Bottoms up: The true cost of a few drinks after work

Alcohol-related absenteeism is a billion-dollar problem

It's a sobering reality for Australian business that many of their employees don't make it into work the day after a night of heavy drinking. And those that do, are barely fit for the tasks at hand.

An Australian Drug Foundation (ADF) poll, conducted across a range of industries, found one in five workers took a sickie due to the effects of alcohol.

In a culture where regular heavy drinking and partying hard has become the norm, the consequences for Australian business is a rate of absenteeism that is costing $2 billion a year (or $3 billion if you add in the effect of drugs), according to the National Centre for Education and Training on Addiction (NCETA) at Flinders University.

However in some businesses, workplace culture and attitudes may be contributing to the deficit. According to Ken Pidd, deputy director (research) of NCETA, many employers are inconsistent in their attitudes toward alcohol.

"If you encourage sitting around the office having a few beers on a Friday afternoon, what that's doing is sending out mixed messages. People might say they've turned up to work hung over or intoxicated because they were drinking at work the previous night," Pidd says.

Besides the 11.5 million sick days taken every year by people suffering the after-effects of alcohol, the NCETA researchers found that around 40% of those polled said they have gone to work while still hung over. Although the highest concentration is among young people around the age of 20, excessive drinking cuts across all ages and classes.

Testing regimes

Phillip Collins, the head of workplace services at the ADF, says he thinks many people don't fully appreciate the effect that alcohol has on them, particularly from the night before.

"Alcohol affects a person's concentration, coordination, decision-making ability and slows reaction times. This 'presenteeism' can have implications for workplace safety and productivity."

Nor is it just the individual employee who is affected – there are repercussions for work colleagues that often go under the radar. ADF research found that one in 10 workers have suffered because of an inebriated or absent colleague, with reports of a reduced ability to do their job, having to work extra hours to cover for a co-worker, bullying and sexual harassment, or worst of all, being involved in an accident or close call.

'While the FWC recognises an employer’s right to have testing regimes to manage safety risks, this right is finely balanced against the employees’ right to privacy in their personal'

TONY WOOD

Collins says that alcohol use contributes to 5% of all Australian workplace deaths and 11% of accidents. And high-profile alcohol-related accidents can harm a business's reputation in incalculable ways.

The high-risk energy sector has an obvious vested interest in tackling drug and alcohol issues head on.

"People engaged in safety critical work such as transport, or the use of heavy machinery, expect to undergo drug testing to reduce the risk of harm to themselves and others," says Collins. "Yet in other contexts workplace drug testing is far more controversial."

Drug and alcohol policies are typically subjected to scrutiny in the Fair Work Commission's (FWC) unfair dismissal jurisdiction, as well as in enterprise agreement disputes.

"While the FWC recognises an employer's right to have testing regimes to manage safety risks, this right is finely balanced against the employees' right to privacy in their personal lives, and a requirement that a policy is 'reasonable'," says Tony Wood, a partner at Herbert Smith Freehills lawyers.

Voluntary policies

Increasingly, though, the space between professional and private life is narrowing – particularly when it comes to the health and wellbeing of employees.

We have come a long way from a company simply subsidising membership to a health club. For most large corporations, an employee assistance program is now a standard benefit, and companies have become more pro-active in identifying employees' emotional and behavioural problems, and more holistic in the way they respond to them.

But in the absence of specific government regulations on drinking and the workplace, employers have been left to create their own voluntary policies which may vary significantly in scope and effectiveness. 

Small and medium-sized organisations may not have the same resources as large enterprises to develop alcohol policies and provide adequate intervention or treatment for its staff. And global pressure to cut labour costs and the shift to a more freelance, flexible workforce means that supervision and awareness of alcohol consumption among contracted staff is one step removed.

As the federal parliament's 2015 Alcohol Taxation in Australia report shows, successive governments have opted out of increasing taxes on alcohol as a way of deterring excessive drinking. The responsibility is very much with business. But business really has a battle on its hands.

Alcohol companies in Australia spend an estimated $125 million a year on alcohol advertising on television, radio, outdoor and print media alone, according to figures from the Alcohol Advertising Review Board.

The total spend on promotion by the alcohol industry is likely to be much higher when other kinds of promotions, such as sponsorship of sport, music and arts events, online advertising, point-of-sale promotions and advertising by liquor retailers are taken into account. That's before you take in promotion on mobile devices and social media.

During the past year, the Office of Liquor, Gaming and Racing investigated more than 100 cases of reckless alcohol promotion, with 44 cases receiving bans or restrictions. They included a Darlinghurst cafe in Sydney offering giant martinis, equivalent to eight standard drinks; a Taree hotel sanctioned for selling vodka-infused gummy bears, while a Newcastle hotel was on notice for its win-your-weight in beer competition.

‘It’s very easy to mis-label something as an alcohol and drug problem when it may actually be something else that’s occurring’

ANN ROCHE

Tailored response

Despite what they are up against, workplaces are an obvious spot to deal with problems around alcohol.

Given that there are a higher number of men in the workforce and higher than average prevalence of men with alcohol-related problems – particularly among workers in construction, utilities, manufacturing, agriculture and transportation – plus the fact that men are less likely to seek help, workplaces can offer men health information and referrals for intervention where necessary, especially around sensitive and personal topics such as alcohol consumption.

But don't jump to wrong conclusions about alcohol consumption, says Ann Roche, a professor from Flinders University. "It's very easy to mis-label something as an alcohol and drug problem when it may actually be something else that's occurring," she told the ABC.

Roche's advice to business is to get an indication of what else might be happening in that person's life, pointing out to them that it seems to be affecting their ability to function well at work. Looking at ways to change what's going on should be tailored to them and a shared responsibility with work, she suggests.

"Only in a small proportion of cases is referral appropriate to get some more specialised treatment," says Roche.

For the time being, anyhow, there is one small chink of light and that is, quite unexpectedly, Australians appear to be drinking less.

The most recent figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) reveal that alcohol consumption has been dropping slowly for years and is now lower than it has been in the previous 50 years.

The reasons for this are unclear but Louise Gates from the ABS notes changing patterns of consumption over that time period which may offer some clues.

"Fifty years ago, beer made up three-quarters of all alcohol consumed, but now it makes up under half at 41%. Wine's share has increased over the same period from 12% to 38%."

It appears that Australians are drinking higher quality booze but less of it, and one can only say, "cheers" to that.