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
At Work article
Neighbourhood infrastructure such as bike paths, bus routes shape workers’ active commuting patterns
The built environments around where we work and live can play an important role in shaping our decision to walk, bike or take public transit to work. That's according to a joint study that examines Canadians' active commuting habits based on the social and built characteristics of their neighbourho
Published: April 29, 2026
IWH Speaker Series
Engaging employees in wellness: Insights from workplace champions
Published: October 21, 2025
Journal article
Journal article
Occupational physical activity as a target for obesity prevention: a lack of effect or a lack of evidence?
Published: Occupational and Environmental Medicine, January 2021
Research Highlights
Physical activity levels and work factors over 12 years
Over a 12-year-period, Canadians whose jobs became more physically or mentally demanding became slightly less likely to exercise more. They were also slightly less likely to exercise more when working long hours or working in jobs that offered them little say in how to use their skills.
Published: April 2020
IWH Speaker Series
IWH Speaker Series
Developing practical recommendations for integrating workplace safety and wellness initiatives
Workplace wellness programs that also emphasize occupational health and safety (OHS) activities can have greater benefits to the overall health and safety of workers than those that focus on OHS or individual behaviour change alone. When OHS and wellness efforts are coordinated and not in competition for organizational resources, they also benefit the broader organization. In this presentation, Dr. Avi Biswas draws on a recently concluded study to offer practical guidance to employers on integrating safety and wellness activities. He outlines findings of a review of existing research, cross-referenced with stakeholder insights, and highlights what matters most to workplaces when integrating safety and wellness initiatives.
Published: February 2020
Journal article
Journal article
Changes in work factors and concurrent changes in leisure time physical activity: a 12-year longitudinal analysis
Published: Occupational and Environmental Medicine, February 2020
At Work article
Understanding employment patterns among older workers in four countries
In many developed countries, including Canada, encouraging older workers to stay in the workforce is a common policy goal. But what do we know about current work participation patterns among people older than 65? A new study involving IWH looks at data in Canada, the U.K., Denmark and Sweden.
Published: October 2019
Research Highlights
Examining the link between working conditions and tobacco-smoking habits
People who work or have worked in physically demanding jobs are about twice as likely as people whose jobs are not physically demanding to be heavy smokers. Workers in jobs with low social support, low skill discretion and high psychological demands are also more likely than workers in healthier environments to be heavy smokers.
Published: June 2019
Research Highlights
Understanding the types of Ontario workplaces that offer both wellness and OHS programs
Most Ontario workplaces offer few wellness initiatives. The ones that offer a variety of wellness initiatives and have high-performing OHS programs tend to be large workplaces with people-oriented cultures.
Published: June 2019
Journal article
Journal article
Inequalities in employment rates among older men and women in Canada, Denmark, Sweden and the UK
Published: BMC Public Health, March 2019
Project
Project
Understanding the activity patterns of Canadians at work and outside of work, and their association with overall health
Status: Completed 2021
Project
Project
Developing recommendations for an integrated approach to workplace health protection and health promotion
Status: Completed 2020