Small business owners face wellbeing struggles

The intense pressure facing small business owners has been detailed in new research.

Rachella Thomas is the owner of an events business. Picture: Alan Barber

New research reveals managing staff mental health is stressing small business owners, who are also grappling with challenges like inflation.

Small business platform Xero recently launched a report revealing the overall wellbeing of Australian small business owners was below that of the general population.

Almost a quarter of Australian small business owners said they could “at no time” access affordable counselling and support if needed.

Forty-one per cent said managing issues related to employee mental health was a source of stress to them at least more than half the time.

The report found that Australian small business owners had the second lowest overall wellbeing of the seven countries surveyed from November 2022 through to February 2023.

Torquay’s Rachella Thomas has been working in event management for more than two decades and established award-winning agency Event Kit in 2014.

“Then Covid hit and everything shut down and I took it as an opportunity to reinvent Event Kit,” the 47-year-old said.

This involves a focus on consulting and upskilling others.

She said upskilling was needed in the industry as experienced managers had left and businesses were tightening their belts to run events in-house.

Mrs Thomas said she felt as if she had two jobs: actual event management and running a business.

“I’m a sole trader, I do everything from marketing to book keeping … that’s really difficult,” she said.

“And then there’s just uncertainty.

“Running a small business — it becomes a part of your identity.”

Mrs Thomas said she was constantly juggling the threat of burnout.

“I deliberately have chosen to get an office that’s not in my home to get a sense of separation,” she said.

She also spends time in nature for exercise and her wellbeing.

Geelong Chamber of Commerce chief executive Jeremy Crawford said cost of living was affecting small businesses, but it was clear that owners were keen to band together.

Geelong Chamber of Commerce chief executive Jeremy Crawford

“The Geelong chamber’s working really had to identify specific funding and opportunities … to bring mental health support out to our business industry,” Mr Crawford said.

Matthew Addison, chair of the Council of Small Business Organisations Australia, said

demands placed on small businesses had increased significantly and it was important to understand the toll on their health and wellbeing.

“For small businesses to have the best chance to thrive, governments and policy makers must prioritise changes that make doing business seamless and easy, to reduce the load on small business owners,” he said.

Patrice O’Brien, chief community officer at Beyond Blue, encouraged people needing support to take advantage of services like Beyond Blue’s NewAccess for Small Business Owners program.

Originally published as Small business owners face wellbeing struggles