There’s a conversation happening in workplaces across the UK, or rather, one that isn’t happening nearly enough—men’s mental health. It remains one of the most underaddressed issues in business today.
The mental health numbers make for uncomfortable reading.
As many as 40% of men have never spoken to anyone about their mental health, despite over three-quarters suffering from common symptoms like anxiety, stress, or depression. They’re also three times as likely as women to abuse substances and die by suicide.
Men are struggling. But many are doing so quietly. The question for employers is what you can do about it.
For SMEs in particular, where teams are smaller and relationships closer, the opportunity to make a real difference is significant.
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Why Men Struggle to Speak Up
According to MHFA England, 52% of men would be concerned about taking time off work for poor mental health, and 46% would feel ashamed to admit the reason to their employer.
Healthcare data reflects that reluctance: men make up only 36% of referrals to NHS talking therapies.
It’s even tougher in small businesses where there’s less anonymity. For a lot of men, saying “I’m not coping” in that environment feels like a risk they’d rather not take.
The result is presenteeism. Men show up, go through the motions, but don’t really function. Presenteeism alone costs UK employers an estimated £24 billion a year in lost productivity.
Society’s expectations and traditional gender roles remain the biggest barriers. Men are often expected to be strong, dominant, and in control, and while these aren’t inherently bad things, they can make it harder to reach out and open up.
This is where you come in.
Start With Yourself (Leaders Go First)
Men are more likely to open up when they see other men doing the same. That makes male leadership behaviour critical.
As a leader, you set the cultural tone. If you never mention stress, never acknowledge difficulty, and project relentless invincibility, your team will feel pressured to mirror that stoicism.
The most powerful thing you can do is simply show that it’s okay to be human. Lead by example; it should be no different with wellbeing.
Train the People Closest to Your Team
In most SMEs, line managers are the frontliners of mental health support, whether by design or by default. The problem is that most haven’t been trained to spot the signs.
Men often process mental health struggles differently. Rather than expressing sadness, they may become withdrawn, irritable, or quietly disengaged. They might work longer hours to avoid going home. Or they might stop contributing at all.
These aren’t always glaring red flags, but they’re recognisable once you know what to look for.
Mental Health First Aid training is an accredited course that teaches managers how to handle sensitive conversations, spot warning signs early, and signpost professional help without overstepping their professional boundaries.
Consider designating a trained mental health first aider within your team. Make sure everyone actually knows who they are and, more importantly, exactly how they can help.
Normalise Real Conversations
Conversations shouldn’t feel like a scheduled intervention. They work best when they feel as ordinary as talking through a project update. The idea is to make it easier for people to speak up.
For many men, the intense eye contact of a formal sit-down meeting can feel uncomfortable. By contrast, conversations flow more naturally in more relaxed settings, such as when you’re walking to get coffee or driving to a site visit.
Timing matters just as much. If mental health only comes up when someone is already at breaking point, it quickly becomes associated with crisis. That makes people less likely to engage early, when support could have the most impact.
Something as simple as spending the first few minutes of a one-to-one asking about life outside work—hobbies, weekend plans, what’s been weighing on them—breaks down the wall between boss and employee.
Gradually, it stops being a check-in and starts being part of how people communicate day to day.
Create Male-Friendly Support Options
Peer support works. Men are often more willing to open up to other men they trust than to seek formal help. Building consistent opportunities for that to happen, within the structure of your business, is something SMEs can do well.
This doesn’t need to be overthought. A regular team lunch, a monthly walk, a dedicated channel in your messaging app where the conversation isn’t about work. The point is to create a space where people connect as individuals, not just as colleagues.
Linking these efforts to wider campaigns gives them more structure. Movember, for example, runs every November and brings men’s health to the forefront. Fundraising gives it a focus, but the conversations it sparks are the real value.
Another campaign worth tapping into is Andy’s Man Club, which offers free peer-to-peer support groups across the UK.
Set Up Practical Support Structures
Culture is critical, but you also need tangible support in place.
If you have an Employee Assistance Programme (EAP), make sure your team knows what it covers, how to access it, and, crucially, that it’s confidential.
Providers like Health Assured or Bupa’s EAP offer access to confidential counselling, legal advice, and financial guidance for employees, often for a few pounds per employee per month.
Flexible working can be a lifesaver, too. Men often hesitate to ask for time off for “personal reasons,” but offering flexible working hours shows that you value their lives outside the office.
The business case is clear: for every £1 invested in workplace mental health, employers see an average return of £5.
Consider a Workplace Wellbeing Group
Depending on your size, a simple peer support group can be incredibly effective. It could be a small group of volunteers who meet monthly to discuss how things are going, suggest ideas, and act as informal points of contact.
This should be employee-led, not something handed down by management. That peer-to-peer element is especially important. Many men feel safer speaking to colleagues than approaching a manager or HR.
If your team is very small, even five or six people, this might just mean designating someone as the wellbeing lead.
Look at Your Culture
Support initiatives only go so far if the underlying work environment is the problem. Prevention is valuable, and it starts with looking honestly at the culture you’ve built.
Is overworking quietly celebrated? Can people take a day off sick without it being noted? Is there unspoken pressure to always appear on top of things?
Long hours, persistent pressure, and poor work-life balance are consistently linked to poor mental health in men. These things are largely within your control as a business owner.
Address the Stigma Directly
The stigma around men’s mental health won’t just disappear. It has to be actively dismantled.
Share articles. Repost campaigns on your company’s social channels. If someone in your team has been open about their own mental health journey, amplify their story, with permission, of course.
Bring in external speakers for a lunch-and-learn. Celebrate the fact that your business takes male mental health seriously.
A Word on Intersectionality
Men’s experiences of mental health at work are not all the same. Black men, for instance, face disproportionate barriers to seeking help, compounded by systemic racism and social expectations around masculinity.
South Asian men, LGBTQ+ men, and men with disabilities also carry distinct and overlapping burdens.
What unites their experiences is not suffering, but invisibility. It’s the sense that the standard conversation about men’s mental health was not designed with them in mind.
So as you put your approach together, ask yourself: Is the support I offer genuinely accessible to everyone?
The Bottom Line
You started your business to build something that matters. The people on your team are central to that, and their wellbeing and your business outcomes will always be connected.
Encouraging men’s mental health in the workplace is about consistent, trust-building, everyday actions. Showing up. Being willing to go first. Making it slightly less difficult for the men around you to ask for help when they need it.
