Thailand opens Happy Workplace Centres to combat resignation crisis
Thailand has launched Happy Workplace Centres across the country in response to an epidemic of workplace resignations threatening economic recovery.
The launch of five centres in Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Nakhon Ratchasima, Chonburi and Surat Thani on Tuesday came as figures showed that over half of employees in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) quit their jobs.
This trend undermines productivity and the economy since SMEs account for over 99.5% of all businesses in Thailand, according to official figures.
The centres aim to improve workplace health and wellbeing for SME employees, thereby boosting industrial productivity.
According to the Office of Small and Medium Enterprise Promotion, the high resignation rate is due to SMEs neglecting workplace health, leading to stress and unhappiness among employees.
The Happy Workplace Centres are tasked with helping SMEs to develop policies, activities and innovation for healthy workplaces, said Department of Industrial Promotion director-general Passakorn Chairat.
The centres are the latest fruit of “SMEs Happy and Productive Workplace”, an eight-year-old project promoting health for 497 enterprises and almost 30,000 employees. Of these, 198 enterprises have become models of healthy workplaces that protect employees from stress and other work-related diseases.
The Thai Health Promotion Foundation (ThaiHealth) launched the project as part of its mission to promote good workplace health for 12 million employees by 2032, said its director of organisational health promotion Phongsak Thongratana.
