Xero seeks to ease stress for small businesses
Cloud accounting software company Xero has set up a pilot scheme to offer mental health support to small businesses around the country.
The pilot gives 5000 smallbusiness owners, their employees and their families access to confidential and anonymous counselling through Xero’s Employment Assistant Programme.
Artisan roastery Red Rabbit is one of the businesses in the pilot and its owners, Saskia Kirkbeck and Steve Barret, said having the opportunity to speak to someone with an outside perspective was ‘‘hugely valuable’’.
Kirkbeck said running a business was ‘‘relentless’’, as owners thought constantly about work while at home or on holiday.
‘‘It can be really exhausting and you have so much responsibility, the wellbeing of your business and employees, that all the stresses can weigh you down. It’s really important to give time to yourself and gain a perspective outside of what you do on the daily,’’ she said.
A survey by Xero rival MYOB found 31 per cent of small- and medium-business owners reported having had a mental health condition since starting or taking over their business.
Of those, 59 per cent were affected by depression and about 40 per cent had experienced anxiety.
Xero’s managing director for New Zealand and the Pacific islands, Craig Hudson, said counselling was offered to Xero staff last year and the success of this initiative led to the company rolling it out to customers.
‘‘[The scheme] is democratising what has traditionally just been for big business. I want small businesses to have the benefit of this,’’ he said.
Hudson said he had found counselling useful in his own life.
‘‘Once I got in front of somebody and was able to have that regular conversation with a professional, it helped me build my skill set to deal with the ups and downs in my life better.’’
He said the recurring problems small-business owners faced in New Zealand related to isolation and financial stress.
Xero has 1.6 million subscribers in more than 180 countries but New Zealand is the first to trial the scheme. Hudson said the aim was to reveal how necessary a service like this was and how often businesses used it.