Employee wellbeing for small businesses usually appears in value statements in some form or other – using words such as engagement, retention, productivity, resilience, performance. But whilst wellbeing is often stated as a priority, it’s overlooked when it’s time to make business decisions, with most SME business owners making business decisions based on their financials. The issue is that businesses can’t afford to not invest in wellbeing. This blog is the business case for investing in wellbeing.

According to Deloitte’s 2024 research, employers receive £4.70 for every £1 invested in supporting their workforce’s mental health and wellbeing.

The Deloitte statistic is based on a review of 26 studies published since 2011 examining the financial returns on wellbeing interventions. For a business owner used to weighing up where pound notes are best spent, that’s a very impressive return on investment.

The cost of poor employee wellbeing – £51bn per year

The cost to businesses of not considering employee wellbeing is often invisible yet Deloitte’s research puts the cost of poor mental health to UK employers at £51 billion a year. That figure breaks down into three main areas, and each one will be familiar to most of us.

1. Absenteeism. The absenteeism cost for SMEs is the most visible cost for SMEs. When a staff member is off sick, work piles up, and someone else has to cover, which in turn can impact their wellbeing and stress levels.
2. Presenteeism refers to the employees who turn up but aren’t able to perform at their best. This is the colleague who’s at their desk but mentally elsewhere, working through exhaustion or stress, just getting through the day rather than doing good work. It’s far less obvious than a day off, but it eats into output just as much and costs businesses around £24 billion annually.
3. Turnover is the cost of replacing an employee who found the working environment unsustainable. It includes recruitment fees, lost knowledge, the time spent training a new person, and the dip in output whilst a replacement gets up to speed. 

All three are hidden, often ongoing costs, that do not appear on any spreadsheet so are likely to not be quantified within a business, however it’s clear that staff retention wellbeing activities are important financially and culturally, and for the more intangible reputational reasons too.

The wellbeing business investment case

Let’s return to Deloitte’s research. Their research suggests that a £1 investment in wellbeing generates a £4.70 return isn’t about making grand gestures such as offering a team weekend skiing trip (although we’re sure that would be fun). Deloitte found that universal interventions, those available to everyone in an organisation, deliver an even stronger average return of £6.30 for every £1 spent, because they shift culture rather than patching up problems.

The business case for wellbeing is clear but what wellbeing activities should a SME invest in?

Wellbeing activities for small businesses

Small businesses do not need to invest in an expensive wellbeing programme or a dedicated HR resource. We suggest keeping it simple and embrace sustainable ways to promote health and wellbeing in your SME. As far as is possible, keep workloads consistent and not regularly at breaking point, ensure your leaders communicate clearly with their team members, and build some flexibility into how and when work gets done.

Other ideas include:

• Hold a walking meeting
  Swap the meeting room for a walk outside if you don’t need a screen or notes. It boosts people’s mood, breaks up days often sitting at desks, and often leads to more relaxed, honest conversations than sitting across a table.
• Invest in a weekly “no-meeting” block of time
  Protect a set time each week – we suggest a morning or afternoon – where no internal meetings can be booked. It gives people uninterrupted time to focus, catch up, or simply breathe, and costs nothing.
• Offer a team lunch or coffee break, on the house
  Once a month, put on lunch or morning coffee and treats for the team. It’s a small gesture that signals appreciation, gives people a proper break together, and builds connections outside the formality of an ‘event’.
• Shout-out
  Start team meetings with a quick round of shout-outs, recognising something a colleague did well that week. 
• Instigate a flexible “wellbeing hour”
  Let employees use one hour a week or a fortnight during business hours for something that supports their own wellbeing – this could be a walk, exercise, reading, or just stepping away from the desk. It shows trust and gives people permission to pause without guilt.

None of this requires a large budget but it does need the SME leaders to have the intention to focus on wellbeing.

Do you prioritise wellbeing and mirror the culture you want for your business?

So often leaders pay lip service to wellbeing but are drowning themselves, sometimes exhibiting negative behaviours because they are stressed and tired. For example, a business owner who spends their evenings buried in invoices, chasing late payments, or trying to keep on top of an overflowing inbox isn’t well positioned to calmly make leadership decisions, to communicate clearly with team members, or even notice when someone is struggling. And ignoring wellbeing at the top of a business, has a habit of trickling down into the whole team. It’s a fact that stressed leadership tends to produce a stressed working environment, whether that’s intentionally or not.

There is a solution. When tasks such as bookkeeping, scheduling meetings, answering emails, researching or payroll – the draining admin that eats into your day – are properly delegated, you’ll have the headspace to lead and demonstrate the behaviours you want from your team. You may not have someone in your business who can take all these tasks on, so you could consider outsourcing them to responsible, experienced experts.

Hour Hands offers this exact support and many business owners outsource both bookkeeping and PA / admin tasks to our professional, expert team.

By investing in your own wellbeing, alongside that of your team, you’re not just buying back hours in your week, you’re carving out the capacity to be a better leader. The value of wellbeing is clear, Deloitte’s numbers prove the return on investment, now put your team and yourself front and centre.

If you’d like to discuss the possibility of outsourcing some of your tasks, and of course, how we maintain regular contact with you to ensure that you remain in control of all aspects of your business, let’s talk. We’re happy to share some of our numerous testimonials and create a package that works well for you.