LONDON, February 11, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

Despite the longer hours and increased pressure, running your own business brings greater satisfaction and a happier outlook on life according to research from AXA Business Insurance among business owners and employees.

As the number of people starting businesses continues to boom in the UK, the good news is that being "the boss" you are three times as likely to be extremely satisfied with your job than those who are "employees".  And it seems that the key to job satisfaction is learning and challenging yourself - for over half of business owners this was their key driver. While the less satisfied employees cited money as being their biggest motivator.

The research among 2000 UK workers found that business owners spend on average four more hours per week in the office than employees and nearly twice as long outside the office thinking about work.  Additionally, running a business means fewer holidays - only 45% take more than three weeks break while 88% of employees take three weeks or more.  Only 15% of business owners say they can switch off from work mode outside of business hours while 55% of employees find it easy to leave the office behind.

When it comes to stress levels, while business owners were more likely than employees to say they felt regularly or constantly under pressure at work they were also 35% more likely than employees to say they perform best under pressure. The biggest stress factors for the boss are customers while for employees it's the boss!  However, a cautionary note for business owners - they are more likely to be taken ill with stress than employees.

Yet despite all this, business owners were just as likely as employees to find time to do things for themselves or with their family outside the home.  And nearly 50% more prone to be completely contented and happy with their lives.

Darrell Sansom, Managing Director at AXA Business Insurance says: "The UK workplace is changing rapidly and it is great to see that for many who set up on their own, the rewards in terms of job satisfaction are great.  However, stress can be a problem for those in charge and we would urge that people look to find expert help in mitigating that stress through developing systems and support that will see their business through a crisis.  

"There are many resources for small business owners and at AXA we run our website Business Guardian Angel which can provide help and support in many of the key areas important to those running a business."

Notes to Editors

The survey was conducted among 1000 small business owners and 1000 employees in September 2012.

AXA provides help and advice for people suffering from stress through AXA PPP.

About AXA Business Insurance

AXA Business Insurance is part of AXA Insurance UK plc, which belongs to the AXA group of companies. With us, you choose the business insurance that's right for you. We offer public liability, employers' liability and professional indemnity insurance online to start ups, sole traders, self-employed people and small businesses. In addition we offer van insurance and landlord insurance. AXA Business Insurance also runs Business Guardian Angel which provides resources to help protect and grow small businesses.

You can follow AXA Business Insurance on Twitter @AXAbizteam, for business insurance help, and @itsyoursmallbiz, for the latest business news. You'll also find AXA Business Insurance on Google+ and Facebook - and you can watch expert guides and business case studies on the AXA Business Insurance YouTube channel.

About AXA

AXA UK is a part of the AXA Group. The AXA Group is a worldwide leader in insurance and asset management, with 163,000 employees serving 101 million clients in 57 countries. In 2011, IFRS revenues amounted to Euro 86.1 billion and IFRS Underlying Earnings to Euro 3.9 billion. AXA had Euro 1,065 billion in assets under management as of December 31, 2011.

In the UK AXA operates through a number of business units including: AXA Wealth; AXA Commercial Lines and Personal Intermediary, AXA Personal Direct and Partnerships, AXA PPP healthcare, AXA Ireland and an independent distribution business Bluefin. AXA employs over 12,000 staff in the UK.

The AXA ordinary share is listed on compartment A of Euronext Paris under the ticker symbol CS (ISN FR 0000120628 - Bloomberg: CS FP - Reuters: AXAF.PA). AXA's American Depository Share is also quoted on the OTC QX platform under the ticker symbol AXAHY.

The AXA Group is included in the main international SRI indexes, such as Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) and FTSE4GOOD, and is a founding member of the UN Environment Programme's Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) Principles for Sustainable Insurance.

SOURCE AXA Business Insurance