Looking at the small business environment in the UK Direct Line has found that nearly a quarter of people running small businesses will not enjoy a day off on bank Holiday Monday.
Compared with the minimum 20 days holiday entitlement given to employees, small business owners take an average of just over 13 days holiday per year. The 20 days does not include Bank Holidays either, of which there are 8 each year. Looking at new start up businesses the holiday situation is even worse. Direct Line found that over 65 percent of people in business for less than 6 months have not taken any time off at all.
A Direct Line spokeswoman, commenting on the findings, commended the dedication shown by small business owners, seeing them working so hard to make their business a success.
Sitting down and watching BBC programme The Apprentice is proving to be an inspiration to many viewers to set out on their own.
A poll carried out by Direct Line revealed that nearly 20 percent of people have thought about setting up a specific business whilst watching the programme, with a further 12 percent feeling that they should take the step of becoming their own boss in some form of enterprise.
One of the biggest things that inspired these people to believe in themselves was the feeling that they could just as well, or better, than the people on the programme. This is a very positive stance to take, though a Direct Line spokeswoman did want to advise people that setting up in business is more complex and testing than it can appear on television.
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Citibank has reorganised its operations in the Asia Pacific area, giving top executives in the region much greater responsibility for more of the different products offered.
The move is just one of many creative attempts by the Chief Executive to stir up business activity as well as managing costs since he took over late last year. Such actions have been necessary to help realign Citibank after it suffered badly in the aftermath of the American sub prime lending collapse.
The Asia Pacific region is to be split down into four sub-categories – North Asia, South Asia, Japan and Southeast Asia Pacific – each of which will have a head responsible for all of the different product categories offered by Citibank.
