Interesting article below regarding workplace drinking and how this can potentially impact on your workforce's health and productivity.
As a business who enjoy a wee drink from time to time, I'd be curious to know whether any of the team here consider that they drink too much at work related events. We're certainly not down the pub all the time - in fact, Senior Management is currently more likely to be found in a spinning class (wtf??). However, we do like to decamp to the local after work from time to time and our quarterly away days are frequently punctuated with beer stops. It would be misleading to say we don't like a drink!
It's clearly wrong for an employee at any business to feel they are being pressurised into drinking more than they want - that smacks of a bullying atmosphere in the workplace and something to be avoided at all costs. But in many organisations, the culture is dictated by management and so where do employees go to raise their concerns, especially in a small business where you are more 'visible'? No one wants to be thought of as a 'fun sponge', so it's likely that people wouldn't say too much. And what about those who abstain - for whatever reason - from alcohol completely? If the business has a leadership endorsed drinking culture, how can those employees feel comfortable in such an environment?
It's a potentially very thorny area for businesses, especially where wider issues of health are also being considered - should you encourage your employees to do something which has huge health implications?
So we're tackling both ends of the spectrum here at PIE. We're getting the whole business to participate in a fundraising walk later in the year, 18 miles across the Chiltern countryside. And for those that make it - and can manage to move afterwards - there will be beer. Much beer.
The rise of the workplace drinking culture is taking its toll on employees and productivity alike. A new report from Canada Life Group Insurance reveals that 33% of UK employees report a drinking culture in their workplace, while 29% have regretted their actions after drinking at work. The survey shows that twice as many male employees (20%) consume alcohol at work on a weekly basis compared to their female counterparts (nine per cent).
Read the original article here