Running the HR department as a one-person band can be a lonely business. Between building out key policies, hiring, training – and in some cases, office management – it can be tricky to keep an eye on more abstract things like company mood, culture and wellbeing.
But supporting employee wellbeing is no longer a nice-to-have, it's a strategic priority for startups and small businesses looking to attract talent, boost retention, and build resilient teams. Prioritising proper mental health support in smaller teams can be even more valuable, where just one person struggling is enough to affect the rest of the business, whether that’s by taking time off during a busy period or by unintentionally affecting the morale of everyone else in the room.
An Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) offers confidential support for any personal or professional issue impacting your team's mental health – giving people a safe place to turn when life gets tough. But with limited time and budgets, many smaller companies are unsure where to start or whether an EAP is even realistic.
This guide is designed for HR managers, people leaders, and company directors who want to explore EAPs as a cost-effective way to support employee wellbeing. Let's jump in...
Why do small businesses need an employee assistance programme (EAP)?
There's a common misconception that Employee Assistance Programmes (EAPs) are only suitable for large corporations. But smaller teams face a unique set of challenges that can put strain on employee mental health, and they often benefit the most from having structured, accessible wellbeing support in place.
Small businesses and startups are dealing with a "tsunami" of mental health issues among their employees, with more than twice as many leaders reporting a detrimental impact on their businesses compared with last year.
Statistics on mental health in small businesses
- Half (49%) of small UK businesses have reported issues with their employees’ mental health and wellbeing.
- 85% of SME leaders believe that mental health is their biggest health and safety challenge.
- 75% of SMEs experienced workplace injuries in the past year, with the most common injuries being mental health-related.
- Mental health-related sickness absence in SMEs had increased by 20% in the past 12 months.
- Over half of small UK businesses (55%) either have no mental health support in place for their employees, or have support processes that aren’t used enough.
Common mental health challenges in small businesses
Small businesses and startups face a unique set of challenges when it comes to mental health at work –and often don’t have the resources, time, or internal support systems that larger companies rely on. The pressures on smaller teams to wear many hats and work long hours is felt the whole way through the business, from interns to CEO's. Common mental health challenges in smaller teams include:
- Stress and burnout
- Anxiety and depression
- Financial insecurity
- Isolation and loneliness
- Difficulty with work-life balance
Let's explore the reasons why small business owners and employees often struggle with their mental health...
Factors contributing to poor mental health in small businesses
Employees in small businesses are at a higher risk of poor mental health due to several factors including tighter budgets, limited resources, and a more demanding work environment.
Here's a more detailed look at the main factors that put strain on employee mental health:
1. Wearing multiple hats
In small teams, employees often juggle multiple roles and responsibilities – leading to higher workloads, unclear boundaries, and increased stress. Without clearly defined job roles or support structures, burnout can creep in quickly.
2. Less experienced people managers
It’s common practice in startups and small businesses to promote team leaders internally rather than hiring experienced managers. Having younger people moving up the ranks quickly works well for lots of reasons, but there’s a drawback: they might be brilliant at managing KPIs, but have less experience managing people’s emotions. This can heap a lot of unexpected pressure onto new managers, and have knock-on effects for your overall team’s wellbeing.
50% of UK startup employees say they haven’t been given the right emotional and personal support from their managers.
3. High-productivity cultures
Burnout is a kind of emotional exhaustion caused by stress at work – and it’s behind 43% of all sick days taken in the UK. Between tight deadlines and small teams who feel personally responsible for delivering quality work on time, burnout is rife across small businesses and startups.
4. Lack of impartial support
Just 11% of employees feel comfortable discussing a recent mental health problem with their line manager. That could be down to stigma, or it might be because employees feel there’s no clear pathway towards getting professional help once they’ve disclosed an issue. HR leaders can deliver lots of things, but therapy shouldn’t be one of them. Outside of work, getting treatment for mental health challenges through the NHS can take a long time (and all the while your employee’s motivation, mood and productivity is likely to slide).
5. Remote working
Isolation is an important precursor to poor mental health. It can be easier for employees to socially withdraw when they’re not experiencing the kind of informal communication and collaboration that’s encouraged by working in the same room as other people. If you rarely see your team in person, it can be even harder to spot when a colleague’s showing signs of stress, too.
64% of UK employees said their mental health has worsened due to working remotely.
6. Job security and financial uncertainty
Small businesses and startups are more exposed to market volatility, funding challenges, and economic shifts. This can create ongoing anxiety about job stability, especially during early growth stages, slow periods, or downturns.
