Top 8 Reasons To Work For A Small Business

Small to medium enterprise organisations (SMEs) make up a large percentage of businesses as a whole – and employ large numbers of people: in fact in the UK alone, 14.1 million people work for an SME.

With so many people working in an SME environment it’s not surprising that many people actively prefer to work for an SME, as there are a number of advantages that a career within an SME can bring.

So, let’s take a look at the top advantages for employees in small to medium business.

Prospects

In a smaller organisation, it’s generally easier to get yourself noticed. And with fewer people around it may mean that there are more opportunities for taking in extra responsibilities.

Flexibilty

Plus, if the company doesn’t have strictly defined roles, you may even be able to carve out a niche for yourself in the business.

Employee satisfaction

A survey carried out on behalf of the TUC by the market research firm YouGov found that employees within SME organisations enjoyed their work to a greater degree than those employed in other types of business.

The figures for loyalty to their firm, as well as commitment, were also higher.

Commenting on the survey results the chairman of the FSB (Federation of Small businesses) said that SMEs were ‘far more likely’ to treat staff as individuals and ‘recognise their needs’ as employees.

Visibility

Not just of your own contributions, but of your own ideas being put into place. In a smaller organisation it’s easier to see the difference you make to the organisation as a whole.

Teamwork

Imagine you work for a company that has two or three thousand employees on the same site. While it might kind of feel like a big village, chances are there would be people you’d never come into contact with – even if your spell at the organisation was a long one.

In a smaller business, chances are that people all know each other and feel part of the same company, rather than part of a single department – working as a team.

Convenience

Many SMEs are based in their local community – so if you’re looking for a job in an SME it might mean not travelling into the city centre or onto an out-of-the-way business estate to get to work.

Staff benefits

There are many employee benefits offered these days – as a way of attracting the best staff and also as a way of retaining them, too.

Benefits that companies may offer include things like group health cover – providers such as AXA PPP have different products designed for small business as well as self-employed people.

Other popular benefits that some SMEs offer  include subsidised health foods in the canteen, cycle to work schemes and other health based perks.

Individuality

There are a lot of startup businesses with just a few employees who pioneering new and interesting work in various – and their workplaces often reflect this.

In fact while Google may now be a very large company indeed, one of the things it’s been vocal about is retaining that fresh, startup feel that’s often lacking in bigger organisations.