With Dry January sparking conversations across workplaces, homes, and communities, the topic of alcohol use—and its challenges—feels particularly relevant. While many focus on taking a break from alcohol for health and well-being, it also opens the door to a much-needed discussion about problem drinking and its impact, especially in the workplace.

In this insightful article, Professor Marcantonio Spada, Chief Clinical Officer at Onebright, provides practical steps employers can take to support their teams. Drawing on his extensive expertise in mental health, addictive behaviours, and workplace well-being, Professor Spada sheds light on an issue that affects millions across the UK.

Although, overall, alcohol use has fallen in the UK, problem drinking still impacts a significant number of the population. 

According to the Government, an estimated 10 million people in England regularly exceed the Chief Medical Officer’s low risk drinking guidelines, including 1.7 million who use alcohol at higher risk levels and around 600,000 who are dependent on alcohol.

Alcohol use is linked to more than 100 physical and mental health conditions, self-harm, and suicide. And whilst alcohol related deaths have increased in the past 20 years, the number of people receiving treatment for alcohol dependency has generally fallen – government figures state that 84% of individuals who suffer from alcohol dependency are not receiving treatment. This is despite every £1 spent on treatment immediately delivering £3 of benefit to our society, and significantly more in the longer term.

What is problem drinking? 

Problem drinking is not synonymous with alcohol dependency. Problem drinking is characterised by using alcohol in a manner which negatively impacts health and life, but no psychological and physical dependence is present. Alcohol dependency (also referred to as ‘alcoholism’), on the other hand, includes both psychological and physical dependence and, typically, very significant costs to health and life.

Alcohol dependency is difficult to overcome without professional help. With respect to problem drinking, however, improvements can occur spontaneously in up to two thirds of individuals. However, this leaves a substantial number of individuals who are not alcohol dependent but carry a host of psychological and health issues relating to problem drinking (e.g., low mood, poor sleep patterns, heightened anxiety, interpersonal difficulties, impaired health) at considerable risk. Over time, though problem drinking patterns may go unnoticed or fall below the alcohol dependency thresholds, these psychological and health issues may significantly compromise health and life.

So, why does this matter to you and your workplace? The likelihood is that 1 in 7 of your workforce are problem drinkers (so exceeding low risk drinking guidelines). Engaging in this problematic behaviour in the long-term, as highlighted above, could lead to a raft of physical and mental health conditions and impact work performance.

Signs and symptoms of problem drinking

Problem drinking can be one of the most difficult conditions to recognise as many will assume that alcohol dependency signs and symptoms are those that indicate the presence of a ‘true’ clinical problem (e.g., morning drinking, severe withdrawals, powerful cravings, job loss, accidents, very poor physical health, etc.).

In this sense, problem drinking may be normalised in many social contexts (i.e., “They just like a drink or two”) as many will tend to intuitively believe that an alcohol problem is only present if alcohol dependency signs and symptoms can be observed. Hence, problem drinking, for many, is a far more subtle issue to identify and tackle.

Some of the tell-tale signs of problem drinking can include:

• Drinking most days in the week (including having protracted periods of abstinence followed by the resumption of ‘old’ drinking habits).

• Drinking large amounts in one sitting (binges) or substantial amounts most days.

• Drinking to cope (for example with anxiety or in social situations).

• Neglecting important parts of life, such as work and relationships.

• Unexplained or frequent absences.

• Changes in behaviour and mood.

• Lower productivity.

• Performance or conduct issues.

How can you support your workforce?

One of the most valuable courses of action to take is to understand and monitor your employees’ mental health. This can be done in a variety of ways, including setting up anonymous surveys to find out how they are feeling, line management reviews of performance data to pick up any trends / patterns that may indicate significant behavioural change, educational sessions, and clear information regarding support available.

Instilling a company culture where everyone feels empowered to talk about their health and wellbeing is also key. As an employer, you have an obligation to look after the wellbeing of your employees at work. This should be led from the top down and ‘modelled’ as an organisational hallmark.

Internal methods for open communication, such as surveys, tea and chats, and 121s are great, but one could also look at external channels, such as therapists or counsellors whom an individual can speak to if they don’t want to interact with someone at work, or if they need to delve into matters with the support of a specialist. The specialist support available includes groups (such as Alcoholic Anonymous and UK SMART Recovery) as well as individual therapeutic modalities (Alcohol Counselling, Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy, and Motivational Interviewing). Also, asking your employees what support they would like will ensure they are likely to be offered what they need.

Upskilling and training managers about problem drinking can be of enormous use. Senior leaders and line managers should understand the nature of problem drinking, its tell-tale signs, and how to approach an employee when they think this condition may be present. This will not only help individuals to be able to seek the support needed, but act as a method of prevention and early intervention.

When it comes to tackling problem drinking, you may start by having a policy in place, so that everyone knows what help is available to them, especially if able to provide support via employee assistance programmes, clinical mental health support and other channels. Make sure your employees know how they can access and use that support. It is best for individuals to access this support early on, before a significant ‘clinical’ problem arises.