Small business

As we recover from COVID-19 it is important we deliver services that are responsive to small business needs at this unique time.

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How are small businesses experiencing government services in NSW?

We asked small businesses* in NSW about their experiences interacting with different government services, including how easy they found their interaction with the service, how satisfied they were with their service experience, and to what extent they trusted the service to be working in their best interests.

Here's what small businesses told us

68%
of small businesses find it easy to interact with NSW Government services.
70%
of small businesses are satisfied with their experience with NSW Government services.
68%
of small businesses trust NSW Government services are working in their best interests.

About small businesses in NSW

Small businesses have had to face significant challenges in recent years which have directly impacted many aspects of their business. As small businesses look to start, run or grow their business, we are working to make it easier to support them in their time of need, so they can continue to do business in NSW.

There are

797,956

small businesses in NSW, representing 98% of all businesses in NSW1

employing approximately

1.8 million people

(representing about 45% of the private sector workforce).4

Over

$63 billion

is paid in employee annual wages and salaries each year.2

Approximately

1 in 3

small business owners were born overseas.3

How well are we delivering on our Customer Commitments to small businesses?

The NSW Customer Commitments are our promise to customers on what to expect when interacting with our services. These commitments help us to put customers at the heart of our services and everything we do.  

There are 6 Commitments that our services seek to deliver on for customers: easy to access, act with empathy, respect my time, explain what to expect, resolve the situation, and engage the community.

Here’s what small businesses told us based on their experience

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73% of small businesses surveyed found government services easy to access.

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70% of small businesses surveyed agreed that services delivered on our commitment to act with empathy.

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65% of small businesses surveyed agreed that their time was respected throughout their service experience.

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64% of small businesses surveyed agreed that services explained what to expect.

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77%  of small businesses surveyed agreed that their situation was resolved.

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49% of small businesses surveyed agreed that the government is meaningfully engaging with customers to ask for feedback and how they want services delivered.

Case study

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Service NSW for Business

Making it easier for NSW business owners to get the support, information and tools they need to start, run and grow a business.

Find out more about the report

Case studies

See examples of how we embed a customer focused approach to services, programs and initiatives.

Customers

Find out how our customers are experiencing our services. They include the people, communities and businesses of NSW.

Customer Commitments

Read about our promise to customers on what to expect when interacting with our services.

Key metrics

Find how State of the Customer reports on our goal to deliver easy, effective, and trustworthy services.

Services

See a range of services we deliver that cater to customers with different needs and circumstances.

Home

Return to the State of the Customer homepage. 

About the small business data

*Small businesses are defined here as businesses that have 0-19 employees.

Sources:
1 Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS): 8165.0 Counts of Australian Businesses, including entries and exits, as at June 2021 - New South Wales.
2 Estimates from Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS): 8150 Australian Industry, 2019-30 - New South Wales.
3 Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS): 2016 Census - Employment, Income and Education - New South Wales.
4 Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS): 8155.0 Australian Industry, as at June 2021 - New South Wales.

CXS Source: NSW Government Customer Experience Survey (CXS). About the survey methodology.

Fieldwork: January to June 2022.
Questions: Thinking about your experience with the government service…

  • How easy or difficult was it to do this?
  • How satisfied or dissatisfied were you with this experience?
  • To what extent do you trust the government service to be working in your best interests?
  • We would like your opinion on [CUSTOMER COMMITMENT]. Please indicate how strongly you agree or disagree with each of the statements below.

Base: Small business (0-19 employees) customers who have interacted with government services on behalf of their business in the last 12 months.
Sample sizes: Ease and Satisfaction (n=1415), Trust (n=1450), Customer Commitments (various n=1105 to 1450).
Definitions and notes:

  • Ease of service is calculated as the percentage of customers that selected ‘Very easy’ or ‘Somewhat easy’.
  • Satisfaction with service is calculated as the percentage of customers that selected ‘Very satisfied’ or ‘Somewhat satisfied’.
  • Trust in service is calculated as the percentage of customers that selected ‘Trust a great deal’ or ‘Somewhat trust’.
  • Responses to the Customer Commitment questions are calculated as the percentage of customers that selected ‘Strongly agree’ or ‘Somewhat agree’ and it excludes ‘Not applicable’ responses.
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