What do companies have to do to keep their staff sober?


Drinking alcohol is a cultural and social practice, which whilst creating trauma and heartache for the individual, can have unpredictable and expensive consequences for companies.

Employees who drink too much (7+ units per week for women and 14+ units for men) take around 20% more time off through sickness.

These employees also have more periods where they are less focused on their work issues than they should be. A survey carried out by YouGov for PruHealth found that each day around 200,000 British workers turn up to work hung over from the night before.

They also create little surprises for their employer such as suddenly not being able to drive, temporarily or otherwise being in the custody of Her Majesty and mot importantly clocking off permanently just when they had graduated from trainee to master. At least 58,000 potential working years are lost annually due to premature alcohol related deaths.

The whole sorry mess costs the UK £6.4 billion every year. So what can employers do about it?

In its submission in regard to the National Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy (February 2003), the TUC called for further development of workplace alcohol policies. The TUC's report, "Drink and work - a potent cocktail", states that people are drinking more now than ever before, but few employers have alcohol policies in place to tackle any problems.

The first step is to create a workplace alcohol policy.

Such a policy would establish a new culture concerning alcohol and incorporate a means of monitoring adherence to that. Additionally they should proactively educate people, not just about the harmful effects of excess drinking, both medically and economically but, more importantly ways in which individuals can change their own behaviour.

It should also include the opportunity for individuals to seek help confidentially and to provide a mechanism for the company to financially assist this process.

David Allen is a specialist in helping people overcome alcohol dependency issues and has some first hand experience in overcoming these problems himself. As well as running the worlds first alcohol on-line therapy program
with his website www.control-your-drinking.co.uk.

He also helps companies in developing and implementing workplace alcohol
policies including alcohol behaviour parameters and incorporating those into employment contracts, training and personal therapy.

For information and advice call 01732 300076 or visit
www.nlp-hypnotherapy.biz and use the form under the contact us menu option.
Mention workplace alcohol policy in the enquiry.