Posted October 7, 2026

Who Supports the Business Owner?

Most businesses today take employee wellbeing a lot more seriously than they did a decade ago, as a population in general, we are more aware of mental health and stress and more open to discussing it. Many employers have mental health first aiders, access to employee assistance programmes, occupational health support and managers who are trained to spot when someone might be struggling. That’s undoubtedly a good thing, conversations around mental health have become more open, support is more accessible and employers are recognising that looking after their people isn’t just the right thing to do, it’s good for business too.

But there is one group of people who often seem to be missing from the conversation – the business owners themselves.

The Weight Nobody Sees

Running a business can be incredibly rewarding, but it can also be exhausting, employees may worry about their workload, a difficult client or an upcoming deadline. Business owners are often worrying about all of those things too, while simultaneously thinking about payroll, cash flow, staffing issues, rising costs, tax bills and whether there will be enough work in the pipeline six months from now. These concerns don’t neatly stay in the office, they follow owners home, they appear during family holidays, and they arrive at three o’clock in the morning when sleep would be far more useful than mentally reworking next month’s cash flow forecast for the fifth time!

It’s perhaps no surprise that research continues to highlight the pressure many business owners are under. A Simply Business report showed that over half of small business owners reported experiencing poor mental health during the previous year, while financial concerns remain one of the biggest contributing factors.

It’s Not Just About Money

When people hear the phrase financial stress, they often assume it’s simply about a lack of money. In our experience, that’s rarely the whole story, the bigger issue is often uncertainty. The not knowing whether you can afford another recruit or if your margins are being squeezed, whether the growth is actually more profit generating profit or whether the investment in a new machine is worth it.

Business owners are often dealing with significant questions while having nobody independent to discuss them with, over time, that uncertainty can become a heavy burden.

The same Simply Business report suggests ¾ of owners take less than 20 days holiday per year, and 1/3 sleep less than 5 hours a night, a significant number are also working well beyond standard full-time hours, with financial pressures continuing to impact their wellbeing.

The Support Gap

An employee who’s struggling can often turn to a manager, HR team, occupational health adviser or an employee assistance programme.

Who does the business owner turn to?

At our firm, we’ve recognised the importance of mental wellbeing by training one of our managers, Sophie, as our Mental Health First Aider. Her role is to support our team, provide a listening ear and help colleagues access appropriate support when they need it. What the experience has highlighted, however, is that many business owners don’t have an equivalent support network around them. A lot of small business owners don’t have access to this support, it is just the owner carrying the responsibility for customers, staff, suppliers and the future of the business.

That can be a surprisingly lonely place to be.

Sometimes the Problem Isn’t Mental Health. It’s Information.

We believe many of the pressures faced by business owners don’t always start as mental health challenges, they start as business challenges.

When an owner doesn’t know whether they can afford to recruit, whether the business is generating enough cash, or whether they’re on track to achieve their goals, stress naturally follows. The longer those questions go unanswered, the bigger they often become. One of the most rewarding parts of what we do isn’t preparing accounts or filing tax returns, it’s helping owners gain clarity.

When someone understands their numbers, has reliable forecasts and knows where the business is heading, decision-making becomes easier. The challenges don’t disappear overnight, but they become more manageable because they’re based on facts rather than assumptions.

More Than Just Compliance

This is one of the reasons we believe the role of an accountant is changing, yes, accounts need preparing and tax returns need filing and those services will always remain important. But increasingly, business owners need more than compliance, they need someone they can talk to, someone who understands the pressures of running a business, can challenge their thinking when necessary and provide reassurance when difficult decisions need to be made.

We aren’t mental health professionals, and we don’t pretend to be, but what we can do is help business owners better understand their finances, make informed decisions and feel a little less alone when navigating the challenges that come with running a business.

Looking After the People at the Top

Employee wellbeing rightly receives a huge amount of attention in modern workplaces but perhaps it’s time we spent a little more time talking about the wellbeing of business owners too.

After all, behind every successful business is someone carrying the responsibility for all of it.