since the financial crisis, claims the
Women’s Business Council. In addition, analysis of more
than 2,000 policies by specialist insurance broker Towergate
reveals that over a quarter (28%) of SME insurance
policyholders are now women.
Paul Avis,
Marketing Director,
Canada Life Group
83
427,000
