Small businesses rely heavily on each employee. When someone is struggling with mental health, the impact on productivity, customer service and team morale is felt quickly.
Mental health and your business: building a practical support plan for small teams
When you run a small business, people issues hit closer to home. If someone is struggling, the impact is felt straight away. Work slows down. Customers notice. Other team members carry extra pressure.
Supporting mental health is part of running a business now. Not as a policy exercise, and not as a big corporate initiative, but as something that affects how your business operates every day.
For small teams, the key is keeping things practical and realistic.
Why mental health matters more in small teams
In small businesses, every role matters. When someone is dealing with stress, anxiety or burnout, there is often no easy backup.
Across Australia, mental health conditions affect a large part of the working population. According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, around one in five Australians experiences a mental health condition in any given year1. For small employers, this means mental health challenges are likely already present in your workplace, even if they are not always visible.
Ignoring the issue does not make it go away. It usually shows up as absenteeism, lower engagement, workplace mistakes, or people quietly leaving.
Compliance is only the starting point
Australian employers have obligations under work health and safety laws to provide a psychologically safe workplace. This includes managing psychosocial risks such as excessive workload, poor role clarity, bullying and exposure to stressful situations.
Safe Work Australia explains that psychosocial hazards can cause psychological harm in the same way physical hazards cause injury2. Managing these risks is not just about policies. It is about how work is designed and how people are supported day to day.
For small businesses, focusing only on compliance can miss the bigger picture. A simple, supportive approach often does more than complex documents that sit on a shelf.
Keeping support practical and achievable
You do not need a large budget or a dedicated HR team to support mental health.
What matters most is creating an environment where people feel supported and know where to turn for help. This can start with regular check-ins, clear expectations and reasonable workloads.
Many small employers are also looking at how employee benefits can support mental well-being in a practical way. Digital health tools are becoming more common, giving employees easier access to support without long wait times or complicated processes.
The Mercer Marsh Benefits SME digital benefits guide highlights how digital health options can support early intervention, access to mental health services and everyday wellbeing support, especially for small teams where time and resources are limited.
The role of employee benefits in mental well-being
Employee benefits are not just about insurance cover. They can play a role in supporting mental health by making help easier to access.
Digital health solutions can include online mental health programs, telehealth services and wellbeing tools that employees can use when it suits them. For small businesses, this can reduce barriers such as time off work or long waiting periods.
When people can access support earlier, issues are less likely to escalate into longer absences or disengagement.
If you want to understand how employee benefits can support mental well-being in your business, you can find more information on Marsh’s employee benefits solutions for small and medium businesses.
Bringing people risk and business risk together
Mental health is often seen as a people issue, but it is also a business risk.
When stress and burnout are left unmanaged, businesses can see higher turnover, lower productivity and reputational issues. For small teams, these risks are magnified.
Taking small, consistent steps helps protect both your people and your business. This might mean reviewing workloads, encouraging open conversations or providing access to simple wellbeing support through employee benefits.
The aim is not to fix everything at once. It is to put practical support in place and keep improving over time.
Small steps that can make a real difference
You do not need to do everything at once. One or two changes can have an impact if they are done consistently.
- Regularly check in with your team about how work is going
- Make it clear where employees can access support if they need it
- Look at the benefits of digital health options that fit the size of your business
Over time, these small actions help build a workplace where people feel supported and more able to do their best work.
Frequently asked questions
Yes. Employers must identify and manage psychosocial hazards under work health and safety laws. Safe Work Australia outlines employer duties to provide a psychologically safe workplace.
Psychosocial risks include high workloads, poor role clarity, bullying, lack of support and exposure to stressful situations. These risks can affect mental health if not managed properly.
No. Compliance is a baseline. Ongoing support, good communication and reasonable workloads are just as important in small workplaces.
Simple steps such as regular check-ins, clear expectations and access to digital wellbeing tools can make a difference without high costs.
Employee benefits can provide easier access to mental health support, including digital health tools and telehealth services, which suit small teams.
Yes. Digital tools can be flexible, easy to access and less disruptive to work schedules, making them practical for small teams.
Yes. Poor mental health support can contribute to burnout and staff leaving, which is particularly disruptive for small businesses.
Safe Work Australia provides practical guidance on identifying and managing psychosocial hazards at work.
No. Mental health challenges affect workers across all industries and business sizes in Australia.
It helps to review risks regularly, especially when workloads change or during periods of business pressure.
You can explore Marsh’s employee benefits options for small and medium businesses.
References
- Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, “Prevalence and impact of mental illness”, https://www.aihw.gov.au/mental-health/overview/prevalence-and-impact-of-mental-illness, accessed 23 January 2026.
- Safe Work Australia, “Psychosocial hazards”, https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/safety-topic/managing-health-and-safety/mental-health/psychosocial-hazards, accessed 23 January 2026.
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