Drinking to Forget? How employers can help staff who turn to alcohol during lockdown
By Dr Zofia Bajorek, Research Fellow, ies
2021 started so well. Many of us challenged ourselves to be healthier. But by day four we were in national lockdown again. For some the willingness to do ‘Dry January’ crumbled to dust and social media was full of jokes that ‘now is not the time to stay sober’.
Images of parents pouring large glasses of wine were all over Twitter. Statements such as ‘in 20 years’ time, we’ll be led by people who were home-schooled by alcoholics’ were ‘liked’ and shared. Although these caught the mood and were written for comic effect, there is a darker side to our relationship with alcohol in times of stress and uncertainty. Let’s consider the potential implications for staff wellbeing and work.
To understand why this is a serious concern, look at the pattern of alcohol consumption in the first lockdown:
Barely three weeks into lockdown, interim findings from our homeworker wellbeing survey, found 1 in 5 respondents were reporting that their alcohol intake had increased.
In March 2020, research indicated that workers were more likely to turn to alcohol when dealing with work-related stress, rather than going offline, switching their phone to ‘do not disturb’ or turning it off.
Between March and June, One in four employees (26%) in one survey admitted their alcohol intake had risen. Four in five (83%) said they drank while they were working from home at least twice a week, and nine in ten (93%) admitted to drinking more alcohol during the pandemic than before.
Two in five UK business leaders turned to alcohol or drugs to cope with mental ill health during the pandemic. More than 1 in 3 (36%) admitting that they used them to self-medicate because they could not talk to anyone about their wellbeing concerns.
Elevated drinking patterns were also seen among workers on furlough. More than a third (36%) reported they had drunk more since lockdown began. More than 1 in 10 (15%) of those drinking during furlough reported starting earlier in the day. While 9% of furloughed workers said that they had drunk in secret, or covered up the fact that they were drinking in lockdown.
Working through lockdown and the pandemic meant that the ways workers let off steam, such as leisure pursuits, seeing friends and exercising were curtailed. Even once lockdown eased there were still complex restrictions that made these activities feel abnormal. Added to this was the uncertainty of work. There was anxiety about job security, for some there work intensification and work-life balance became severely disrupted. Many workers reported feeling socially isolated from the rest of their team.
This picture echoes the outcomes of Dame Carol Black’s independent review into the impact of drug or alcohol abuse and obesity on employment: “Some working conditions, such as long working hours and job insecurity have been linked to an increased likelihood of high-risk alcohol consumption…risk factors include long working hours, jobs with high physical demand and risk of injury, monotonous work, poor supervision and job insecurity”.
So what can employers learn and do to help their employees who may be struggling with their wellbeing and use alcohol to cope? Here are a few pointers :
Do employees feel there is someone in your organisation they can talk to if they are struggling with their wellbeing? Their line manager, another trusted colleague, or HR? Employees need to feel they have a safe space where they can be open.
Our IES homeworker wellbeing survey found that those who were in more regular contact with their line managers reported better wellbeing. So do ensure that the employee and line manager relationship is maintained during lockdown and there are regular employee check-ins.
Line managers may be unsure about how to have employee wellbeing conversations with their team, especially around the sensitive issues of alcohol use and mental health. Line manager training has never been more important. They need to feel capable and confident to manage and support employees particularly, if a conversation could feel intrusive, with the collapse of boundaries between work and home.
In this dispersed and virtual work environment for many employees, it can be helpful for HR to remind staff about policies and practices that would usually be upheld in the workplace. If you do not have a drugs and alcohol policy, it may be worthwhile for the senior leadership team with HR Managers to develop a policy (alongside staff forums/trade unions if applicable).
Remind staff about other support networks. For example, do you have an Employee Assistance Programme ? Now is a good time to highlight the services they provide. There is also a range of other national charities providing wellbeing support that can be accessed by staff.
Don’t forget your furloughed staff. They shouldn’t be treated as ‘out of sight, out of mind’. Get in touch to understand how they are coping. They need to have equal access to any support that’s on offer to all staff.
‘Work socials’ are now online, it’s worth thinking about their focus and it isn’t assumed they will recreate ‘drinks after work’.
Do you have an occupational health service to support both manager and employee? What other support can you give? If time off work is needed, do you have a sufficient return-to-work policy to provide suitable support?
Anxiety about our health, our work, our family is constant. The vaccine roll-out offers hope, but for most workers it is a long way off.It is vital that employers create an environment where employees can share their concerns, ask for help and feel reassured they will not be judged. Employers must ensure that being at work is not part of the problem but a source of solutions that will last longer than ‘hitting the bottle’.
