There are those who say work drives them to drink. This could be more true than they realize.
A research report released today suggests that a party-hearty work culture can influence the drinking habits of employees after hours.
"Employees at companies that most discourage drinking are 45 per cent less likely to be heavy drinkers than those in workplaces with the most liberal attitudes to drinking," said Benjamin Amick, scientific director of Ontario's Institute for Work & Health and co-author of a study published in the most recent edition of the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine.
The findings are based on surveys of more than 5,000 employees in 16 different organizations in the United States, spanning a range of occupations from media and financial services to petrochemical plants.
The researchers classified 19 per cent of survey participants as heavy drinkers (defined as those who had knocked back five or more drinks in a single sitting within the past month) but found no evidence to indicate that factory workers and media types, for instance, have a greater propensity to drink than bankers do.
"We were quite surprised to actually not find the occupational effect," Dr. Amick said.
Instead, the determining factor was how tolerant their employers were to drinks at lunch, drinks with clients, and drinks at corporate social functions, Dr. Amick said.
"Work is an important part of people's lives; it's an important environment where we are often getting feedback from different social groups about our behaviour."
Dr. Amick said the most extreme anti-alcohol attitude he found was at a petro-chemical plant, where a supervisor informed him that any employee with a whiff of booze on his or her breath would be fired.
Most other employers tolerate a certain amount of social drinking related to work - some even circulate through the offices with beer carts on Friday afternoons. But they should be mindful of the message they are sending, he said.
Rates of heavy and frequent drinking are much greater among employees of organizations where social drinking is encouraged to improve morale or bring in business, he said.
Those most inclined to get carried away after hours - if their workplace encourages drinking - are smokers and workers under the age of 35, he said.
The findings suggest employers have a public-health role to play in reducing alcohol abuse, Dr. Amick said.
The workplace drinking culture "is crucial for changing drinking behaviour," he said.
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What's your poison?
Drinking norms were measured with eight statements:
1) Having a drink or two at home after work is a harmless way to relax and unwind.
2) Getting together for drinks once in a while after work with co-workers can improve employee morale.
3) Drinking with clients or customers is good for business.
4) Supervisors miss key information if they don't socialize with colleagues over a drink.
5) A drink or two a day is good for a person's health.
6) A few beers or drinks at lunch are a responsible way to deal with a boring or repetitive job.
7) The more frequently people are exposed to alcohol, the more likely they are to develop a drinking problem.
8) Serving alcohol at company social events sets a bad example for employees.
Workers reported their agreement from 1 to 4 points (Strongly agree to strongly disagree.)
Tralee Pearce
