Half of all family businesses in New Zealand saw their stress levels increase or increase significantly in the past 12 months, according to a new survey conducted by business and financial adviser Grant Thornton.
The findings - part of an international survey carried out with more than 3000mid-sized family business owners from 27 countries - showed that 49.3 per cent of the New Zealand businesses were in the increased stress bracket.
Another 38 per cent felt stress levels had remained the same, while the remainder said there had been a decrease.
But New Zealand fared well compared to other nations. In Taiwan 90 per cent of family businesses said their stress levels increased. At the bottom of the scale was Sweden where just 20 per cent reported increased stress.
Australia fared a little bit better than New Zealand, with 45.4 per cent reporting increased stress.
"It is not uncommon for family businesses to report high levels of stress," said Grant Thornton New Zealand spokesperson Peter Sherwin.
And there was often a fine line between personal and business life in these situations, which added to the stress.
"Unfortunately less than 10 per cent of family businesses in New Zealand make it through to the third generation and increasingly stress is a prime factor in this attrition rate."
Both job security and overseas travel were relatively low causes of stress in New Zealand and Australian companies, but lack of leave could be a point of pressure, according to Sherwin.
Those running New Zealand family businesses had on average 17.5 days' leave a year. The figure was generally higher in European countries, most of which had 20 days plus on average. In the case of France, they actually managed to average 26 days a year on leave.
"It would seem that a natural way to lessen stress for New Zealand business-owners is for them to just try to stretch out their leave," Sherwin said.
