Work-life balance a key concern for business owners from diverse backgrounds
Credit to Author: Canadian Immigrant| Date: Tue, 13 Dec 2022 21:30:45 +0000
A results of a recently conducted survey by Canada’s development bank, BDC, reveals that business owners from diverse backgrounds are more affected by mental health issues.
According to Statistics Canada, immigrants are more likely to be business owners (5.8 per cent vs. 4.8 per cent for Canadian-born) and self-employed (10.8 per cent vs. 7.5 per cent for Canadian-born). Additional research from a decade-long study from Statistics Canada released in April 2019, found that immigrant-owned firms create more net jobs and have higher growth than businesses with owners born in Canada.
Many newcomers turn to self-employment and entrepreneurship after arrival, with higher rates than Canadian-born people. Studies have found that higher self-employment rates among immigrants is in part due to their inability to find a good job.
The report shows that the sources of stress for business owners from diverse backgrounds are sometimes more acute than for all respondents combined. The recession is a concern for a larger proportion of business owners who are members of visible minority groups (66 per cent vs. 51 per cent).
Findings from this Survey on SME owners’ mental health also reveal that in this post-pandemic environment, 90 per cent of Canadian business owners are willing to seek support for a mental health issue. And the top two stressors are fear of a cash shortfall (62 per cent) and a potential recession (51 per cent).
This is a a huge increase compared to a pre-pandemic study conducted by the Canadian Mental Health Association and supported by BDC, where 16 per cent of small business owners at the time said they were likely to seek professional help.
The survey reveals that the business owners are using various coping strategies such as including finding quiet time to relax (59 per cent), getting physical activity (53 per cent) and taking time off or vacation (43 per cent).
BDC’s Survey on SME owners’ mental health was conducted among 753 small business owners across Canada between August 26 and September 9, 2022.
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