John Britton

Alcohol Costs and Workplace Policies: Two Surveys of Employers

The misuse of alcohol can have serious consequences for workplace behaviour. Existing estimates of the costs of these problems in the UK have focused on sickness absences of only the most severely dependent drinkers. Two surveys of employing organisations were undertaken to assess the scope for improving estimates of alcohol related workplace costs from company records, and to identify the type of information organisations require to influence decisions about adopting workplace policies.The results from the national telephone survey of 189 organisations and in depth interviews with 25 organisations in the Hull and York area revealed avoidable gaps in awareness of alcohol problems in the workplace, and little penetration of existing educational campaigns. Record systems were found to be mixed in content and only of limited use in monitoring alcohol related problems. While showing little interest in to/a/costs, organisations would be prepared to adopt workplace policies, if they had knowledge of effective p...