New research commissioned by CommBank has shown more than half of Australian small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) are feeling the stress of navigating the cost-of-living crisis, with 52 per cent of business owners and senior managers reporting their mental health had been impacted in the last 12 months by the economic climate.
The research revealed nearly two thirds (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.
The most common areas of unexpected expenses were 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.
CBA's Executive General Manager Small Business Banking, Rebecca Warren, said Australian small businesses were 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.
"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 our tools that can help them to run their business.
"We offer free comprehensive cash flow tracking capabilities via a Business Cash Flow tool in the CommBank app, which offers monthly summaries of incoming and outgoing cash flow, month-by-month breakdowns and real-time transaction history to help small businesses easily track their finances. We also have an app feature called Bill Sense that predicts future bills to help customers and a free business insights tool called Daily IQ.
"From next week, we're launching a partnership with Smiling Mind, a not-for-profit mental health organisation focused on building mental fitness skills, to provide small business owners with access to mental wellbeing programs, tools and preventative strategies in maintaining their mental health."
This Smiling Mind mental fitness program is specifically designed to promote mental wellbeing with a focus on businesses. It will be available in the Smiling Mind app from next month and will be accessible by anyone.
Smiling Mind's CEO, Sarah La Roche, said: "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."
With more than half of business owners and senior managers reporting their mental health had been impacted in the last 12 months by the economic climate, Ms Warren said CommBank recognised the scale of the impact.
"Small business owners are extremely time-poor, they have multiple plates spinning at any given time, which makes prioritising their own mental health and well-being more challenging."
