BY JANE BUSSEY

When it comes to small-business owners, they are working wherever they can.

A new survey finds the business proprietors are reading e-mails, looking over documents and doing other work in all sorts of places outside of the office and at all sorts of times outside of the 9-to-5 workday.

The office products company Staples commissioned the survey of 300 owners of businesses nationwide that employ 20 people or less. The results underscored a trend seen across a broad spectrum of American society, namely that people are scrambling to fit all their responsibilities into the 24-hour day, with the result that the line between work and leisure is blurring.

The most dire sign of overworked small-business owners was the finding that nearly two in 10 people reported taking their phones or documents on the bathroom breaks.

Almost half checked voice mail or e-mail or used a cellphone during family time, while driving or while on vacation, according to the survey conducted by telephone in early December.

Even more owners -- nearly 70 percent -- carried out those work-related activities on days off or at night.

Some 40 percent of those in the survey said their work week was at least 40 hours more than the regular 40-hour week.

"We have to wear every hat," said Rosana Santos, owner of Big Chef, a Hollywood company that prepares canapés and hors d'oeuvres for caterers and hotels.

"We go down the list, and the things that you cannot accomplish during your business hours, you have to do after hours, at home and even on weekends," Santos said.

But there was some good news for the work weary in this survey.

More than one-third of the business owners did not work on their vacations, few had a child tell them to get off their cellphones, and a big majority -- some 71 percent -- said 2006 was no worse than the previous year.

Large numbers of surveys show Americans working more and relaxing less, although some experts argue that Americans are gaining free time but they are just spending it watching television.

Last summer the private research firm the Conference Board found that 40 percent of people had no plans to take a vacation in the next six months, which was the lowest percentage recorded by the group in 28 years.

Americans have an average of 13 paid vacation days a year, while Europeans take off six weeks to eight weeks a year for vacations.

Santos admitted that she is one of those with children who have asked her to put down the cellphone and spend more time volunteering at school.

"We do have to juggle a little bit to reconcile our business life with personal life," she said.

© 2006 the Miami Herald