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Small business owners make personal sacrifices to avoid making redundancies

Written by ksimonsen | 12/04/12 09:57


A significant proportion of small business owners are making personal sacrifices in order to avoid making redundancies, according to a new report.

A study by insurance provider More Than has indicated that over a third of bosses have reduced their own wages in order to save jobs at their firm, whilst one in 20 have scrapped their salaries completely.

Of those who admitted to reducing their wages, 70 per cent have done so by more than half and 60 per cent claim to have been living off a reduced income for more than a year.

What's more, 21 per cent have scrapped their advertising budget, 12 per cent are downsizing their workplace and seven per cent are offloading stock at reduced prices as a result of the recession. It would appear that many of those questioned could benefit from advice on navigating through uncertainty.  

Commenting on the research, More Than managing director Janet Connor told Fresh Business Thinking: "It's sad that so many small business owners have had to remortgage their homes and take hefty pay cuts, but at the same time it shows real compassion on their part that they're prepared to sacrifice personal gains for the sake of their staff."

Myintroducer.com report that ten per cent of the survey's respondents have remortgaged their home in order to avoid making redundancies.