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Today's labor market has changed over time, shifting from mostly full-time, secure, and standard employment relationships to mostly entrepreneurial and precarious working arrangements. In this context, self-employment (SE), a prominent type of precarious work, has been growing rapidly due to globalization, automation, technological advances, and the rise of the 'gig' economy, among other factors. Employment precarity profoundly impacts workers' health and well-being by undermining the comprehensiveness of social security systems, including occupational health and safety systems. This study examined how self-employed (SE'd) workers sought out support from informal support systems following illness, injury, and income reduction or loss. Based on in-depth interviews with 24 solo SE'd people in Ontario, Canada, narrative analysis was conducted of participants' experiences with available informal supports following illness or injury. We identified three main ways that SE'd workers managed to sustain their businesses during periods of need: (i) by relying on savings; (ii) accessing loans and financial support through social networks, and (iii) receiving emotional and practical support. We conclude that SE'd workers managed to survive despite social security system coverage gaps by drawing on informal support systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Today's labor market has changed over time, shifting from mostly full-time, secured, and standard employment relationships to mostly entrepreneurial and precarious working arrangements. Thus, self-employment (SE) has been growing rapidly in recent decades due to globalization, automation, technological advances, and the recent rise of the 'gig' economy, among other factors. Accordingly, more than 60% of workers worldwide are non-standard and precarious. This precarity profoundly impacts workers' health and well-being, undermining the comprehensiveness of social security systems. This study aims to examine the experiences of self-employed (SE'd) workers on how they are protected with available social security systems following illness, injury, and income reduction or loss. Methods: Drawing on in-depth interviews with 24 solo SE'd people in Ontario (January – July 2021), thematic analysis was conducted based on participants' narratives of experiences with available security systems following illness or injury. The dataset was analyzed using NVIVO qualitative software to elicit narratives and themes. Findings: Three major themes emerged through the narrative analysis: (i) policy-practice (mis)matching, (ii) compromise for a decent life, and (iii) equity in work and benefits. Conclusions: Meagre government-provided formal supports may adversely impact the health and wellbeing of self-employed workers. This study points to ways that statutory social protection programs should be decoupled from benefits provided by employers. Instead, government can introduce a comprehensive program that may compensate or protect low-income individuals irrespective of employment status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Injured workers can experience adverse effects from work injury and claims processes.Workers may be treated unfairly by employers, compensation boards, and return-to-work coordinators; however,how workers respond to these challenges is unknown. This article describes how injured precarious workersresponded behaviourally and emotionally to procedural unfairness in work injury and claims processes, and whatworkers did next. Methods: Interviews were conducted with thirty-six precariously employedinjured workers recruited in Ontario through social media, email, cold calling, word-of-mouth, and the "snowball"method. Thematic code summaries were analyzed to identify how precarious workers responded to procedural unfairness. Results: Workers went through all or most of these five stages (not always linearly)when faced with procedural unfairness: (1) passive, (2) fought back, (3) quit pursuit of claim, (4) quit job, and (5)won or got further in fight. Feeling confused, angry, frustrated, unsupported, disappointed, determined, optimistic,and wary were common emotions. Conclusions: Identifying unfairness and its emotional,behavioral, and material effects on workers is important to understand implications for compensation systems.Understanding and recognizing unfairness can equip employers, legal representatives, compensation boards, andphysicians, to address and prevent it, and provide worker resources. Policy changes can ensure accountability andconsequences to unfairness initiators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: As they deliver food, packages, and people across cities, digital platform drivers (gig workers) are in a key position to become infected with COVID‐19 and transmit it to many others. The aim of this study is to identify perceived COVID‐19 exposure and job risks faced by workers and document the measures in place to protect their health, and how workers responded to these measures. Methods: In 2020–2021, in‐depth interviews were conducted in Ontario, Canada, with 33 digital platform drivers and managers across nine platforms that delivered food, packages, or people. Interviews focused on perceived COVID‐19 risks and mitigation strategies. Audio recordings were transcribed verbatim and uploaded to NVivo software for coding by varied dual pairs of researchers. A Stakeholder Advisory Committee played an instrumental role in the study. Results: As self‐employed workers were without the protection of employment and occupational health standards, platform workers absorbed most of the occupational risks related to COVID‐19. Despite safety measures (e.g., contactless delivery) and financial support for COVID‐19 illnesses introduced by platform companies, perceived COVID‐19 risks remained high because of platform‐related work pressures, including rating systems. We identify five key COVID‐19 related risks faced by the digital platform drivers. Conclusion: We situate platform drivers within the broad context of precarious employment and recommend organizational‐ and government‐level interventions to prevent digital platform worker COVID‐19 risks and to assist workers ill with COVID‐19. Measures to protect the health of platform workers would benefit public health aims by reducing transmission by drivers to families, customers, and consequently, the greater population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The objective of this study was to explore how