Uneasy About Economy, Businesses Still Reluctant to Hire
Answering emails on the beach, reading documents in your hotel room: Does this sound like your vacation plan?
It's what 71 percent of small business owners are doing—and that's when they manage to get away, according to a recent survey by Manta, an online community for small businesses.
Still, 60 percent of the 1,200 business owners surveyed said they enjoyed their vacation more because of their mobile devices.
Part of the problem is an increased workload, which is making it harder for owners to unplug completely. More than half of small business owners said they were working more in 2012 than 2011.
"I think it's really the uncertainty of the time," says Greg Garrick, Manta's vice president of marketing and communications. "All of the economic instability in the past few years is making small business owners feel uncertain."
As a result, Garrick says, owners are reluctant to bring on extra help: The percent planning to hire dropped almost in half from last year's survey. The small business mindset, says Garrick, has become the following: "I'm going to work harder, work smarter, and I'm going to spend less."