Working Alcoholics Cause Headaches for Companies

From CNBC.com
Alcohol Awareness Month Brings Sobering Reality of Workplace Alcoholism


ATLANTA, March 31, 2009 -- April is Alcohol Awareness Month and one way companies are getting involved is with public awareness campaigns about workplace alcoholism. The cost of alcoholism and other drug addictions in the U.S. workforce exceeds $100 billion a year, according to the National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information (NCADI). Part of Alcohol Awareness Month is educating companies in identifying the signs of an alcoholic and help problem drinkers.

"Most people wrongly assume that if an alcoholic employee does not drink at work there is no harm to the company since the abuse takes place on his/her own time.

But damage does occur because alcoholics have reduced mental function, distorted perception, poor judgment and performance, even during work hours when they are not drinking," explains Arthur Jackson, author of "Raise the Bottom: How to Keep Secret Alcoholics from Damaging Your Business." "A job masks the problem since a common myth is that the typical alcoholic is unemployed. Yet studies show over 85 percent of active alcoholics are functional and employed. Alcoholism in the workplace is hidden in plain sight, virtually affecting every business. Because of the stigma of alcoholism, people prefer to see the cause of problems as competition, cash flow, bad management, weak economy -- anything but alcoholism," Jackson says.

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