Small firms often lack the resources necessary to deal with employee stress, a sector organisation has said.
According to the Stress Management Society, small firms do not always have the "luxury" to implement stress management systems.
"When they're busy, it could mean all hands to the deck and everyone has to work long hours and they don't necessarily have the resources to invest in recognising and addressing stress," suggested director Neil Shah.
He added that the nature of stress varies according to a company's size, with roles tending to be more flexible in smaller firms while work within larger corporations is often more rigidly defined.
There is a difference between "the kind of stresses you'd face in small business compared to what you'd face in a large organisation", he explained.
Meanwhile, a recent report from Bank of Scotland Business Banking suggested that small business managers in the UK on average work more than 47 hours a week.
