How many small business owners and employees took a break over the long Easter weekend? New research suggests that not taking time off and workplace stress is a growing problem for small firms. With cashflow under pressure, how can they afford to solve it?

How serious is workplace stress and how is it affecting firms?

Investing in workplace wellbeing is proving particularly challenging in 2025, not least as the likelihood of a meaningful upturn in market conditions is now in serious doubt. New data from OnePoll underline how acute the issue is for small businesses.

According to the study of SMEs business owners, over three quarters admitted that they work during annual leave and more than two thirds that they feel guilty about taking time away from their business. Almost 20% said that they have never taken a whole week of work.

And it isn’t just business owners that are suffering from stress in the workplace. New figures from Vitality’s Britain’s Healthiest Workplace report revealed that stress was affecting the effectiveness of almost 85% of SME employees in tech and IT. Almost a third owned up to struggling to have a good work-life balance, while a fifth said they had mental health concerns.

These findings make grim reading. Healthy employees, including owners and management, are vital to the functionality of businesses, in particular small ones. The cost of workplace stress and ill health can be severe, on people and businesses. With regard to the latter, firms are at risk from such issues as a decrease in productivity, operational mistakes, damage to relationships and understaffing. All these problems come with a price tag.

Investing in workplace wellbeing and how alternative finance can help

Addressing the issue of workplace stress can involve a range of actions, depending on what is affecting key employees. Just as with the issues, each solution has a cost. And finding a way to invest and safeguarding cashflow in the current climate is far from straightforward.

How can small firms access the finance to facilitate more investment in workplace wellbeing? Alternative finance can help.

Small business lending from traditional sources remains subdued into Q2. Accessing finance from high-street banks remains difficult for a significant amount of small firms. As a result, alternative lenders have become increasingly embedded in the small business finance landscape.

Services such as invoice finance, asset finance and peer-to-peer lending are proving a vital source of capital for small businesses in the current funding climate. These alternative finance facilities, which offer a more easily accessible, affordable and personalised approach to lending, are helping small businesses survive and target recovery, stability and growth.

Notably, the Growth Guarantee Scheme is providing a wide range of finance facilities to smaller firms, including asset finance, invoice finance and asset-based lending. This is further proof that alternative lenders are increasing filling the small business funding gap.

Small firm finance options for affording workplace stress costs

Workplace wellbeing is by no means a new issue for small firms, but recent studies suggest it could be getting worse. The prospects of yet more market headwinds for small firms underlines the importance of investing in safeguarding employee health. As such, it is vital that key decision-makers are aware of all the finance options available to them, including the services of alternative lenders.

To find out more about A&T Business Associates services, contact Tony Hedger on 01903 602211 or tony.hedger@atbusinessassociates.co.uk.