7. Limited HR resource
Most small businesses either don’t have a dedicated HR department or wellbeing lead, or have one very busy individual trying to manage everything at once. That means limited capacity to spot warning signs, have regular check-ins, or manage mental health issues proactively.
8. Founders and managers under pressure
Leaders in small businesses are under intense pressure to keep things running. They’re often dealing with long hours, financial stress, investor expectations, and people challenges – all without mental health support of their own. This creates a culture where stress trickles down or isn’t openly acknowledged.
Four in five small business owners experience poor mental health at least a few times a year.
Small businesses face a perfect storm: high workloads, tight budgets, and limited HR support – all in a close-knit environment where mental health is often overlooked. But the impact is real, and proactive support is essential for sustainable growth.
Why do small businesses outsource mental health support to an EAP?
Increasingly, smaller companies are opting to outsource employee mental health support to an external provider (like an employee assistance programme) rather than providing counselling services in-house.
With limited staff, time, and budget, outsourcing is often the most practical and scalable solution – and comes with lots of benefits for both employers and employees:
🧠 Give your team access to professionals
Outsourcing mental health support allows smaller teams to gain access to qualified mental health professionals who have expertise in dealing with a range of specific challenges like burnout, anxiety or ADHD.
🔒 Guarantee confidentiality
Speaking to an external counsellor can feel a lot more private and confidential than opening up to an internal member of staff, which might encourage more employees to seek help when they need it. The negative stigma surrounding mental health at work can stop people speaking up if they're worried that this might impact their career progression, so having external resource available draws a clear distinction between the two.
💰 Save time and money
Outsourcing mental health support services tends to be much more cost-effective for small businesses than hiring, training and maintaining a dedicated in-house team. It also ensures that the counselling services provided are always of the highest quality, because EAP providers are continuously investing in training therapists and sharing the most up-to-date research and resources.
⏰ Free up HR resource
In a one-person HR team, it's simply not possible to have a weekly chat with every employee about their mental health alongside all of the other tasks on your list. Outsourcing mental health support services reduces the administrative burden on internal HR teams, freeing up their time to focus on other important initiatives.
How to choose an employee assistance programmes (EAPs) for small businesses
Traditional EAPs are usually better suited to larger companies because their pricing structure and features are built with big teams in mind. When researching and comparing providers, here are some questions to ask and things to listen out for which might indicate the provider isn't the right fit.
Red flags to watch out for:
🚩 High minimum headcount
Some employee assistance providers explicitly will not cover smaller teams, and require a minimum number of employees (usually at least 250) to purchase.
🚩 Long contracts with exit fees
Most EAPs lock you in to a minimum contract length of 2-5 years, which isn't suitable for startups with less predictable cash flow.
🚩 Complex implementation
Enterprise level EAPs often involve complex rollout processes (such as custom portals, multiple internal stakeholders, training requirements, and user management) which can be overkill for lean teams looking to rollout a solution quickly.
🚩 Lack of flexibility
Traditional employee assistance providers are often built for stability and uniformity, not agility. This can be frustrating for startups or small companies that need flexible pricing options (like co-pay, pay-as-you-go or a fixed monthly fee), short-term trials, or the ability to scale up/down quickly.
🚩 Underused full-service offerings
Large-scale EAPs often bundle in a wide range of features (like legal advice lines, financial counselling and occupational health assessments) that small teams may not need or use frequently. This means you end up paying for services that go untouched.
🚩 Poor accessibility or awareness
Traditional EAP providers sometimes rely on outdated access methods (e.g. phone-only helplines or clunky portals) that are not intuitive for younger, remote, or tech-first teams. Engagement and usage can be very low as a result.
EAPs can be a great fit for small businesses if they align with the company's goals, budget, and employee needs. Let's look at some features to prioritise when choosing an EAP for your small business...
EAP checklist for small companies:
When comparing EAP providers, it’s important to look beyond just the cost or number of sessions provided. You want to make sure the service actually fits your team’s culture, working style, and support needs – and that it delivers meaningful outcomes.
Here’s a checklist of what to look for when choosing an EAP service for a smaller company:
- Flexible pricing options to suit your budget (some providers offer pay-as-you-go or co-pay options to make the service as affordable as possible and avoid any wasted spend).
- Short contract lengths (don't get locked in for 2-5 years!)
- Fast rollout to get the service set up and launched quickly, with minimum input required from internal HR teams.
- Unlimited counselling sessions with no cap on the amount of therapy people can recieve, and no hidden costs if people need further support.
