Empowering the Global Occupational Therapy Workforce

Occupational therapists are essential for addressing global health needs, but growing demand often exceeds resources, especially in underdeveloped regions. To meet this challenge, WFOT developed the Global Strategy for the Occupational Therapy Workforce and the Workforce Hub to support workforce planning and development worldwide.

Webinars

Join our webinar series to explore how the Global Strategy is shaping the future of occupational therapy. Gain insights, learn from global examples, and discover practical ways to strengthen the workforce.

Global Strategy

Dive into the Global Strategy for the Occupational Therapy Workforce, a comprehensive framework guiding efforts to improve access to occupational therapy worldwide through strategic actions and directions.

Workforce Hub

Discover the Workforce Hub, an interactive platform for sharing resources, tools, and initiatives to support workforce planning, development, and evaluation globally.

What is the Global Strategy?

The Global Strategy for the Occupational Therapy Workforce was developed by WFOT as for call for action for strengthening the occupational therapy workforce.

The Global Strategy is relevant to anyone interested in improving access to occupational therapy and has a three-level structure with seven major strategic directions, each with two to four specific actions.

Explore the seven key strategic directions by interacting with the diagram below, or delve deeper into the global strategy and its actionable steps to strengthen the occupational therapy workforce.

Framework of Strategic Directions

Click on a strategic direction above to learn more.

Strategic Direction 1

Strengthening occupational therapy workforce data

A lack of comprehensive and reliable occupational-therapy workforce data impedes the accurate assessment of the workforce. Development plans of policy-makers, system planners, and other decision-makers are dependent on workforce data. Strengthening the availability of occupational therapy data is a seminal step necessary to better identify workforce development needs. Mechanisms are required to systematically collect, integrate, and compare disaggregated occupational therapy workforce data for appropriate workforce monitoring, research, advocacy, and development.

Strategic Direction 2

Determining supply shortages in the occupational therapy workforce

Workforce data can help determine the current and future supply of the occupational therapy workforce and promote supply comparisons. However, improving access to workforce data is not enough. To further determine supply gaps of the occupational therapy workforce, it is necessary to align the data with population needs and health system demands for occupational therapy. For example, combining workforce data with labour-market analyses, where available, can identify vital gaps in access and provision of occupational therapy services.

Strategic Direction 3

Investing in the expansion of the occupational therapy workforce

In many contexts, especially but not limited to some low- and middle-income countries, the occupational therapy workforce is scant or inexistent, with scale up or expansion efforts often impeded by a lack of local capacity for occupational therapy education. National or international investment and technical support is needed for expanding education; developing local capacity to absorb, deploy, and manage a workforce expansion; and estimating and measuring both the cost and benefit of expansion efforts.

Strategic Direction 4

Improving workforce distribution for equitable access

Even within nations, inequities exist in the distribution of occupational therapists and population access to occupational therapy services. Inequities in access are commonly defined by factors such as geographic region, urban /rural / remote location, and sector, service, or practice area. With strengthened workforce data and supply shortage determinations, these inequitable distributions within nations can be identified and addressed. Actions may include enhancing recruitment or retention packages, building professional development programmes for those working in underserved areas, or using innovative service delivery models or workforce strengthening approaches that extend the outreach of the occupational therapy workforce to vulnerable populations.

Strategic Direction 5

Assuring workforce competency, engagement and diversity

In addition to improving availability and accessibility of occupational therapists, workforce planning must ensure requirements are met for workforce competency, engagement and diversity. To do so, there is a need for strong and progressive regulatory mechanisms and human-resources governance and management practices to ensure the occupational therapy workforce: meets continuing competency standards; attains optimal performance, work engagement, and job satisfaction; is diverse to reflect and be acceptable to the populations served; and eliminates race, gender, or other demographic-based barriers to career opportunities, development or compensation.

Strategic Direction 6

Developing and using workforce evidence for policy and management

Workforce policy and management affects the capacity of occupational therapists to meet population needs. However, the use of research and evidence in workforce planning to influence policy and planning has been limited. The need exists to foster development and utilization of scientifically-sound, solution-oriented and context-sensitive occupational therapy workforce research. Actions involve developing workforce research structures, networks, and agendas to generate needed evidence, and systematically using evidence to inform and evaluate policies, planning, regulation, and management practices.

Strategic Direction 7

Building workforce leadership and planning capacity

Enacting occupational therapy workforce strategic developments requires strengthening the capacity of current and future professional leaders at the local, national and international level to promote workforce situational analyses, action plans, and monitoring. This involves assuming a leading role in profession-specific workforce development and serving as skilled advocates and participants in broader health workforce policy and planning.

What is the Resource Hub?

The Global Occupational Therapy Workforce Hub has been created as an interactive site that allows sharing of resources which are useful for occupational therapy workforce planning, development and evaluation.

Workforce issues concern the profession from many perspectives and work is underway on many initiatives across the world relevant to the Workforce Strategy. Occupational therapists, occupational therapy organisations, educators, regulators and researchers, as well as workforce planners are invited to use resources on the Workforce Hub to benefit from the work of others to effectively address their occupational therapy workforce issues.

In the initial phase of the Global Occupational Therapy Workforce Hub, we invite the broader Occupational Therapy community to contribute resources that could benefit Occupational Therapists worldwide. Help us grow this valuable platform by submitting your resource today.

Later in 2025, we will fully launch the Workforce Hub, providing open access to a comprehensive collection of resources designed to support occupational therapy workforce planning, development, and evaluation for anyone, anywhere.

Introduction Webinars

Discover how WFOT’s Global Strategy for the Occupational Therapy Workforce is shaping the future of the profession through our webinar series.

These sessions are designed for the occupational therapy community and anyone involved in health workforce planning. Each webinar offers an introduction to a key topic, along with practical examples of how the strategy is being implemented in various regions worldwide. Gain valuable insights and explore ways to strengthen the global occupational therapy workforce.

Upcoming sessions

April 2025 (Date TBA)

Session 3: Workforce data and research

Highlights of the vital need for occupational therapy workforce data and research for addressing the Global Strategy for the Occupational Therapy Workforce.

June 2025 (Date TBA)

Session 4: Workforce management and retention

Exploration of the impact of workforce factors and management to identify strategies to recruit, retain and optimally deploy occupational therapy human resources.

2025 (Date TBA)

Session 5: Occupational therapy education and scholarship