workers' compensation policies related to healthcare provision for workers with musculoskeletal injuries can affect the delivery and trajectories of care for injured workers. The principal research question was: What are the different ways in which workers' compensation (WC) policies inform and transform the practices of healthcare providers (HCPs) caring for injured workers? Methods: We conducted a cross-jurisdictional policy analysis. We conducted qualitative interviews with 42 key informants from a variety of perspectives in the provinces of Ontario and Quebec in Canada, the state of Victoria in Australia and the state of Washington in the United States. The main methodological approach was Framework Analysis. Results: We identified two main themes: (1) Shaping HCPs' clinical practices and behaviors with injured workers. In this theme, we illustrate how clinical practice guidelines and non-economic and economic incentives were used by WCs to drive HCP's behaviours with workers; (2) Controlling workers' trajectories of care. This theme presents how WC policies achieve control of the workers' trajectory of care via different policy mechanisms, namely the standardization of care pathways and the power and autonomy vested in HCPs. Conclusions: This policy analysis shed light on the different ways in which WC policies shape HCP's day-to-day practices and workers' trajectories. A better understanding and a nuanced portrait of these policies' impacts can help support reflections on future policy changes and inform policy development in other jurisdictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose Work injury and return to work processes can have adverse effects on injured workers and their families. Family members may experience increased workloads, role reversals, dissolution of marriages or changes in relationships with children, as well as financial strain from loss of income. How these associations interact when the injured worker is precariously employed, however, is unknown. The aim of this study was to explore the impacts of work-related injury or illness as well as subsequent compensation and return to work processes on families and relationships of precariously employed workers. Methods Interviews were conducted with fifteen precariously employed injured workers recruited through on-line advertising, injured worker groups, and social media platforms in Ontario. Situational analysis was used to identify how family members were affected and their role throughout the injury process. Results Precariously employed injured workers felt caught between self-interested employers and disinterested workers' compensation. In some cases, this led to deteriorated mental health and well-being. The worker's difficulties with RTW challenged financial security of families and affected their day-to-day normal routines. While some workers received emotional and instrumental support from their family members, others had their families fall apart when chronic disability and unemployment proved to be too much. Conclusions This study addressed the complex ways that work injury and illness among precariously employed workers interact with family life and relationships. Findings illustrate how the income and employment insecurity associated with precarious employment has ripple effects on workers and their families when they become injured. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: First‐line health care providers are the primary access point for workers' benefits. However, little is known about their impact on quality of care and return‐to‐work. Our objective was to critically compare literature on the practices of first‐line providers for workers with musculoskeletal injuries in Ontario and Quebec (Canada), Washington State (United States), and Victoria (Australia). Methods: A critical interpretive synthesis of peer‐reviewed scientific literature was conducted. The search across six databases yielded 59 relevant publications that were critically appraised. Results: Three themes emerged: 1) how policies about first‐line health care providers' modulate worker access to care, 2) how these providers' roles, practices, and training shape disability management, and 3) how the quality of care and disability outcomes are evaluated. Conclusions: First‐line health care providers have a critical influence on workers' trajectories of care. A focus on their role while taking the complexity of the context into account will help orient future policy changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The issue of communications in the public space, and in particular, in the workplace, became critical in the early stages of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and was exacerbated by the stress of the drastic transformation of the organization of work, the speed with which new information was being made available, and the constant fear of being infected or developing a more severe or even fatal form of the disease. Although effective communication is the key to fighting a pandemic, some business sectors were more vulnerable and affected than others, and the individuals in particular socio-demographic and economic categories were proportionately more affected by the number of infections and hospitalizations, and by the number of deaths. Therefore, the aim of this article is to present data related to issues faced by essential workers interacting with the public and their employers to mitigate the contagion of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) at work., Methods: Following the constructivist paradigm, an interpretative qualitative design was used to conduct one-on-one interviews with precarious/low-wage, public-contact workers ( N = 40), managers ( N = 16), and key informants ( N = 16) on topics related to their work environments in the context of COVID-19 prevention., Results: This article has highlighted some aspects of communication in the workplace essential to preventing COVID-19 outbreaks (e.g., access to information in a context of fast-changing instructions, language proficiency, transparency and confidentiality in the workplace, access to clear guidelines). The impact of poor pre-pandemic working relations on crisis management in the workplace also emerged., Discussion: This study reminds us of the need to develop targeted, tailored messages that, while not providing all the answers, maintain dialog and transparency in workplaces., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Côté, MacEachen, Huynh, León, Laberge, Meyer, Majowicz, Amoako, Jahangir and Dubé.)

