Stress – a challenge in the business environment

The increasing levels of stress has become a norm in our daily lives. According to a recent Grant Thornton International Business Report titled “Global Economy 2013”, South Africa’s business executives are some of the most stressed people in the world.

Last night, in partnership with CNBC Africa, the FNB Biznetwork highlighted the topic of “business stress”. FNB and other experts took the stage to discuss this widely debated topic and how it can be overcome in the business and personal environment.

Today’s, business environment is fuelled with the pressure and complexity of political, social and economic anxiety and we often underestimate the effect of these factors on our wellbeing and business.

Unfortunately, there is no quick fix for stress. Experts believe that a stressful and negative work environment de-motivates and directly affects the productivity of the entire workforce.

“In the business environment, there’s far more to business than merely the selling of goods or services. While success in this regard is obviously essential to the survival of any company, financial and business pressures often mean that owners of small and medium sized businesses, in particular, have to wear many hats,” says Sanjeev Orie, Head of Products, FNB Business Banking.

“The role of banks in helping to build a solid business does not merely involve processing finance applications from business owners. Access to affordable finance is just one key pillar that can make or break your business,” explains Orie. The vast majority of business owners, whether they are starting up a new company or expanding an existing one, need practical support, guidance and assistance in the administrative, compliance and day-to-day operational function of their companies.

FNB’s innovations over the last decade offer evidence of the way in which businesses and individuals should harness technology to alleviate some of the everyday challenges which often lead to stress. FNB’s innovations have added significant value to small and medium businesses.

“Our ultimate goal is to empower small and medium enterprises to flourish and contribute towards South Africa’s economic growth. We also recognised that access to finance was potentially a limiting factor in the success and growth of our SME clients. As a result, we deliberately strive to take a partnership and education based approach to our business finance offerings so that clients understand the prerequisites of the funding process,” explains Orie.

Using our FNB Online Banking as the primary point of access, our SME clients now benefit from access to a host of vital services from online accounting and payroll facilities to merchant insight and data services – all available in one place and all designed to vastly simplify the onerous administrative requirements that could otherwise have contributed to the closure of these SME businesses.”A holistic business philosophy is the best approach, and often the only way to ensure that greater numbers of the country’s SME owners come to understand that finance is not something to be feared, but rather an effective enabler of sustainable business profitability and growth.” concludes Orie.