The Thriving Workers, Thriving Workplaces Study: Identifying relationships between working conditions (such as supervisor support, safety climate, or scheduling) and workplace policies and practices, with workers’ thriving from work

People employed in sectors with high risk for work-related injury and ill-health, such as construction, healthcare, and warehouse workers, are exposed to hazards in their work environment and organization that influence their health and well-being. This study seeks to understand the ways in which work shapes the extent workers thrive from their work across these three sectors.

Project Lead: Susan Peters, PhD, BOccThy(Hons)
Project Co-Lead: Gregory Wagner, MD 

The Thriving Workers, Thriving Workplaces Study defines “thriving from work” as the state of positive mental, physical, and social functioning in which workers’ experiences of their work and working conditions enable them to thrive in their overall lives, contributing to their ability to achieve their full potential in their work, home, and community. To examine thriving from work across multiple work settings, this study will use cross-sectional data from hospital workers, cross-sectional data from warehouse workers, and a longitudinal observational cohort of workers and their managers in commercial construction.

This study will test hypotheses for workers’ thriving based on the following project aims:

• identify how working conditions (such as supervisor support, safety climate, or scheduling), and worker characteristics (race, ethnicity, age, gender, and occupation) are associated with workers’ thriving across sectors;
• determine the extent to which working conditions influence changes in workers’ thriving over time in a longitudinal observational study in the construction sector; and
• determine the extent to which organizational integrated health and safety policies, programs and practices are associated with workers’ thriving in the construction and healthcare sectors.

Our findings have the potential to improve work environments and the design of these jobs to improve the overall health and well-being of workers.

Project Timeline: September 1, 2022 – August 31, 2026