A partnership has been announced between the Aviva Foundation and mental health platform 87%, which will see small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) throughout the UK offered access to this platform.

The Aviva Foundation has provided 87% with a grant totalling £50,000 that it will use to target smaller companies whose employees are generally less able to get help with mental health issues. Despite smaller firms contributing 44% of UK workers and 50% of profits, they typically do not have the financial muscle that larger companies do to spend on this sort of support for their staff.

It is a problem that has been made worse by the pandemic, which has also placed small business’ staff and owners under greater levels of stress. However, under this new partnership, they will have the chance to get help from the 87% platform at no cost.

Being able to seek outside support is crucial to reducing the pressures on smaller firms. This is one reason why bringing in professional accountants in Goole to deal with the financial side of business is another move that often helps such firms.

Now, 87% has launched a scheme called ‘Building the Resilience of SMEs’ to tackle what it states is a crisis. Under it, they can get free support and advice, as well as mental health training classes for managers.

87% also provides managers with a series of measures by which they can assess the wellbeing of employees throughout a business, letting them identify possible problems and put in place steps to help any troubled employees.