Dealing with an alcoholic employee is one of the biggest challenges a manager can face.
Striking a healthy balance between compassion and boundaries is no easy task.
If you’re a manager looking to support someone on your team with alcoholism, keep reading to discover the warning signs, your legal responsibility, and expert advice for creating a recovery-friendly workplace.
For more tailored advice, Rehab 4 Alcoholism is just one phone call away. Please get in touch with us on 0800 111 4108.
When one of your employees is battling alcoholism, it’s a problem for your organisation as a whole. The effects rarely stay with one person; they impact teams, management, and company culture in general.
Alcoholism in the workplace isn’t always obvious. Addiction exists on a spectrum, so an employee could be dealing with a mild alcohol dependence issue that’s taking over their life, or a severe form of alcoholism that they’re managing to hide when they’re at work.
It’s important to take any type of alcoholism seriously, even if you can’t see the full effects. Someone with mild alcohol addiction who is performing well at work may also be struggling with serious financial issues, relationship conflicts, and increased anxiety.
These problems may not be obvious within the workplace, but unless the employee is supported, it’s only a matter of time until the two worlds collide.
What starts as the occasional absence or missed deadline can become a persistent issue, so it’s always sensible to address the signs as soon as you notice them.
Over time, alcoholism in the workplace can lead to:
As you can imagine, when employers aren’t sure how to address alcoholism, the individual with the drinking problem can face disciplinary action, job loss, and worsening addiction.
The impact on the business shouldn’t be underestimated, either. Neglecting to support employees can reduce employee satisfaction, increase recruitment costs, place pressure on colleagues, and result in a less enjoyable working environment for all.
Alcoholism is a serious threat to the person with addiction and to the workplace, so it’s wise to act on any concerns as quickly as possible. A proactive attitude is needed.
Unfortunately, throughout history, we’ve heavily stereotyped people with alcoholism as weak, selfish, and immoral. Before we gained a more solid understanding of addiction, we were quick to assume people were actively choosing alcohol over their work, health, and families.
Now, we know that alcoholism is an illness. Even someone with exceptional willpower can end up suffering with alcoholism, because of factors such as:
So, the wisest attitude an employer could have is that anyone showing signs of alcoholism needs support.
It goes without saying that employers are also responsible for the wellbeing of other staff members, so it’s not about accepting the negative consequences of alcoholism, but providing appropriate assistance alongside the necessary boundaries.
Again, it won’t always be easy to tell if someone is misusing alcohol or even dealing with alcohol use disorder.
However, certain patterns of behaviour can suggest a problem exists, such as:
These signs don’t necessarily indicate an employee is drinking too much. They can also point to other physical or mental health challenges.
It’s not the responsibility of the employer to decide whether an employee is addicted to alcohol, so if these signs are present, it’s an opportunity to voice your concerns to your employee, and ask if they need any additional support in general.
Something many employers are anxious about is addressing alcoholism in a compliant way.
In terms of legal responsibility, employers have a duty of care to their staff, and they must take reasonable steps to ensure the health, safety and wellbeing of their staff are supported and protected.
This starts with training. Even if you’ve never had issues with alcoholism at work, it’s sensible to arrange training for management and employees on recognising the signs of alcoholism, what to do when you think you may see signs of alcoholism, and what the company’s stance is on alcohol misuse.
If you suspect potential alcoholism at any point, approach the issue sensitively, avoiding making assumptions.
If your company has an occupational health service, we’d strongly advise referring to the employee as soon as possible. Otherwise, encourage the employee to speak to their GP about their addiction.
Expect that the staff member may need to take some time off, especially if their addiction is moderate to severe.
Sometimes, alcoholism leads to illegal incidents in the workplace. If you have reason to believe an employee’s alcohol use has broken the law, it should be treated as a disciplinary issue.
For example, if they’ve arrived to work under the influence of alcohol, and they’re on a safety-sensitive task, the employee may need to be immediately removed from that task and the situation should be thoroughly investigated as a priority.
On the other hand, when alcoholism is solely a health issue, it’s important to prioritise support and intervention.
