From Data to Insights
Exploring Connections Between Health Worker Wellness and Workforce Pressures
Who this is for: Those who work with data to support health workforce planning and decision making.
What this is: An example focused on health worker wellness that illustrates how you can begin generating your own insights using data and information from Health Workforce Canada tools.
Why: There is a significant amount of health workforce data and information across Canada, but answering meaningful questions often requires layering multiple sources and viewing them through different lenses.
This example shows how pieces of data can lead to new questions or highlight areas that need deeper exploration, local expertise, and contextual information. It showcases a process for getting to answers that are more robust and relevant to local needs.
Publication date: March 26, 2026
Accessibility note: Accessible table versions of all charts are available at the bottom of this report. For optimal performance, we recommend viewing this page on a web browser rather than on a mobile device.
The big picture
Vacancies as a starting point for understanding workforce pressures
- Registered nurse (RNs) and personal support workers (PSWs), two of the largest health professions in Canada, have consistently recorded the highest vacancy counts.
- The pandemic period aligns with the sharpest increases across multiple professions. In recent years, some roles show signs of levelling off, potentially reflecting recovery or retention efforts.
- Vacancy counts show where positions are unfilled, but not whether the roles that remain filled are sustainable for those doing the work – connecting to wellness indicators can help shed light on this gap.
Consider the following:
- What additional indicators can help you understand the relative impact of factors such as retention, capacity, or growth in demand?
- Based on primary drivers, what next steps could you recommend for targeted improvement?
A closer look at key indicators
Experiences and perceptions of safety do not always align
- As two of the largest health care provider groups in Canada, PSWs and RNs report the highest number of injury-related lost-time claims yet were less likely to report feeling unsafe compared to other occupations.
- Since claims reflect absolute counts rather than rates per worker, higher volumes may reflect workforce size rather than elevated risk. Improved pan-Canadian supply data would enable rate-based comparisons and strengthen interpretation for planning.
- Despite this limitation, the gap raises questions about how risk is understood and reported across professions, and whether safety perceptions reflect workplace conditions or long-standing expectations about what is “part of the job” [1].
Consider the following:
- How might workplace culture and psychological safety, and how concerns are raised and handled, shape what gets reported and what gets addressed?
- What other measures could help you distinguish under-reporting from genuinely safer working conditions?
- What next steps are possible at various levels (e.g., provincial, regional, employer level) to improve the situation?
X-axis and Y-axis: Share of Health Standards Organization Global Workforce Survey respondents reporting feeling physically unsafe (x) vs. feeling psychologically unsafe (y) at work. Bubble size: Number of accepted injury-related lost-time claims reported by the Association of Workers’ Compensation Boards of Canada (AWCBC). Occupational categories were aligned across datasets for comparability. See Notes for additional details.
Burnout and turnover intention vary by care setting
Burnout and turnover intention tend to move together across care settings, though levels vary by setting [2,3].
Those working in community, home care, and mental health services reported higher levels, while those working in hospital or EMS roles reported lower levels.
Consider the following:
- How do features of the work environment or varying job expectations contribute to differences in results between care settings?
- How much do turnover intention and burnout rates align with actual turnover and retention data?
- What specific strategies could you develop to help mitigate burnout and improve retention in settings with the highest rates?
Injury types vary by occupation
- Harmful chemical and biological exposures account for a large share of reported injuries across occupations.
- Differences in other injury types, such as higher musculoskeletal injuries among PSWs, may reflect job demands, work environments, and reporting practices.
Consider the following:
- How does the occupation and work environment shape the specific injury patterns or exposures?
- How much do other factors such as overtime and understaffing play a role in injury risk?
- Who can you work with towards a multi-faceted approach that addresses larger staffing issues that increase risk of injury, while also responding to immediate safety concerns?
Planning for a safe and sustainable workforce
Available wellness indicators suggest that workforce pressures extend beyond staffing levels alone. Elevated injury claims, safety concerns, and higher levels of burnout and turnover intention in some care settings point to strain in day-to-day working conditions. While vacancy trends show where pressure is most visible, wellness indicators provide important context for understanding challenges in sustaining the workforce. More timely information is needed to support future planning. Health Workforce Canada’s Health Workforce Data Strategy outlines work underway and actions to strengthen the connectedness, timeliness, and comprehensiveness of health worker wellness data.
