There are around 5.5 million small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the UK, representing 61% of total employment. It’s no surprise then, that the health and wellbeing of workers is of critical importance - not only to their employers, but to the UK economy as a whole.

But UK employers are facing significant headwinds, including recruitment challenges, increasing workplace mental health challenges, and stagnating productivity. Nowhere is this felt more acutely than in the SME sector, where businesses are more sensitive to economic fluctuations, and need to achieve more, often with less resources than their larger competitors.

The UK’s Autumn 2024 budget heightened concerns around rising costs and economic pressures, making targeted investment a timely consideration - SMEs are looking for ways to build stability and increase resilience, whilst reducing overheads.

Thankfully, there are solutions. In this guide, we’ll examine the underlying causes of these challenges and explore how targeted benefits, focused on supporting employees’ health and wellbeing, can address them directly. By investing in employee health, business owners, senior directors and HR professionals can boost morale, enhance productivity, reduce absenteeism, and retain top talent - creating a stronger, more resilient workforce that can thrive even in tough economic conditions.