Female Small Biz Owners Grim About 2012

Female small business owners were glum about 2012 in a new survey.

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Let's hope they're just thinking conservatively. A new study of more than 500 women small business owners issued today by Nationwide Financial found that the majority of female small business owners fear that the economy is going to hurt their businesses this year.

The study found that 74 percent of women small business owners expect that the economy will take a negative toll on their businesses in 2012. Only 22 percent anticipate that the economy will brighten in the next year and 34 percent expect their sales and revenue to decline. Based on this outlook, about a third of women small business owners plan to cut back on hiring and plan to eliminate or delay raises or bonuses within the next 12 to 24 months.

Worse still, 17 percent of those surveyed fear they will be forced to lay off employees, and only 11 percent plan to add or enhance benefits in the next two years.

The Nationwide Financial survey also noted that only 14 percent of women-owned small businesses currently offer their employees a 401(k) or other employee-funded retirement plan, and only 5 percent offer a company-funded defined benefit plan. Of those who plan to enhance employee benefits, only 12 percent say they will add an employee-funded retirement plan.

The survey follows a much brighter one issued by the National Federation of Independent Business released earlier this week, although that one surveyed both genders, and the upshot was that things were getting better but the economic winter still remained.

Uncertainty is the culprit in the newer survey, Anne Arvia, president of Nationwide Retirement Plans, said in the release.

“Women small business owners, like most of the small business owners we surveyed, may find it hard to invest in new benefits for their employees when they are unsure about the direction of the economy and how it will affect their business,” she said.