Overview  

Mission

The Center for Work, Health, & Well-being provides research findings and evidence-based tools and resources that improve working conditions and support the safety, health, and well-being of workers. Our studies demonstrate how work itself can benefit or harm employee well-being, with health and safety implications for both workers and organizations.  

Business Case

There is a strong and compelling business case for employers to implement initiatives and utilize evidence-based resources developed from the Center’s research. Improving working conditions to support worker health, safety, and well-being benefits both workers and employers. Comprehensive efforts to promote worker health and well-being as well as address safety risks can reduce costs and improve both productivity and retention.  

The work of our Center contributes to employers’ efforts to improve workplace policies, programs and practices, in addition to informing public policy. For example, our research in the healthcare industry indicates that health care costs and workers’ compensation premiums are directly related to workers’ experiences of stressors, such as bullying at work, and that work scheduling may have significant implications for turnover. Our research also shows that when employers demonstrate a commitment to worker well-being through supportive policies and improved working conditions, additional benefits may accrue, such as improved job satisfaction and worker engagement.  

History

In 2006, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) launched the Total Worker Health^® (TWH) initiative to expand the science, education, and training related to a holistic approach to worker safety, health, and well-being. Total Worker Health is defined as policies, programs, and practices that integrate protection from work-related safety and health hazards with promotion of injury and illness prevention efforts to advance worker well-being. The Center was one of four original NIOSH TWH Centers of Excellence, established in 2007. We conduct groundbreaking research, disseminate evidence-based practices, shape workplace and public policy, and build the capacity of organizations and practitioners to implement TWH approaches to worker safety and health. Our NIOSH funding was renewed in 2011, 2016 and 2021, and has been supplemented by multiple other funding sources.   

Our Center is a multidisciplinary and multi-institution collaboration, with projects over the years based at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston College School of Social Work, Northeastern Bouvé College of Health Sciences, MIT Sloan School of Management, Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis, and the University of Kansas Medical Center. We also have longstanding collaborations with many researchers and employers, including Mass General Brigham, Boston University School of Public Health, HealthPartners of Minnesota and a wide range of other stakeholders. Our Center collaborates with academic institutions, departments of public health, labor organizations, and other non-profit and for-profit entities to conduct research and translate our research findings into best practices and policies that help organizations create safe and healthy workplaces.