Future of work
A curated resource of recent research on trends shaping Canada's labour market.
This paper explores the relationship between mental health, labour market attachment and protective health measures at work. The researchers surveyed over 5000 respondents, measuring anxiety and depression symptoms, as well as their perceived adequacy and implementation of infection control programs and personal protective equipment at their workplace. The respondents were grouped between unemployed, remote workers and site-based workers with 0%, 1-49%, 50-99% and 100% ICP/PPE needs being met. Initial analyses showed remote workers with the lowest levels of anxiety and depression symptoms, but after including perceived adequacy and implementation of protective health measures at work – site-based workers with all ICP/PPE needs met had the lowest level of anxiety and depressive symptoms out of all groups. This research supports the importance of infection control programs in workplaces and the impact they have on workers mental health.