New research commissioned by CommBank has revealed that 52 per cent of Australian small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) have been under constant stress in the last 12 months as they continue to go through the cost-of-living crisis.
In particular, the research conducted with YouGov revealed that 65 per cent of surveyed businesses had to deal with unexpected expenses over the past year, totalling $7.3 billion in costs they didn’t see coming.
These unexpected expenses come in the form of equipment repairs and replacements (48 per cent), higher supplier costs (33 per cent) and increased utilities costs (32 per cent). On average, small to medium businesses have had to pay around $4,300 in unexpected expenses.
Despite the challenges, CBA’s Executive General Manager Small Business Banking Rebecca Warren expressed her admiration for small businesses for showing incredible resilience in the face of tough economic conditions.
“Running a small business is hard yakka and right now, it’s tough. Rising costs of doing business and unexpected expenses can have a big impact when money is already tight,” Warren said. “Our priority is to ensure those who need support understand what measures are available such as business overdrafts, invoice financing or flexible repayment plans.”
“We have been reaching out proactively to hundreds of thousands of our small-business customers to check in on them, to make sure they are receiving the support they need, and that they are aware of some of our tools that can help them to run their business,” she added.
Smiling Mind partnership
In conjunction with the report’s release, CommBank also announced a partnership with Smiling Mind, a not-for-profit mental health organisation focused on building mental fitness skills, that will help small-business owners take care of their mental health.
Under the partnership, Smiling Mind will offer mental wellbeing programs, tools and preventative strategies for maintaining their mental health via a mental fitness program that is set to launch next month.
Smiling Mind’s CEO, Sarah La Roche, stated, “Amid the additional challenges of economic uncertainty and declining mental health, Smiling Mind is proud to partner with CommBank to provide Australian business owners, leaders and employees with practical support, freely accessible within the Smiling Mind app to promote mental fitness at work. These resources will be available anytime, anywhere, with no barriers to access.”
