Worker Alcohol Abuse: Employers Can Help

Abstract

Isolating and working from home because of the pandemic, everyone has heard the jokes about alcohol. A Facebook favorite: Home schooling going well. Two students suspended for fighting. One teacher fired for drinking on the job. The United States has a temperate drinking culture, and the joke perfectly captures Americans’ ambivalence about alcohol. Drink moderately and alcohol can be a pleasant experience, an accompaniment to a meal, stress reducer and party enhancer; drink too much and unpleasant consequences can result, particularly interfering with the performance of critical social roles such as parenting, family, friends and work. In this context, employers are worried about what employees are doing while working from home. Are they all sitting at their computers with a glass of wine or coffee? Here are a few facts to guide employers and assist employees working from home.