Estimated cost of extra work hours from co-workers' drinking in Thailand
Issued Date
2023-01-01
Resource Type
ISSN
09595236
eISSN
14653362
Scopus ID
2-s2.0-85174799036
Journal Title
Drug and Alcohol Review
Rights Holder(s)
SCOPUS
Bibliographic Citation
Drug and Alcohol Review (2023)
Suggested Citation
Saengow U., Chaiyasong S., Nontarak J., Saokaew S., Artaman A., Vichitkunakorn P., Waleewong O. Estimated cost of extra work hours from co-workers' drinking in Thailand. Drug and Alcohol Review (2023). doi:10.1111/dar.13768 Retrieved from: https://repository.li.mahidol.ac.th/handle/20.500.14594/90886
Title
Estimated cost of extra work hours from co-workers' drinking in Thailand
Other Contributor(s)
Abstract
Introduction: Alcohol's harm to others (AHTO) in workplaces has received little attention. A few studies from high-income countries have estimated the cost of AHTO in workplaces, while data from the low- and middle-income countries are lacking. This study aimed to estimate the cost of AHTO in workplaces and to explore factors associated with the cost of AHTO in workplaces. Methods: Data were taken from 1392 employed respondents who participated in a survey conducted in Thailand from September 2012 to March 2013. The cost of extra work hours was estimated from the hourly wage and extra hours of work. The hourly wage was computed by converting monthly income to weekly income and dividing weekly income by weekly working hours. The gamma regression with log link was used to determine factors associated with the cost of extra working hours. Results: The past-year prevalence of harm from co-workers' drinking was 17.8% among the employed population. The prevalence of working extra hours was 6.1%. On average, an affected worker worked 16.0 extra hours due to co-workers' drinking. In total, 28.8 million hours of extra work was attributed to co-workers' drinking in 1 year. The cost of these extra work hours was 1.8 billion Thai baht (57.8 million USD). Age, education and type of employment were associated with the cost of working extra hours. Discussion and Conclusions: The burden of alcohol in workplaces extends beyond drinking workers. Our findings indicate that alcohol imposes a significant cost on co-workers of drinkers.