84% Of Small Businesses Think Up To Half The Company's Time Is Spent On Paper Work

Family Life Also Suffers

Today, British Gas announced the results of its TIME survey. It examines the amount of time 456 SMEs (small to medium sized enterprises) spend on activities not directly related to delivering products or services. According to the survey administrative requirements can take over two months a year. The company commissioned the ongoing survey with MORI to examine the issues SMEs face daily that take focus away from their core business.

If they could free up time in their working day, 69% would spend more time with friends and family, whilst 31% would use the time to do more work.

Of the administrative tasks taking up one fifth of their working week, almost half of the respondents selected the following as the greatest 'time eaters' - filing/paperwork, complying with statutory tax/financial requirements, and chasing for money (all 16% each).

As a result or the 'time eaters', weekend working is the norm for respondents or their staff, with over 60% saying they catch up over weekends. The standard week of an SME owner/manager is often far more than the European working time directive stipulates - (35 hours) - with a third of those surveyed working more than 61 hours. It is not just the bosses though, staff work hard too, with over three quarters working beyond the standard 35-hour week (76%).

Alex Bethell, b2 Foods Ltd said; "The survey has identified our biggest threat. Time in the office chasing and filing is time I am not out of the office selling - a filing fairy would be ideal! I am doing well and my customers are happy, but I would like to have even more customers. I can be losing up to 1631,000 a day in lost revenue when I'm spending my time on administration. That's time I haven't got at the moment, leaving me to do the administrative work in my evenings and weekends. Any bit of help on the administration side is an enormous weight off my shoulders, frankly anybody doing anything outside of what I am good at - yoghurt making - is great news."

Whilst administration drains the businesses' time, over 72% cited the rising costs of running their business, as the one of the greatest difficulties facing their business in the next few years.

Adam Taylor, Business Marketing Manager, British Gas states: "It is clear, SMEs today want to grow, not merely survive. Yet, they seem to be loaded up with everything but support to help take this strain away for them and allow them to focus on their core business. Businesses like British Gas need to understand the issues faced by their customers in order to help them manage their time more effectively. This is part of an on-going programme for British Gas and you can expect to see more and more from us over the next few months. Our services over the next year will be broader than just supplying their energy."

British Gas and Gerard Hargreaves, a time management consultant who runs a widely respected Institute of Directors course, have come together to offer some time saving tips to help prior to the launch of British Gas' new services:

• Make an up-to-date to do list, this helps to organise the tasks in your head and makes it easier to prioritise some tasks over others
• Work out the time of day when your concentration is at its peak and try to concentrate on the important issues at this time
• Set aside a time in your day to work without interruption and open e-mails at a specific time
• Try to start meetings promptly and avoid wasting time waiting for others to turn up
• The mornings are the most productive part of the business day and should be reserved for important tasks - namely the growth of your core business. Meetings should therefore be scheduled for the afternoon so as not to neglect business priorities

Note to Editors:

MORI interviewed proprietors, managing directors and board directors in a nationally representative sample of 456 British businesses with between 6 and 50 employees. Interviews were conducted by telephone between 16th and 26th March 2001. Around 75 interviews were conducted across 6 broad geographical areas (Scotland, Wales, North, Midlands, South and London). Data were weighted to reflect the national profile.

British Gas' Business Customers is a division of British Gas Trading Ltd. Its vision is to be 'the first choice supplier of energy and related services to business customers.'

British Gas Small Business call centre number 0870-590 9000