To explore these data in more detail and export them for your own work, visit the Provider Wellness and Employment dashboards.
Want to learn more about what is happening on the ground?
Try asking our Digital Front Door these questions to find resources:
- What strategies have reduced burnout and improved retention in home care and mental health settings?
- What approaches improve workplace safety reporting and address perception gaps in healthcare organizations?
- What are effective staffing models that balance vacancy management with worker sustainability?
Related resources
Notes
Notes, Sources and Accessible Table Versions
- Vacancy data is sourced from Statistics Canada Job Vacancy and Wage Survey (2015-2024) and can be explored on the Employment dashboard.
- Certain data is suppressed due to unreliability of the data or to meet confidentiality requirements.
- “Personal support workers” refers to nurse aides, orderlies and patient service associates (NOC 33102) and home support workers, caregivers and related occupations (NOC 44101).
- “Mental health workers” refers to psychologists (NOC 31200), social workers (NOC 41300), therapists in counselling and related specialized therapies (NOC 41301), and social and community service workers (NOC 42201).
- Data on perceived physical and psychological safety is sourced from the HSO Global Workforce Survey, and can be explored on the Provider Wellness dashboard.
- The HSO Global Workforce Survey data was collected between September and December 2022, with 10 064 responses from 32 065 invited workforce members (31% response rate). The survey was voluntary and anonymous, with all items self-reported; agreement scales were coded so that responses consistently reflect favorable experiences, including reversed coding for negatively worded questions.
- Data on injury claims is sourced from the National Work Injury/Disease Statistics Program (NWISP) of The Association of Workers’ Compensation Boards of Canada, HSO Global Workforce Survey, and can be explored on the Provider Wellness dashboard.
- It is important to note that they only reflect AWCBC-accepted lost time claims for injury resulting from a work-related event, exposure, or disease stemming from work environment conditions. This data therefore could likely capture a subset of these types of events and a reported value of 0 does not mean that type of event did not occur, only that there are no accepted lost time claims for that category.
For comparison between the Global Workforce Survey and AWCBC data, occupational labels were manually mapped; “personal support workers” is used as a common label for the occupational categories noted (*) below:
| HSO GWS | AWCBC NOC 2016 Code | AWCBC Occupation Title |
|---|---|---|
| Nurses | 3012 | Registered nurses and registered psychiatric nurses |
| 3233 | Licensed Practical Nurses | |
| Patient/resident/client care support workers * | 3413 | Nurse aides, orderlies and patient service associates * |
| Support staff | 3414 | Other Assisting Occupations in Support of Health Services |
| Physicians | 3111 | Specialist Physicians |
| 3112 | General Practitioners and Family Physicians | |
| Technical occupations in health | 3211 | Medical laboratory technologists |
| 3212 | Medical laboratory technicians and pathologists' assistants | |
| 3214 | Respiratory Therapists Clinical Perfusionists and Cardiopulmonary Technologists | |
| 3215 | Medical Radiation Technologists | |
| 3216 | Medical Sonographers | |
| 3217 | Cardiology technologists and electrophysiological diagnostic technologists n.e.c. | |
| 3219 | Other Medical Technologists and Technicians (Except Dental Health) |
References
- Kyung, M., Lee, J., & Park, J. (2023). Underreporting of workers’ injuries or illnesses and contributing factors: A systematic review. BMC Public Health, 23, Article 558
- Orr T, White J, McLeod CB, Nelson E. Burnout-related turnover intentions among Canadian healthcare workers. Healthcare Management Forum. 2025.
- Balakrishnar K, McLeod CB, Nelson E, White J. Factors associated with burnout and intention to leave among Canadian nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic. BMC Health Services Research. 2025.
