Confidence strong in business sector

Businesspeople are overwhelmingly confident about the future and, despite longer working hours, are increasingly satisfied with their jobs, according to two separate surveys.

A survey by the Irish International Business Network found that Irish business professionals across Britain and Ireland are slightly (55%) or significantly (13%) more confident in the economic prospects facing their business in the coming 12 months compared with last year.

The professionals surveyed by the group reported that they expected to see an increase in turnover, sales and exports this year, with a further boost expected in 2014.

Chairman of the group Dublin Chapter’s Niall Fenton said that he was hopeful that business confidence would trickle down to consumers in the near future.

“While the business climate is still challenging, the findings of this report are extremely promising. Irish businesspeople at home and abroad have seen improvements on their balance sheets and this is feeding into their optimism.

“Hopefully, this will be reflected in consumer confidence levels over the coming months,” he said.

Meanwhile, a survey by Regus looking at the Work-Life balance among workers found that business owners are the happiest of the nation’s workforce, with 76% saying they enjoy work more than last year, compared with just 58% of employed workers.

The crucial factor appears to be choice and control; having the flexibility to decide when, where and how long to work. This goes some way to explaining why business owners, in charge of their own destiny, are more satisfied at work.

CEO for Northern Europe at Regus Dominic Harrison said, while Irish workers remain under pressure due to being forced to take on more roles by the recession, there has been an improvement in their time management.