For business

 There is little doubt that alcohol misuse has an impact on businesses of all shapes and sizes across our region.

It is a major cause of absenteeism, inability to work and premature death – which costs the UK economy a combined £6.4bn a year.

An Institute of Alcohol Studies factsheet states that alcohol can impair work performance in three main ways:

• A raised blood alcohol level while at work will jeopardise both efficiency and safety-for example increased likelihood of mistakes, errors of judgement, increased accident prone-ness. Impairment of skills begins with any significant amount of alcohol in the body.

• The after-effects of drinking (hangovers) can impair both work attendance and performance. A survey carried out by YouGov for PruHealth found that each day around 200,000 British workers turn up to work hungover from the night before. High proportions of hungover workers report problems such as lack of concentration, inability to work at normal pace, etc. Alternatively, workers complaining of hangovers may absent themselves from the workplace.

• Persistent heavy drinking can lead to a range of social, psychological and medical problems, including dependence, and is associated with impaired work performance and attendance- for example, increased sickness absence. Dependence may be associated with drinking or being under the influence of alcohol at inappropriate times and places, deterioration of skills and interpersonal difficulties.

This section will go through some of the problems businesses may be facing.
 

Further reading