Healthy and Productive Work

The Canadian workforce is changing. We are seeing important demographic trends in this country that will require innovative interventions, to enable a healthy and productive workforce now and in the decades to come.

• Women and men have different work and health needs due to differences in biology and social circumstances.
• More and more workers are balancing family caregiving responsibilities with paid work.
• Our workforce is aging. We are working longer and retiring later and there is a growing prevalence of people with chronic conditions in the workforce.
• An increasing number of workers are living and working with physical and mental health conditions.
• People with disabilities are underemployed compared to the rest of the population – a loss of a significant pool of talent.

The Healthy and Productive Work Initiative will respond to these challenges and opportunities. The initiative supports the development, implementation, evaluation and scaling up of evidence-based interventions (e.g. accomodations, tools and policies) taking into consideration sex, gender, age, and physical and mental health, to ultimately foster healthy, meaningful and productive work for all workers.

The Initiative brings together researchers and stakeholders to develop innovative and new approaches that support the health and productivity of Canada's diverse and changing workforce. The various stakeholders, which include workers, policy-makers, industry, employers, regulators, workplace safety and insurance boards, unions, and professional associations, face challenges and opportunities as they adapt to the unique needs and characteristics of the 21st century workforce.

Healthy and Productive Work is a joint initiative of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).

Date modified:

2015-12-20