A new study by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business says the average small business owner is working the equivalent of an eight-day workweek due to staffing challenges, especially in Western Canada.
The report, based on a survey of CFIB members last September, found 59 per cent of Canada’s small and medium-sized businesses were affected by labour shortages, forcing the average owner to work 54 hours per week to compensate.
“Owners have to work more hours, or they have to choose to have their employees work more hours,” said CFIB economist Laure-Anna Bomal, a co-author of the report.
“They have to turn down sales contracts, decrease service offerings. They are diverted from developing and implementing strategies to their business to improve, to grow their business, so that’s really an issue.”…