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Planning ahead for success A look at the attitudes and trends of small businesses in 2022 Julia Pritchard Copywriter Funding Circle
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unding Circle is passionate about small businesses, and specialises in helping them get the funding they need to go further. That’s why we interviewed a selection of small businesses and pulled together the insights we discovered – to show the attitudes and trends among SMEs, and provide the support they need to thrive in this environment. Here’s an overview of our findings, which we hope will inspire your clients to go even further this year.
Business is on the up
Positivity is key Despite the challenges COVID and Brexit have posed, it’s reassuring to see that business owners are still feeling positive about their working life. 70% of all businesses that we spoke to said they have a good work/life balance, which is a great sign that the economy is recovering. However, businesses who are expecting trade to decrease in the next 12 months are much more likely to experience a poor work/life balance, showing just how important it is to have a finance buffer in place. These findings show why brokers and loan platforms like us are so important. By helping a business access finance, and by taking the stress out of the process, we could be helping to improve a client’s work/life balance – as well as their financial outlook.
The challenge of recruitment
Of all the business owners we spoke to, an impressive 59% said they were expecting an increase in business activity, and only 10% expected a reduction.
When it comes to recruitment, we found that different sectors are seeing different results. Traditionally lower pay sectors, such as agricultural businesses, hotel and catering and transport companies, are currently finding recruitment the hardest. Meanwhile retail, financial and public and administration services are finding it much easier.
Having made it through the pandemic, it’s clear that business owners feel more confident about dealing with disruption. We’re all adjusting to new ways of living and working, but despite the everchanging environment, more businesses feel they can adapt – and are therefore more likely to start focusing on growth.
What's also interesting is that larger businesses are finding it easiest to recruit for open roles – with over half of businesses with more than 100 employees feeding this back. This highlights the importance of supporting smaller businesses with accessing talent, which has traditionally been a pressing need.
22 | NACFB
