Small Business Owners Don't Know How to Play Hooky

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Most small-business owners think they’ve achieved a good work/life balance , but their actions seem to paint a different picture, a new survey shows. While they go through the motions of balancing their work and home life, the office is never far away.

Asked by a specialist insurer, Hiscox, to identify the main way they kept their lives balanced, 51 percent of the respondents said flexible working hours was their primary method, followed by scheduling time with family and friends (21 percent) and leaving their work at the office (11 percent).

But only 5 percent  cited not working on weekends, and only 3 percent cited keeping their mobile devices away from both the bedroom and dinner table, according to Hiscox, which surveyed 304 U.S. small-business owners and decision-makers.

Eight percent of all respondents and 10 percent of "micro" small businesses (fewer than 10 employees) admitted they don't achieve a good work/life balance.

For some small-business owners, the use of social media blurs the distinction between their personal and business lives. While 26 percent of all respondents indicated that they used separate business and personal accounts to avoid confusion, 13 percent had no separation.

"The wide range of communications channels available today means that small- business owners can always be connected, and the research shows that this is how they're operating," said Kevin Kerridge, small-business expert for Hiscox. "Our clients live and breathe their businesses, wherever they are and whoever they're communicating with."

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Reach BusinessNewsDaily senior writer Ned Smith at nsmith@techmedianetwork.com. Follow him on Twitter @nedbsmith.