Workplace wellness and health promotion
The majority of working-aged people spend most of their waking hours at work. IWH research examines the impact of the work environment on worker health and wellbeing, as well as the effectiveness of workplace health and wellness promotion initiatives on workers’ physical activity and other health behaviours.
Featured

IWH Speaker Series
Engaging employees in wellness: Insights from workplace champions
Published: October 21, 2025

IWH Speaker Series
How the physical and social environment shape commuters' choices to bike or walk
Published: October 15, 2024
IWH Speaker Series
IWH Speaker Series
Engaging employees in wellness: Insights from workplace champions
Champions are often cited as important facilitators of employee participation in workplace wellbeing activities. However, little is known about their experiences or the approaches they take to engage colleagues in wellbeing efforts. Understanding how formal and informal champions carry out these roles is essential to appreciating their potential impact and determining what supports are needed to strengthen their contributions to workplace wellbeing. In this presentation, Dr. Aviroop Biswas shares findings from a qualitative study of workplace wellbeing champions across Canada. The study explored how formal and informal champions promote wellbeing within their organizations—as well as their motivations, the activities and strategies they use, and the successes and challenges they face in engaging peers across diverse organizational contexts.
Published: October 2025
Journal article
Journal article
Does remote work promote exercise and cardiovascular health? Current evidence and future directions
Published: Canadian Journal of Cardiology, March 2025
IWH Speaker Series
IWH Speaker Series
How the physical and social environment shape commuters' choices to bike or walk
Research shows that only 20 per cent of full-time workers in Canada meet recommended physical activity levels—likely due to time constraints and inflexible work schedules. As many individuals incorporate walking and biking into their daily commutes, finding ways to support and enhance these practical forms of exercise may help increase overall physical activity among workers. In this presentation, Dr. Avi Biswas shares results from a recent study examining how Canadians' decisions to walk or bike to work may be shaped by both the physical environment (e.g., walkability, cycling infrastructure, air pollution) and social environment (e.g., degree of marginalization and deprivation).
Published: October 2024

Impact case study
Moving research into practice in a program about movement
Nova Scotia's Make Your Move at Work (MYMAW) program is designed to help employers support their employees in adding more movement to the workday. It was informed by IWH research on Canadian workers' movement patterns and health, and how employers can integrate health promotion activities into the workplace.
Published: September 2024
Journal article
Journal article
Telework and 24-h movement behaviours among adults living in Canada during the Covid-19 pandemic
Published: Preventative Medicine, June 2024
Project
Project
Exploring how daily patterns of sleep and activity affect the risk of cardiovascular disease and mortality among Canadian workers
This study sets out to understand how daily activity patterns–including time spent sleeping, being sedentary and doing physical activity of varying levels of intensity—are associated with risks of heart disease and early death. It will also identify the effects of changing the duration of sleep and activity on health outcomes of workers in physically and psychologically demanding jobs.
Status: Ongoing
Journal article
Journal article
Identifying the sociodemographic and work-related factors related to workers' daily physical activity using a decision tree approach
Published: BMC Public Health, September 2023

Research Highlights
Associations between physical activity patterns and cardiometabolic health in Canadian working adults
According to an IWH study, Canadian workers typically fall into six patterns of daily movement. These six patterns are associated with varying levels of cardiometabolic disease risk. In general, workers with higher daily activity levels had lower levels of cardiometabolic disease risk factors, but those with moderate activity also showed lower risk factors.
Published: June 2023
Journal article
Journal article
Daily accelerometer-measured physical activity patterns and associations with cardiometabolic health among Canadian working adults
Published: Health Reports, March 2023
Infographic
Infographic
Ideal daily physical activity patterns for heart health
What daily physical activity pattern is best for your heart health? To answer this question, researchers at the Institute for Work & Health analyzed activity tracker data in a nationally representative sample of 8,909 workers and their 10-year risk of heart disease. This infographic compares how Canadian workers get their exercise—and the implications for their cardiovascular health.
Published: October 2022