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
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
Project
Developing recommendations for an integrated approach to workplace health protection and health promotion
Status: Completed 2020
IWH in the media
Sitting or standing too much at work? New video addresses ways to lower associated health risks
Sitting or standing for prolonged periods may adversely affect workers’ health, according to several recent studies. So, what should workers do? In a video titled Sitting or standing? Which is best?, two IWH researchers behind the studies answer that question to help clarify their recent research.
Published: Safety + Health, December 2018
Video
Video
Sitting or standing? Which is best?
If you’re confused by seemingly duelling headlines about the negative health effects of prolonged sitting and prolonged standing, this video may help clear things up. Two of the scientists behind these headlines work at the Institute for Work & Health, so we put them before the camera, side by side, to sort out the take-away message.
Published: November 2018
Research Highlights
Facilities near or at work and off-hours exercise levels
Three in four working Canadians have access near or at their work to a gym, a sports field, a pleasant place to walk, a fitness program, an organized sports team, a health promotion program or a shower/change room. Leisure-time exercise levels are highest for workers with access to all the above. They are twice as likely to exercise in their off-hours as workers with access to none of these.
Published: August 2018
At Work article
Workplace facilities and environments can help workers exercise during off-hours
Three in four Canadians have access to parks, gyms, shower rooms or other facilities near or at their work. Do these facilities encourage them to exercise more during their off-time? A new study says yes.
Published: April 2018
Journal article
Journal article
Is promoting six hours of standing an appropriate public health message?
Published: European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, March 2018
Journal article
Journal article
The relationship between occupational standing and sitting and incident heart disease over a 12-year period in Ontario, Canada
Published: American Journal of Epidemiology, January 2018