In 2023, there were 5.51 million small private sector businesses (0-49 employees) working across all sectors of the UK economy. Many of these organisations are doing great work in building positive mental health in their own workplaces, raising awareness of and removing the stigma around mental health. However, there is also still too much variation and inconsistency, with support focused on when someone reaches crisis rather than looking to identify and mitigate the contributing factors.

Our SME and sole trader research found that almost all respondents had experienced some form of anxiety - almost a third had experienced ‘severe’ anxiety, a further third ‘moderate’ anxiety and the remainder ‘mild’ anxiety. As a result of anxiety or low mood, 42% had considered quitting or changing their job and 35% found themselves drinking more alcohol than usual.

This is why we are calling on medium and large sized organisations to support the small organisations and sole traders within their supply chains, to achieve their legal duty of care to ensure the health (including mental health) and safety of their employees.

Champions

These organisations:

• Are leading the way in terms of mental health provision within their organisation and acting as an exemplar across their sector.
• Have proactive, prevention strategies in place and can demonstrate a commitment to identifying and mitigating risk.
• Want to continue supporting their own employees as well as extending support to small organisations (less than 50 employees) and sole traders working for them.

Supporting your supply chain to become mentally resilient is important as it benefits the employees, their employer, and the wider local community. It also benefits your organisation, by demonstrating your:

• Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) credentials, which can result in attracting investors, building customer loyalty, improving financial performance, making operations sustainable and gaining a competitive edge etc.
• Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) credentials, which can result in positive business reputation, increased sales and customer loyalty, better financial performance, organisational growth etc.
• Commitment to improving the mental health of all workers in your sector, through building positive mental health in and through work for your employees and supply chain. As a result, helping to improve productivity, reduce staff sickness and turnover, make you an attractive organisation to work for etc.
• Achievements and impact through your own pre- and post-programme assessments, and anonymised supply chain assessments.

As a result, you are also eligible to enter our annual Impact Awards which celebrate organisations which are improving mental health within their workplaces and across their sectors.

Supporter Lite Programme

Your supply chain benefits through:

• An initial assessment to establish where they are on their mental health journey.
• Free access to training to create a mentally healthy workplace and what to do if concerned about an employee.
• Materials to share within the workplace.
• 12 months free access to the Supporter Lite portal.
• One-year review to identify distance travelled and identify future development.
• Opportunity to become a Mates in Mind Supporter and access additional resources and training.

Next Steps

First, think about the scale of impact you would like to have through your supply chain/across the sector and how many small organisations (less than 50 employees) you would like to provide support to.

Next, contact our team for a no obligation call to discuss our bespoke Champions approach and undertake an initial assessment to establish if the mental health provision within your organisation meets the membership requirements of having established an organisational culture that is good for mental health.

To arrange a call, please: