Effect of Happy Workplace Program : a case study of 2 firms in Thailand

The Happy Workplace Program (HWP) is a unique worksite health promotion program in Thailand, promoting mental and physical well-being of employees. As work-related illness and accidents are increasingly viewed as a global social issue, the HWP is considered to be such a program to resolve it. Since the importance of measuring the effect of these programs has been growing worldwide, this study contributes to the analysis of the effect of the HWP on employee absenteeism and job satisfaction, focusing on only two out of eight concepts contained within the HWP, Happy Body (physical exercise) and Happy Relax (relaxing activities).In this study, questionnaire survey was conducted to collect primary data from a total sample of 356 employees from Lion Corporation (Thailand) Limited and NOK Precision Component (Thailand) Ltd respectively. Established in 1969, LION represents traditional firms with a long history, while NOK represents modern firms with a history of less than 10 years. A case study of two such contrasting firms could yield referential empirical results for a wide range of manufacturers in Thailand. Not only simple data analysis but also econometric approach is employed, including the multiple regression, logit and simultaneous equation models.Empirical results show that Happy Relax proved to have a positive effect on job satisfaction across all models at NOK and LION, whereas Happy Body only proved itself at NOK. Age, salary, years of service and marital status have effect on job satisfaction and absenteeism with some limitations. Absenteeism is affected by job satisfaction at both firms. Some generalization can be drawn from the results in this study although further study with different firms and sample is necessary.It is recommended that firms with different characteristics introduce the HPW to increase job satisfaction and decrease absenteeism for their employees. Standardization of cause and effect will be also topic of further study.