Kiwis are feeling the strain of family-run businesses

Family-run businesses in New Zealand are among the most stressed in the world, a survey shows.

Accounting and consulting specialist Grant Thornton International surveyed 6900 unlisted businesses, employing no more than 50 people, in 24 countries and rated the national differences in stress levels.

Turkey came top with 81 per cent of those surveyed saying they suffered significant stress, followed by New Zealand (64 per cent) and Russia, South Africa and Hong Kong (each 62 per cent).

The global figure was 44 per cent and The Netherlands came bottom at 20 per cent, highlighting considerable global differences.

The main causes of stress in such businesses were wealth tied up in the business, relationships with family shareholders, future ownership and family involvement in running the business.

Peter Sherwin, the Grant Thornton New Zealand chairman, said the survey benchmarked the "health of those people that form the backbone of the economy and employ a huge proportion of the population".

Sherwin estimated about 50 per cent of New Zealand workers were in businesses employing no more than 50 people.

"Dealing with day-to-day operational factors is difficult enough but, when you put family relationships into the mix within a commercial context, the outcome is potentially explosive," he said.

"Therefore, the focus has to be on what steps can be taken to reduce the potential for family-related business conflicts."

Sherwin was briefing representatives from the Ministry of Economic Development on the survey this week. He said apart from family-related stress, businesses still had to deal with operational stress.

"In New Zealand, the exacerbating factor is regulation and red tape," he said. "In addition to red tape, there are constraints on growth, which we know from our earlier survey results is caused primarily by the shortage of skilled workers."

The stress experienced by local family business owners contrasted with a Grant Thornton survey earlier this year which showed Kiwi businesses in general to be among the least stressed internationally.

Under pressure

Where family businesses are suffering significant stress:

Turkey 81pc
New Zealand 64pc
Russia, South Africa & Hong Kong 62pc
Global figure 44pc
India 36pc
Italy 28pc
Netherlands 20pc