Background: Governments introduced emergency measures to address the shortage of homecare workers and unmet care needs in Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic., Objective: This article aims to describe how policies impacted home care and identifies the potential risks for clientele and staff., Method: Experts in home care (n = 15) were interviewed about policies that affect health and safety for homecare recipients., Results: New recruitment strategies, condensed education and rapid hiring during the pandemic did not lead to the recruitment of sufficient workers, but increased the potential for recruitment of unsuitable workers or workers with little training., Conclusion: It is important to consider the unintended effects of emergency policy measures and to manage the effects of such policies on homecare clients., (Copyright © 2022 Longwoods Publishing.)

In light of COVID-19 and elevated concerns for the health of older Canadians receiving care, this Policy and Practice Note explores the confluence of the current home care policy landscape and the organisation of personal support worker (PSW) work, and highlights the need to consider governance of PSW work generally, and in-home and community care especially. PSWs are currently not professionally regulated, nor is there a central site documenting location, education, or any form of verification of the PSW workforce. Home care PSWs often provide physical care in isolated settings with no in-person supervision. In home and community health care, complaints about PSWs can be scattered among different service providers or client files not linked to or searchable by PSW name. This policy note explores how these factors and the currently unregulated status of PSWs affect home care safety in general as well as in the context of COVID-19, Ontario's decentralised home care system, and efforts towards professional regulation.

Self-employment (SE) is a growing precarious work arrangement internationally. In the current digital age, SE appears in configurations and contours that differ from the labor market of 50 years ago and is part of a 'paradigm shift' from manufacturing/managerial capitalism to entrepreneurial capitalism. Our purpose in this paper is to reflect on how a growing working population of self-employed people accesses social support systems when they are not working due to injury and sickness in the two comparable countries of Canada and Australia. We adopted 'interpretive policy analysis' as a methodological framework and searched a wide range of documents related to work disability policy and practice, including official data, legal and policy texts from both countries, and five prominent academic databases. Three major themes emerged from the policy review and analysis: (i) defining self-employment: contested views; (ii) the relationship between misclassification of SE and social security systems; (iii) existing social security systems for workers and self-employed workers: Ontario and NSW. Our comparative discussion leads us toward conclusions about what might need to be done to better protect self-employed workers in terms of reforming the existing social security systems for the countries. Because of similarities and differences in support available for SE'd workers in the two countries, our study provides insights into what might be required to move the different countries toward sustainable labour markets for their respective self-employed populations.

There is increasing demand for comprehensive community healthcare that integrates community mental health and primary care services. The Canadian Mental Health Association-Durham Branch provides an example of how the Integrated Health Hub (IHH) Model evolved organically to meet this need. The Framework Method was used to analyze interviews and focus groups with 29 participants. Results reveal five key domains critical to the development of the IHH Model (1) Communication; (2) Hub 'Nuances'; (3) Leadership; (4) Staff; and (5) Challenges. These findings provide insights for other community mental health organizations wishing to provide comprehensive integrated community healthcare services.