Futures of Work & Health 2040
Institute for Work & Health
The Institute for Work & Health (IWH) is an independent, not-for-profit organization, conducting and mobilizing research that supports policymakers, employers and workers in creating healthy, safe and inclusive work environments.
To advance their research to account for a rapidly changing world of work, IWH sought external facilitation support to drive their strategic foresight activities to examine a range of emerging changes - social, technological, economic, environmental, political and values-based - that may impact the intersection between work and health. IWH wanted to build upon a horizon scan conducted in 2019 to update this research to understand possible implications and emerging research imperatives on a 10 to 15 year time horizon.
IWH engaged Creative Futures to host a global and collaborative horizon scanning process to generate insights that could be used to improve planning processes by practitioners, researchers and policymakers.
Approach:
Creative Futures and IWH worked collaboratively to conduct a horizon scanning project focused on identifying changes that may impact the next 10-15 years. It included the following key activities:
Kicked-off the project with 18 occupational health & safety researchers and practitioners from Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Spain;
Hosted strategic foresight training sessions for all researchers and project participants;
Designed and facilitated a collaborative horizon scanning process that included a series of “Scan Clubs” between February and May 2025;
Scan Club sessions resulted in ~400 signals of change impacting the futures of work and health;
Synthesized signals of change collected by the collaborative research group to identify seven major changes shaping the future of work and health in 2040;
Developed the final report and engaged with a graphic designer; and,
Developed a final presentation deck to share the key findings with governments and other audiences.
Results:
The final report was published January 2026 and highlights seven major changes shaping the future of work and health in 2040, including transformations across technology, climate, the economy, politics and society. It includes key questions for OHS professionals, policy makers and researchers to consider. The final report has been widely downloaded and received national and international attention. IWH has been requested to present the findings for multiple conferences and collaborators.
“Heather and Jessica are thoughtful, collaborative strategic foresight specialists. They brought strong preparation, clear communication, and energy to their work with our team at the Institute for Work & Health. Their contributions to two projects helped us generate valuable, future-focused insights that can drive our academic research on the future of work and occupational health and safety. I wouldn’t hesitate to work with them again.”
“Having been involved in robust foresight studies on work in the past (notably with INRS and Futuribles), I learned how difficult this exercise is. Without a sound methodology, it can easily descend into confusion (multiplicity of scenarios) or oversimplification (omission of the systemic dimension). Work is difficult to grasp in its complexity (see: “How will we work tomorrow?”). The IWH’s strategic foresight avoids these pitfalls. Many fundamental questions are raised in 56 pages.”