Intuit Payroll Survey Finds 44 Percent of Small Businesses Plan to Hire Within
12 Months, But Still Struggle with Employee Benefits
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(Business Wire)--
The nation`s unemployment rate may have hit a 26-year high in September but many
small business owners are getting ready to hire.
The latest Intuit Payroll survey from Intuit Inc. (Nasdaq:INTU) finds that
nearly half of the small business owners surveyed, 44 percent, are planning to
hire new employees within the next 12 months. At the same time, many small
business owners believe that benefits are key to attracting new hires but are
finding them difficult to afford.
"Economists may have declared the recession over, but on Main Street,
unemployment figures are what really matter," said Nora Denzel, senior vice
president of Intuit`s Employee Management Solutions Division, which helps more
than 1 million small businesses easily and affordably manage their payroll.
"There are struggles ahead, nobody is uncorking the champagne bottle quite yet,
but we are starting to see small signs of optimism."
For the Intuit Payroll survey respondents, these 12-month hiring plans coincide
with a somewhat optimistic view of their own prospects for growth. Sixty percent
expect their business to grow in the next year. Newer businesses are the most
bullish: 80 percent of companies founded less than three years ago expect to
grow over the next year, compared to roughly half that have been in operation
for 10 years or more.
When it comes to hiring, small business owners are looking for candidates with a
broader skill set. Fifty percent of the small business respondents said they
were looking for a "people person" or "jack of all trades," over a "creative
genius" (11 percent) or "mathematical wizard" (4 percent).
To help small businesses as they prepare to hire, Intuit Payroll provides useful
hiring and employee management tips and resources at:
http://intuitonlinepayroll.com/hire.
Benefits Key to Attracting Talent
While small business owners get ready to hire, many of them are in a quandary
when it comes to attracting talent. Nearly 90 percent of survey participants
said that health insurance benefits are important to attracting and retaining
good employees. Yet 58 percent don`t offer healthcare insurance, with nearly 50
percent stating that they can`t afford it.
Employer-provided retirement plans are even scarcer. Among the businesses
surveyed just one-fourth offer retirement benefits. Of those who don`t, nearly
two-thirds said they don`t have a responsibility to do so while the remainder
said that they can`t find an affordable plan.
"There`s a widening gap of expectations," said Denzel. "On one hand, we as a
society assume that health and retirement benefits are part of every employee`s
compensation package. And yet even as these small businesses gear up to hire,
according to our results, small businesses are leery about what those benefits
will cost."
Additional Findings
The survey also found that:
* Friends and family matter. Seventy-nine percent of small business owners
surveyed have hired a friend or family member and only 22 percent said that this
was a bad decision. The reason may have to do with trust, which was cited as one
of the two biggest hiring challenges, along with finding employees with the
right experience.
* Long-term relationships are important. Forty-four percent of the small
business owner respondents reported that their first employee still works for
them.
* Stimulus funds not a factor. Consistent with the previous Intuit Payroll
Survey conducted three months ago, only 1 percent of respondents reported
receiving federal stimulus money. Yet 74 percent admit that they are probably
not taking advantage of all the benefits available to their business under the
federal economic stimulus plan.
"Small business owners are busy people and it`s not surprising that they don`t
know all that`s available to them under the federal economic stimulus plan,"
said Denzel. "But in the end they could be leaving money on the table."
Further information on the availability of stimulus money can be found on the
IRS Web site, www.irs.gov. For more information on starting, running and growing
a business, including hiring employees, register to attend one of the upcoming
Intuit online events at: http://IntuitCommunity.com/events.
Survey Methodology
The third-quarter 2009 Intuit Payroll Survey was conducted by Global Strategy
Group from Sept. 21-30, with 1,004 Intuit Payroll customers who participated in
the online survey. The margin of error for this survey at the 95 percent
confidence level is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points on the overall sample.
The margin of error on sub-samples is greater. More survey findings can be found
at www.intuitpayrollblog.com.
Quick links:
Intuit Payroll
Intuit Payroll on Twitter
Intuit Payroll Blog
About Intuit Inc.
Intuit Inc. is a leading provider of business and financial management solutions
for small and mid-sized businesses; financial institutions, including banks and
credit unions; consumers and accounting professionals. Its flagship products and
services, including QuickBooks, Quicken and TurboTax, simplify small business
management and payroll processing, personal finance, and tax preparation and
filing. ProSeries and Lacerte are Intuit's leading tax preparation offerings for
professional accountants. The company`s financial institutions division,
anchored by Digital Insight, provides on-demand banking services to help banks
and credit unions serve businesses and consumers with innovative solutions.
Founded in 1983, Intuit had annual revenue of $3.2 billion in its fiscal year
2009. The company has approximately 7,800 employees with major offices in the
United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, India and other locations. More
information can be found at www.intuit.com.
Intuit and the Intuit logo, among others, are registered trademarks and/or
registered service marks of Intuit Inc. in the United States and other
countries.
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Intuit Inc.
Sharna Brockett, 650-944-3856
Sharna_brockett@intuit.com
or
Access Communications
Anna Pignataro, 415-844-6216
apignataro@accesspr.com
Copyright Business Wire 2009