- Transparency around average usage rates to ensure you're getting value for money.
- No exit fees to terminate the contract if it doesn't work out.
- Integrations with existing tools (e.g. Slack/Teams) to drive employee engagement.
- Same or next day availability for therapy sessions to help people feel better, fast.
- Video or message based therapy formats to suit remote or hybrid teams.
- Support with driving awareness and reminding employees that the service is there to help them when they need it after the initial launch.
- Positive reviews from smaller companies and employees sharing their experience of using the service.
The best EAPs for small businesses
To see a long list of the best EAP providers and find the most suitable option for your company, check out our employee assistance comparison guide here.
Alongside the list of features above that make an EAP suitable for smaller teams, it's important to also pay attention to the quality of care on offer. That's why employee ratings and reviews from an unbiased source like Trustpilot are so insightful, shining a light on the experience an employee can expect when they do reach out in need of mental health support.
With these checklists in mind, let's see how Spill's employee assistance programme stacks up...
Spill's EAP was built for small businesses
Unlike most other employee assistance programmes, Spill was purpose built to support SMEs and startups with any personal or professional issues that are impacting their wellbeing.
We work with over 600 small companies ranging from local fish & chip shops to local hairdressers, primary schools, law firms, PR agencies and charities. We now deliver over 25,000 therapy sessions a year and have become the UK’s top rated employee mental health service on Trustpilot.
Here's an overview of Spill's offering in line with our checklist of important features for smaller teams:
✅ Flexible pricing options
To support the whole team, we offer two different plans depending on your budget and the level of support you want to provide. We also offer fully pay-as-you-go and co-pay counselling options for companies who want a more affordable option to provide meaningful support to specific employees who are struggling.
✅ Short contract lengths
You don't need another vendor tying you into a long contract and then failing to deliver on their promises. You can cancel Spill anytime with just 30 days notice if you find we're not right for your team.
✅ Fast rollout
We can move as quickly as you'd like. It only takes a few minutes to set Spill up and give your team access.
✅ Unlimited counselling sessions
On both plans, therapy sessions are completely unlimited with Spill. There's no cap in terms of the amount of times someone can speak to a counsellor, no hidden costs, and we never turn an employee away.
✅ Transparency around average usage
As a Spill admin, you'll have access to the dashboard showing real time usage across your team. While the service is completely confidential (you'll never be able to see which individuals are logging in, or what they're discussing with a counsellor) – you'll be able to see how many sessions are being used over time, and any feedback that people do opt in to sharing. Across all of our customers, Spill is used by 25% of employees on average (this is 10x higher than traditional EAP usage).
✅ No exit fees
No hidden costs, and no exit fees – ever.
✅ Same or next day availability
Employees can book a session instantly online, and speak to a counsellor within 24 hours. No waiting lists, callbacks or application forms.
✅ Video or message based therapy
Employees can choose to speak with a Spill counsellor directly via video call, or send a message and receive a personal written response. Employees will also have the option to book a single one-off counselling session, or opt for a course of therapy for longer-term treatment.
✅ Support with driving awareness
To help people feel safe and comfortable using the service from the start, a Spill counsellor will join a video call with your whole team to introduce themselves, talk through their credentials, explain how to book a counselling session, and emphasise that the service is 100% confidential.
✅ Positive reviews
Spill is the UK's highest rated employee assistance programme, with a score of 4.9/5 on Trustpilot. You can check out our reviews here.
Spill also has a few other features which are particularly well suited for small businesses:
Integrate with your teams existing tools
One of the main barriers to accessing support through a traditional EAP is the telephone helpline, which can be a frustrating experience waiting for a callback or being denied support following a mental health assessment. Our Slack and MS Teams integrations for small businesses allow employees to book therapy directly from your existing company communication tools, and speak to a qualified therapist within 24 hours. Simple.
Catch poor mental health early
Arguably the biggest limitation of an EAP is that it can only support your team once they feel unwell, and therapy only happens once someone’s in crisis. Our team check-ins ask employees how they're feeling on a regular basis to offer support as soon as someone starts to feel low, making them less likely to need to take time off in the first place, then you might be in the market for an altogether more proactive kind of care.
Level up your people managers
Mental health training for managers and team leaders is a great way to make your budget stretch further, and upskill your internal team to spot anyone who may be struggling and signpost them to the right support. This acts as an extra layer of safeguarding for your employees and helps to maintain a happy, healthy and productive workforce.
To find out more about Spill's employee assistance programme offering and pricing options for your team, book a demo today.
