Sep 15, 2009
After-work drinks could be a thing of the past after a government report
recommended bosses conduct workplace "interventions" to address employees'
problems with alcohol.
The report estimated the bill for lost productivity through hangovers and
sickies, staff turnover and early retirement due to alcohol use at $5.6 billion
a year, The Australian reported.
It recommended local businesses consider dealing with employees' alcohol
issues at the workplace during work time.
"Australia has largely overlooked the potential of the workplace as a setting
in which to ... address risky drinking patterns," the report said.
The report said peer-group pressure could encourage teetotallers to drink in
workplaces with after-work drinking cultures.
"Workers may be pressured to join co-workers in regular 'end of the working
day' drinking rituals," the report said.
"In some work settings, workers who do not normally drink in their own leisure
time may find it expected of them by their colleagues or workplace."
Stephen Overell, spokesman for the Work Foundation in the UK, said many
workers thought drinking could help them get ahead.
"Going to the pub is what people do in order to give their careers a boost," he
said. "Employees tend to market themselves through the pub … if you are shy
and not a joiner, then you can be disadvantaged — it's a form of presenteeism."
People with family commitments could feel "invisible" in workplaces where there
is a heavy drinking culture, Mr Overell said.
The Department of Health and Ageing report also found that:
Nearly nine percent of respondents drank at "risky" levels at least once a week
One-in-six workers had reported physical abuse at work by a colleague under
the influence of alcohol or drugs
One-in-seven of those surveyed suffered verbal abuse.
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