Entrepreneurs Are Happiest Workers

CREDIT: Happy Worker Image via Shutterstock View full size image

Is being your own boss the secret to happiness at work? A new survey of workers in the United Kingdom suggests that despite working longer hours and having less time off, business owners are more satisfied with their jobs than those who work for others.

While business owners spend nearly twice as much time as employees thinking of work when outside the office, they are also three times more likely to report satisfaction with their jobs, the survey of 2,000 business owners and employees by AXA Business Insurance found.

 Business owners also reported that their biggest motivator for working hard was to learn and challenge themselves, whereas employees cited money as their key driver.

But owning a business also comes with a lot of extra stress, the survey suggests. Those who own businesses were more likely than employees to report a feeling of regular or constant pressure at work. And whereas employees cited their bosses as the biggest cause of stress, business owners reported being stressed out most by customers.

And even though business owners were just as likely as employees to find time for family, they were far less likely to report taking more than three weeks of vacation a year. But despite the added stresses reported by business owners, the survey suggests that working for oneself means greater happiness and satisfaction with life in general. Business owners were found to be 50 percent more contented and happy with their lives than their employees.  

Follow BusinessNewsDaily on Twitter @BNDarticle. We're also on Facebook & Google+.