Mental health in the workplace
Workplaces play a dual role in the area of mental health. On the one hand, they can be a stressful environment that contributes to mental health problems among workers. On the other hand, they can play an important part in helping to detect and manage mental health problems when they arise among workers, and in ensuring the healthy recovery and return of workers who are off work due to a mental health issue. IWH research in this area helps paint a clearer picture of the prevalence of mental health problems among workers, the types of labour force and workplace factors that may contribute to poor mental health, and the workplace-based and system prevention efforts that can help improve the mental health of workers and ensure they have the proper supports when needed.
Featured
At Work article
Injured workers face mental health challenges beyond diagnosable conditions
Workers with a work-related physical injury that takes them off the job can have a wide range of mental health experiences, beyond diagnosable conditions. That’s according to an IWH study which also found that differences in injured workers’ mental health were linked to return-to-work outcomes.
Published: April 9, 2025
At Work article
How employers are improving RTW outcomes for public safety workers with PSTI
Public safety employers face a range of challenges when supporting workers to return to work after experiencing a post-traumatic stress injury. Employers have developed strategies to face these challenges, as outlined in a recent IWH Speaker Series presentation.
Published: March 12, 2025
IWH Speaker Series
IWH Speaker Series
Understanding return to work in MSD claims versus psychological injuries, for younger workers versus older workers
What are the unique return-to-work challenges facing injured workers at the age of 55 and older? What about the challenges facing those with psychological injuries? Drawing on preliminary findings from a large-scale longitudinal cohort study in Victoria, Australia, IWH Senior Scientist Dr. Peter Smith discusses the differences in return-to-work by age group and by type of injury—and the implications for workers' compensation systems that were designed for worker demographics and work injuries that were very different from today's.
Published: September 2015
Project
Project
How RTW differs for workers with psychological injuries, older workers
Using workers' compensation data from the Australian state of Victoria, an IWH study investigates differences in the return-to-work experiences of workers with psychological injuries compared to those with musculoskeletal disorders, and of older workers compared to younger ones.
Status: Completed 2020
At Work article
At Work article
Mental health suffers among workers permanently impaired by job injury
Depression and related symptoms are more common among workers with permanent impairments following a work-related injury than in the general population, according to a new study from Trent University and the Research Action Alliance on the Consequences of Work Injury.
Published: April 2013
Journal article
Journal article
Systematic review of intervention practices for depression in the workplace
Published: Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation, January 2012
At Work article
At Work article
Increasing psychological demands elevate risk of depression
New, policy-relevant research from the Institute for Work & Health on Canadian workers finds that increases in job demands can increase the risk of depression.
Published: January 2012
IWH Speaker Series
IWH Speaker Series
The impact of job strain on the risk of depression
In this presentation, Dr. Peter Smith discusses a recent project that considered the impact of changes in job strain on the risk of depression. More specifically, this research assessed the impact of changes in dimensions of the psychosocial work environment – job control, psychological demands, job strain and social support – on the risk of depression in a longitudinal cohort of 3,735 Canadians. Results of this analysis are presented and discussed in this plenary.
Published: October 2011
At Work article
At Work article
Researching workplace depression: Where to go from here
More high quality research is needed to determine what types of programs will most effectively address depression in the workplace. But at least we know this type of research is possible.
Published: October 2011
Sharing Best Evidence
Effectiveness of interventions to address depression in the workplace
Little information is available on the effectiveness of workplace programs to target depression. This systematic review set out to provide such information. It searched the research literature to look for interventions for managing depression in the workplace that were effective from an employer's point of view.
Published: October 2011
At Work article
At Work article
Over-qualified immigrants at risk of poorer mental health
Many recent immigrants end up in jobs for which they are over-qualified, putting them at risk of poorer mental health within a relatively short period of time, according to a recent study from the Institute for Work & Health.
Published: May 2011
IWH Speaker Series
IWH Speaker Series
Systematic review on depression in the workplace
In this presentation, IWH scientists Dr. Andrea Furlan and Dr. William Gnam describe the findings of the study that aimed to determine which intervention approaches to manage depression in the workplace have been successful and yielded values for employers in developed economies.
Published: March 2011