Physical and mental health issues can often co-occur with alcoholism, which makes it even more important for employers to avoid jumping to conclusions.
Whilst there is not one fixed way to help an employee with alcoholism compliantly, this would be our overall advice:
Alcoholism is a complex illness that rarely starts with just one issue. It’s often a combination of factors that may include genetic predisposition, mental health struggles, burnout, etc.
That being said, workplace stress is a common factor that contributes to alcohol use disorder.
Over time, stress can take over someone’s life and cause them to experience burnout. For some people, the solution they run to is alcohol. It never fixes the problem, but in such chronic stress, it may feel like an employee’s only option.
Reviewing your work culture is a great way to determine whether stressors in your workplace are standard or disproportionate.
Everyone gets stressed at work from time to time, or even on a regular basis in certain roles, but consider whether any of that stress is caused by an unhealthy workplace culture, and if any of it can be mitigated by supporting employees more.
To do this, reflect on questions such as:
We’ve addressed how to support employees who are currently struggling with drinking, but how can you ensure those in recovery feel comfortable at work?
As difficult as it can be to return to work following an addiction, it’s also an empowering moment for some. Keeping a routine is vital for long-term recovery, and the workplace is one of the main ways people with alcoholism can maintain a sense of familiarity and predictability in everyday life.
As an employer, you can enhance this by:
Our last point, scheduling regular wellbeing check-ins, is particularly important for ensuring employees in recovery can integrate back into work at their own pace.
Not everyone is motivated to get back to work. Some will feel highly anxious, so these 1:1 sessions can help you figure out what unique support each staff member needs.
Everything we’ve suggested so far, from creating policies to offering confidential support pathways, creates a work culture that promotes early help-seeking.
The key is to demonstrate that employees would be treated fairly, and supported adequately, if they ever needed to ask for help.
When employees look around and see others being supported in their transition back to work post-rehab, or in the throes of their addiction, they will feel more comfortable opening up about their own struggles.
Consistent messaging is a powerful tool here. A one-off workshop or conversation can be powerful, but what’s more effective is to reiterate the messaging you want to send to your employees, such as “alcoholism is an illness, not a moral failing” or “asking for help is brave, not weak.”
Ultimately, you cannot force someone to admit their challenges. All you can do is show them, through repeated instances, that your workplace values honesty and vulnerability, and that you will always show compassion and take action when someone asks for help.
If you’re concerned about an employee, you can speak to a member of our team about how best to support this individual as they battle alcoholism.
Let us be your first port of call if an employee decides they’re ready to get help. Our diverse services, provided by highly respected third-party clients, account for varying degrees of alcoholism, and the unique needs of each person with this illness.
Get in touch with us today on 0800 111 4108 for a quick, meaningful conversation.
Below, we outline some frequently asked questions around this topic:
Absolutely not. While alcoholism is likely to affect work performance, there are many instances of high-performing employees hiding their addictions. Even if they’re at the top of their game, well-respected in the industry and hitting targets left right and centre, they could still be battling alcoholism in private.
This kind of high-functioning alcoholism is not reliable. Some people maintain it for many years, but at some point, cracks are likely to show. Even if the employee manages to keep their performance up, they may end up experiencing burnout due to the energy it takes to hide their problems.
It’s never an easy conversation to have, but it’s one that’s much more effective when you’re prepared.
We’d recommend highlighting the workplace issues that have caused you to suspect alcoholism, rather than directly accusing the employee of having an alcohol problem. Based on their response, you can brainstorm some solutions and outline support options.
In terms of the tone, stay calm and professional. Alcoholism can be a very sensitive topic, but if you go into the conversation showing frustration, the employee will likely feel defensive and shut down your attempts to help.
Confidentiality is vital when it comes to an employee’s health. As their manager, make sure any information shared between yourselves stays confidential, and is only ever shared on a need-to-know basis.
This will help your employee to trust you, which is extremely important as they go through their addiction journey, as they need a safe person to turn to at work.
[1] https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2790205%C2%A0
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