How often do you take a holiday?

Small business owners take far fewer days‘ holiday than senior staff in larger companies and when they do take leave the quality of the break is lower.

Research by BT Business discovered that 39% of owners and directors in businesses with up to 10 employees take 15 or fewer days‘ holiday a year compared to just 4% of managers in organisations with 100 employees.

The main reasons why directors fail to more – or longer – holidays are because their business needs them in the office (80%), because they need to be in work to make important decisions (68%) and because they are worried they might miss out on new business opportunities (60%).

Nearly a third (32%) of small business owners said they felt unable to take a two-week break from the office, the research added.

When small business owners did take holidays, 40% said felt the need to keep in touch with work, a similar number to those in larger companies. However, a fifth (19%) found it difficult to do so, relying on internet cafés or web access in their hotel.

An over-reliance on traditional technology could be to blame for problems keeping in touch, BT claims. The vast majority of directors in small businesses seem to be relying on their mobile phone (84%), with less than a fifth (19%) packing a PDA or smartphone in their suitcase.

“It is understandable that small business owners and directors feel the need to be around 100% of the time to make crucial decisions so that the business they‘re so passionate about can thrive,” said Bill Murphy, managing director of BT Business.

The sector with the lowest rate of holiday take-up was the hospitality industry, where 30% of staff took fewer than 15 days a year, followed by retail (20%), media and entertainment (19%) and skilled trades (16%).

The biggest winners in the holiday survey were medics, where 55% took more than 25 days a year, travel agents and operators (54%), finance professionals (40%) and property agents (39%).