Section 1:
Workplace environment
Employees feel safe, but nearly half have experienced, or know someone who has experienced, a workplace accident or work-related illness.
Our 2025 results show that 81% of workers in the USA and Canada feel safe in their workplace. 71% agree that employers are good at working with workplace environment issues as well as involving staff.
What is 'workplace environment'?
The term workplace environment can encompass many things. For the purposes of this survey, ‘workplace environment’ refers to everything that affects how we feel at work:
- Physically
- Mentally
- Socially
However, almost half of workers in both the USA and Canada had personally experienced, or had a relative who experienced, a workplace accident or work-related illness.
Psychosocial risks are a major cause of harm — especially for Canadian workers
Stress is a significantly more common contributor to work-related accidents or illnesses in Canada than in the U.S. Of the workers who said they or a relative had experienced a work-related accident or illness, 68% of Canadian respondents identified stress as a factor compared to 44% in the U.S.
A positive work environment is a top priority for North American employees
83% of workers say that workplace environment is an important factor when choosing an employer. 80% of all workers say they would consider leaving their employer due to a poor workplace environment.
When asked to rank their top 8 associations for the term ‘workplace environment,’ North American respondents listed ‘My colleagues’ in 1st place. In the U.S., workers ranked “The company environment I am in” second, followed by “Flexible working hours” third.
Canadian respondents flipped those two, placing “Flexible working hours” second and “The company environment I am in” third.
As for the bottom workplace environment associations, these did not differ substantially between the USA and Canada, with ‘That I can decide how to organize my work’ in 1st with ‘Being able to work partially from home’ and ‘Stress in the form of having too much to do’ tied for 2nd place.
Summary of Section 1
- While the majority of respondents in the USA and Canada say that they feel safe in their workplace, almost half of workers have experienced, or know someone who has experienced, a work-related accident or illness. In this case, perception does not equal protection.
- This could suggest under-reporting of incidents, or tolerance of preventable risk
- Most respondents who reported experiencing a work-related incident or illness (or knowing someone who has) say it was stress-related, with this figure being significantly higher in Canada.