Stress and Alcohol in the workplace
Spotting the signs of alcoholism in the workplace has much more to do with common sense than rocket science, so much boils down to the relationship between the line manager and the employee. The better they know their employees the more likely they are to spot that something is wrong. Once they are reasonably certain that an employee has a drink problem they should strongly resist any temptation to act as some kind of amateur therapist. This is very much an area for the specialists and there may be some very complex underlying stress spirals at work. So their primary role should be to refer the drinker to occupational health, the EAP or other relevant medical specialists.
But such referrals should never be made without discussing the subject with the drinker first, and such discussions should never be attempted when the drinker is actually under the influence of alcohol. When a suitable moment arises the approach should be along the lines of “Look we go back a long way and I’ve noticed that something is wrong.........”
Every company with more than a handful of employees should have a written alcohol policy, which should spell out exactly what level of drinking – if any – is permitted during working hours or on the premises. It should also make it absolutely clear that any employee who owns up to a drink problem should receive the full support of the company in trying to overcome it. But it should be made clear that this support is dependant on the drinker’s continued co-operation and that failure to co-operate will result in things moving down the disciplinary route.
A great deal of thought must be given as to what level of drinking is to be permitted. For example, if there is zero tolerance, will there be an exemption for marketing personnel doing business entertaining? Some business psychologists suggest permitting consumption during working hours up to the drink driving limit because, although it is probably a little too high, it is at least easy to understand. An alcohol policy must also be perceived as fair but firm so there must be no exemptions for senior personnel. If, therefore, a policy of zero tolerance is implemented this will involve emptying out the fridges in the board room!
The actual level of support that employees will be offered must also receive serious consideration. Are they just going to be allowed time off work to see their GP and to attend counselling or will they receive financial support? Paying for someone to attend a rehab clinic could cost £5,000 to £12,000 but it could well be worth it because it could easily cost as much to recruit and train a suitable replacement, and the one thing that all experts relevant to alcohol and the workplace agree on is that those who overcome drink problems tend to make exceptionally good employees.
Encouraging a sandwich culture at lunch time and offering free gym membership can reduce the chances of drink problems occurring by making it less likely that people will pop out for a drink at lunch time.
Additionally, any large organisation should have an employee assistance programme (EAP), which employees can refer themselves to or be referred to by their line manager. The better EAPs offer both telephone-based and face-to-face confidential counselling and even some EAPs included automatically in group insurance schemes offer both options. Stress and addiction experts are notably positive about the ability of EAPs to prevent a stress or addiction problem from becoming a full-blown absenteeism issue, although some point out that they do not necessarily deal with the underlying structural problems in the organisation or its culture.
Although management should see alcohol problems primarily as an area for experts, there are still a number of things attendees can take back and share with their occupational health departments. If I have one criticism to make of occupational health and the medical profession generally it is that they are capable of being a little blinkered and out of date on alcohol issues.
They could therefore do with knowing about new developments such as the emergence of specialist intermediaries able to identify the best value treatment packages for those suffering from addiction. Beat the Booze also looks well beyond conventional methods of combating alcoholism like rehab clinics, AA and addiction counselling and considers offbeat methods like dietary solutions, spiritual healing , neurofeedback and hypnosis.
It also considers baclofen and The Sinclair Method, a couple of quite controversial new approaches that claim to enable even those with physical addictions to alcohol to return to drinking in moderation. Indeed, it is my considered opinion that new medical advances represent the best chance of making any real progress in the battle against alcoholism because they are much less resource intensive than the traditional methods. Governments currently simply do not have the money to build huge numbers of new rehab centres or to hand out endless sessions of addiction counselling on the state.
I am, however, disappointed and dismayed at the way that many proponents of one particular method of combating alcoholism are incapable of acknowledging that any other method could be capable of benefiting anyone else. I have observed that one quality that distinguishes the really top experts in the alcohol field from the lesser lights is their ability to be open minded and to not rule out anything that could work. There are many different kinds of drink problems and many different kinds of solutions and every drinker has to find the one that works for them.
For further information see www.beatthebooze.com
