Phoebus Software offers its 109 employees a suite of life-saving benefits, giving HR and reward teams at smaller employers a practical model for embedding mental health, cancer and emergency support into everyday benefits provision, rather than treating it as a capability reserved for much larger organisations.

Phoebus Software, founded in 1997 and headquartered in Solihull, is a mortgage and lending servicing software provider for banks and building societies, operating across the UK and Ireland.

The strategic logic bundles mental health, cancer and emergency support into a single benefits architecture, rather than offering isolated perks, letting a 109-person employer deliver protections typically associated with much larger organisations.

Kate Langton, chief people officer at Phoebus Software, said employers have a duty of care to support their employees, but that the company goes beyond this because it wants people to thrive at work rather than just survive. She said this approach feeds through to engagement, happiness and client-facing passion, and that providing an environment where employees can do their best work is important for employers more broadly.

The structural driver is bundled, duty-of-care-led benefits design: employer-funded private medical insurance with a mental health support pathway and cancer pathway, a free 24/7 employee assistance programme covering counselling for employees and their families, wellness webinars on topics including heart health, nutrition and stress management, a funded Calm app subscription, a £250 annual wellness allowance, and eight trained mental health first aiders who receive regular refresher training that goes beyond statutory health and safety requirements. Emergency and compassionate leave, flexible and hybrid working, and a working-from-abroad policy round out the wider support offered to staff.

For the sector, the case signals that smaller employers are increasingly matching large-employer wellbeing provision through bundled, duty-of-care-led benefits design, positioning comprehensive welfare support as achievable at modest headcount rather than requiring substantial HR budgets.

Source: Employee Benefits