Text version of charts
Table 1: Vacancy growth across health professions
| Fiscal year | Profession | Average Number of Vacancies |
|---|---|---|
| 2015/2016 | Licensed practical nurses | 1540 |
| Mental health workers | 3510 | |
| Nurse practitioners | 45 | |
| Personal support workers | 6175 | |
| Pharmacists | 110 | |
| Registered nurses | 6735 | |
| 2016/2017 | Licensed practical nurses | 2260 |
| Mental health workers | 3475 | |
| Nurse practitioners | 55 | |
| Personal support workers | 4720 | |
| Pharmacists | 295 | |
| Registered nurses | 7125 | |
| 2017/2018 | Licensed practical nurses | 2745 |
| Mental health workers | 2915 | |
| Nurse practitioners | 75 | |
| Personal support workers | 4855 | |
| Pharmacists | 180 | |
| Registered nurses | 8185 | |
| 2018/2019 | Licensed practical nurses | 3575 |
| Mental health workers | 6495 | |
| Nurse practitioners | 220 | |
| Personal support workers | 9070 | |
| Pharmacists | 385 | |
| Registered nurses | 10395 | |
| 2019/2020 | Licensed practical nurses | 3915 |
| Mental health workers | 7290 | |
| Nurse practitioners | 180 | |
| Personal support workers | 16345 | |
| Pharmacists | 325 | |
| Registered nurses | 12005 | |
| 2020/2021 | Licensed practical nurses | 7720 |
| Mental health workers | 10400 | |
| Nurse practitioners | 310 | |
| Personal support workers | 24455 | |
| Pharmacists | 530 | |
| Registered nurses | 20855 | |
| 2021/2022 | Licensed practical nurses | 10260 |
| Mental health workers | 14215 | |
| Nurse practitioners | 215 | |
| Personal support workers | 23120 | |
| Pharmacists | 775 | |
| Registered nurses | 21860 | |
| 2022/2023 | Licensed practical nurses | 12350 |
| Mental health workers | 17905 | |
| Nurse practitioners | 425 | |
| Personal support workers | 27110 | |
| Pharmacists | 935 | |
| Registered nurses | 24840 | |
| 2023/2024 | Licensed practical nurses | 12795 |
| Mental health workers | 16420 | |
| Nurse practitioners | 505 | |
| Personal support workers | 22260 | |
| Pharmacists | 1505 | |
| Registered nurses | 28160 |
Table 2: Safety perception vs. injury volume by profession (2022)
| Profession | Physically unsafe (%) | Psychologically unsafe (%) | Sample size (survey respondents) | Total injury claims |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Registered nurses/licensed practical nurses | 22.4 | 34.7 | 1908 | 29922 |
| Personal support workers | 12 | 16.4 | 2528 | 41311 |
| Support Staff | 9.9 | 16.5 | 794 | 8578 |
| Physicians | 20.6 | 45.6 | 68 | 305 |
| Health technicians | 30.2 | 53.8 | 344 | 2198 |
Table 3: Burnout and turnover intention by care setting (2022)
| Care Setting | Burnout (%) | Turnover intent (%) | Sample size (survey respondents) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nursing home/long-term care centre | 45.4 | 45.1 | 2785 |
| Home care services | 59.9 | 52.9 | 1800 |
| Hospital | 35.3 | 35.6 | 2691 |
| Other community | 49.6 | 41.8 | 999 |
| Mental health care | 51.2 | 49 | 410 |
| Primary care | 42.7 | 46.3 | 246 |
| Emergency medical services | 22.9 | 25.7 | 144 |
Table 4: Workplace Injury Patterns by Occupation
| Occupation | Injury event type | Number of injury claims | Percent of total injury claims (%) | Total injury claims |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Personal support workers | Musculoskeletal /Patient handling | 9794 | 23.7 | 41311 |
| Workplace violence | 2070 | 5.0 | ||
| Falls | 2395 | 5.8 | ||
| Harmful exposures | 25298 | 61.2 | ||
| Equipment contact | 1371 | 3.3 | ||
| Registered nurses | Musculoskeletal /Patient handling | 2562 | 13.8 | 18575 |
| Workplace violence | 789 | 4.2 | ||
| Falls | 670 | 3.6 | ||
| Harmful exposures | 14027 | 75.5 | ||
| Equipment contact | 452 | 2.4 | ||
| Licensed practical nurses | Musculoskeletal /Patient handling | 1692 | 14.9 | 11347 |
| Workplace violence | 496 | 4.4 | ||
| Falls | 430 | 3.8 | ||
| Harmful exposures | 8394 | 74.0 | ||
| Equipment contact | 284 | 2.5 | ||
| Support staff | Musculoskeletal /Patient handling | 1284 | 15.0 | 8578 |
| Workplace violence | 197 | 2.3 | ||
| Falls | 390 | 4.5 | ||
| Harmful exposures | 6326 | 73.7 | ||
| Equipment contact | 301 | 3.5 |