New Report Reveals Workforce Developments for 2025 

For UK startups and small companies, the strain is on. In an already-tight economic system, an improve in employer Nationwide Insurance coverage has now begun including to present monetary pressure, leaving many questioning how you can navigate the brand new tax yr with out resorting to job cuts.

In reply, Startups is as we speak releasing our free report on the workforce, entitled ‘The best way to keep away from redundancies in FY26’. We surveyed a cross-sector pattern of 531 UK SME founders, house owners, and C-suite execs — all of whom work in corporations based within the final 5 years.

The findings reveal three key challenges going through companies: managing tax burdens, balancing operational bills, and addressing abilities shortages. These pressures are forcing leaders to rethink how they function, with a give attention to preserving their groups, which 39% of respondents take into account to be their most respected asset.

Past the spreadsheets and forecasts, this report reveals the human tales behind the numbers. We’ll cowl the powerful choices going through enterprise house owners this yr, and reveal the inventive options they’re exploring to safeguard their workforce in unsure occasions.

Learn on for a glimpse of the findings, or click on the pop-up to view the complete report now.

What’s in our free report?

From pay rises to psychological well being, ‘The best way to keep away from redundancies in FY26’ makes use of our survey knowledge to discover the important thing developments shaping the workforce this yr, and uncover how SME leaders can strike a contented medium in an excessive enterprise surroundings.

For sensible steering, we’ve partnered with contributors from the 2025 Startups 100 Index, our record of the UK’s fastest-growing startups. These case research supply real-world enterprise examples to encourage, validate, and educate you.

Right here’s a breakdown of the important thing findings:

Wage methods

88% of companies will increase pay for workers regardless of hiring freezes.

Startups has discovered that ‘thriving’ companies within the UK credit score their success to a gifted and motivated workforce. Our report seems at why expertise retention would be the focus for this yr, and shares wage methods to reward groups with out risking money circulation.

Versatile working

86% of corporations will swap to a brand new office mannequin this yr.

Whereas massive companies push for a return to the standard workplace, our survey finds startups are staying versatile. Startups’ report digs into the actual distant work statistics, explores the newest various working fashions, and asks the consultants concerning the ‘return-to-office’ development.

Coaching and growth

64% of bosses will prioritise tender abilities over onerous abilities this yr.

Technical abilities type the muse of many startups, however our report finds that rising corporations are in determined want of soppy abilities. We share our high suggestions for upskilling, and study how the shift in direction of emotional intelligence within the office will influence L&D within the period of AI.

Worker wellbeing

Greater than 9 in 10 SME leaders assist the Proper to Swap Off.

Our knowledge exhibits that enterprise leaders care about worker wellbeing, however really feel strain to push for productiveness and comply with the ‘hustle-culture’ narrative. We discover how you can stability progress calls for with the need for optimistic firm tradition.

Entrepreneur psychological well being

First-year founders are least assured concerning the subsequent 12 months.

Of corporations lower than a yr outdated, 13% of founders report poor psychological well being – greater than in another stage of enterprise progress. We discover entrepreneur wellbeing in-depth, and listen to from profitable founders on how you can construct resilience within the workforce and the boardroom.

Why have we launched our report?

Job cuts aren’t simply dangerous for morale; they’re additionally the obvious signal of in poor health well being in a nascent enterprise. Simply as hiring new expertise can unlock new progress trajectories on your startup, dropping workers can put them in reverse.

Holly Leckenby Rye, Senior Individuals Supervisor at On-line Care Finder Lottie who additionally contributed to the report, places it finest: “startups like us depend on robust groups to scale”.

Nonetheless, there is no such thing as a denying that the price of employment is rising. Firm methods are narrowing. Area of interest digital abilities are more and more in-demand; driving up pay and necessitating beneficiant profit packages at a time when employer tax payments are additionally surging.

That’s why our report issues. Whereas it will probably’t assure monetary safety, it gives vital insights into safeguarding jobs and constructing a sustainable folks technique in FY26.

For well timed insights and evaluation of all SME developments, subscribe to our weekly publication, and make smarter enterprise choices this yr.