It’s not hard to believe that having a skinful the night before is likely to impact on our ability to work the next day. And it’s easy to see how a hangover can prevent you from working at your best. But how widespread the problem is might be surprising. Nearly half of all employers are likely to find that alcohol is behind loss of productivity in the workplace.
What can start as an inability to concentrate, extra tiredness or minor mistakes in one person, becomes much more significant when you realise that nearly every employee will have at least one such day a month – multiplied across a workforce and over a year and the impact on business output is clear! And of course, in some professions a minor mistake can mean disaster.
Across the UK the figures are astounding, with the Health and Safety Executive estimating that 14 million working days are lost each year to alcohol problems at an estimated cost of £2 billion.
The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) has found that not enough employers are equipped to tackle the issue, estimating that just 38% have robust systems in place.
But it can seem a tricky issue to tackle, sometimes it can be hard to pinpoint exactly what the problem is, and it can seem intrusive, particularly if the drinking seems to happen in an employee’s own time. The good news is that there are some straightforward ways to address the issue and to lessen the impact on the company, that’s important when you note that Safety at Work legislation compells employers to find practical solutions but also to prove that they are addressing the issue.
