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A first health plan for a fast-growing company

A fast-growing company’s first health plan should cover the founders and the whole team from the first day, with a doctor people can reach the same day and a clinical route into mental health care. Choose a plan that grows by adding people and cities to one contract, so each new office joins the same care instead of starting again.

What it costs: Team membership from £9,500 per person a year, leaders from £28,500, each with a quote.
How soon: Leaders can start in one morning, the whole team within 10 days.
How to begin: Tell us your headcount and your cities, and we send one proposal.

Talk to us about your team Tell us where your team is The Wellness for teams

4 min readWritten and reviewed by the clinical team at The Wellness. Last reviewed 14 October 2026

Why the founders’ health comes first

The people who start a company set the pace for everyone who joins it, so the first plan should cover the founders and leaders from the first day. In a study of 242 entrepreneurs and 93 comparison participants, mental health differences had affected 72% of the entrepreneurs, either directly or through their families [1].

The same study found more depression among the entrepreneurs, at 30%, and 32% reported two or more conditions [1]. The sample was small and the answers were self-reported, so the figures describe one group well and the wider population less certainly. A review of 144 empirical studies argued that the mental health of entrepreneurs should be studied on its own terms, beyond models built for people in employment [2].

The strain grows with responsibility. A global workplace survey found leaders more likely than individual contributors to report a lot of stress the previous day, by 7 points, and loneliness, by 10 points, with 46% of leaders reporting stress [3].

What to put in place first

Put access to care in place before anything else. A first plan earns its place when anyone on the team can speak to a doctor the same day, and when a person who is struggling can reach a clinician who assesses them, treats them and follows up.

Mental health care belongs in the first plan rather than a later one. The World Health Organization estimates that 16% of working-age adults had a mental disorder in 2023, and that depression and anxiety cost 12 billion working days a year worldwide [4].

Founders tend to put their own care last. In a survey of more than 100 founders and senior leaders of Canadian health science companies, only 12 percent had sought professional mental health support, and 84 percent named financial concerns as their main source of stress [5]. A plan that includes the founders by default removes the decision to ask.

Agree from the start what the company will see. Reporting should be anonymised, with small groups left out, so people use the care without wondering who will hear about it.

How the plan grows with headcount and new offices

Choose a plan that grows by adding people and cities to the same contract. Each new office then joins care your team already knows, and the people team keeps one renewal date instead of one for each country.

In the first months the plan usually covers the founders and first hires, with their families. As the company passes its first few dozen people, the question becomes consistency, so that someone hired in a second city receives the same access as someone in the first.

The first hire abroad is the moment many growing firms buy a separate local plan. Ask first whether the plan you already hold can add that city. When it can, a person who moves between offices keeps the same concierge and the same doctors, and the company keeps one set of reports.

How to judge what is worth paying for

Judge a benefit by whether people use it when they need it. In a randomised trial across 160 worksites, a workplace wellness programme improved some reported behaviours after 18 months and showed no significant effect on clinical markers of health, medical spending, absence or job performance [6].

Access to clinical care is a different kind of benefit. It treats a problem a person already has, at the moment they have it, and a founder can judge it the way they judge any service, by how quickly it responds and whether it follows people wherever they work.

A checklist for your first health plan

Use these points to compare options at any size, from the first ten people to the first few hundred.

Founders and leaders are covered from the first day, with their families.
Anyone on the team can speak to a doctor the same day.
There is a clinical route for mental health, with assessment and follow-up by a clinician.
Care is the same in every city where you have people.
Adding a person or an office does not mean a new contract.
The company sees anonymised reporting only, under a data processing agreement.
One person on your side owns the plan, and one person on the provider’s side answers to them.
The plan renews once a year, on one date.

What The Wellness for teams does

The Wellness for teams is one membership for the whole firm, its leaders and their families. It holds inpatient, outpatient and dental care, diagnostics and health programmes in 13 cities, and a concierge arranges everything. The company receives one invoice, renewed once a year, and sees anonymised reporting only, with small groups left out, under a data processing agreement.

Outside the United States it takes the place of national plans at renewal, and in the United States it is the global layer above the medical plan. Leaders can start in one morning and the firm within 10 days. Doctors are GMC registered, and care is given through registered partner clinics and accredited laboratories. Nobody is refused care, and care beyond the plan is billed at the published fee.

Questions

What should a startup’s first health plan include?

It should cover the founders and leaders from the first day, give everyone quick access to a doctor, include a clinical route for mental health care, and work in every city where the company has people.

When should a startup start offering health benefits?

As early as the founders can, because the founders and first hires carry the most strain and a plan is simplest to set up while the team is small. A plan that adds people and cities to one contract avoids starting again with each office.

Are founders more likely to have mental health conditions?

One study of 242 entrepreneurs found that mental health differences had affected 72% of them, directly or through family history, although the sample was small and the answers were self-reported [1].

How does a health plan work when we open an office in another country?

With one membership the new office joins the same care and concierge on the same renewal date. Outside the United States it takes the place of a national plan, and in the United States it sits above the medical plan as the global layer.

Sources

Written and reviewed by the clinical team at The Wellness. Last reviewed 14 October 2026. This page is general information and not a substitute for advice from your own doctor.