Sixty-eight percent of workers in the UK enjoy between one and
five liquid lunches every week, most of them taking more than two
alcoholic drinks, an issue which all employers need to address,
says employment law consultancy Peninsula.
The survey polled 1,342 employees from a range of industries in
the UK. Only 7% said they never drink at lunch time during the
working week, and another 3% said "it depends".
Peter Done, MD of Peninsula, said: "The implications of having
potentially drunk employees in the workplace will be a problem,
with issues such as health and safety regulations and basically the
fact that employees may be intoxicated is not an altogether ideal
environment."
Peninsula says a company's policies must be communicated to all
employees to ensure that the rules are not broken when it comes to
alcohol. "If there are frequent problems employers may be forced to
review the situation," says Done. "If there is a persistent
offender it would be wise to interview the employee to discuss why
the liquid lunch is a problem for the business."
The risk of overreacting is highlighted by a bizarre case in
Germany earlier this year: a waiter who was sacked for drinking up
to 100 bottles of beer every day managed to win his case for unfair
dismissal, according to a report by Ananova. The news service notes
that he was awarded €3,000 and three months' salary after losing
the job he described as his "dream".
