How Alcohol Affects Work Performance
Alcohol addiction can cause you problems at work!
Alcohol, though legal for people over the age of 21, still causes detrimental consequences. The fact that alcohol is a legal substance is likely the reason why the negative role that alcohol plays in the community can be seen in nearly any situation including school, home, special events and even work. It doesn’t really matter what occupation you are in, where you work or what industry you work in, alcohol affects work performance in all industries and all occupations everywhere.
Alcohol addiction has negative impacts on the health and safety of the individual and in return can result in dire consequences at work. Performance at work suffers as a result of an individual being impaired at work and this can put the individual as well as other workers at risk of being injured in some situations. Alcohol does not just cause problems if the individual drinks while at work, drinking alcohol can also result in loss of productivity and increased sick days or late arrivals to work. The negative impact that alcohol has on an individual’s health has a direct correlation to work performance.
Alcohol Affects the Safety of Work Performance
The safety of yourself and of others around you as well as those who are involved with the service or product that is created at work is at jeopardy when alcohol is involved. Alcohol affects the degree of alertness that an individual has as well as the level of coherence. An action that is normally routine may not seem so routine if alcohol is involved and a greater likelihood of mistakes is likely. This can result in serious consequences for all of those involved.
Even small amounts of alcohol can impair the concentration and coordination of an individual. The term “liquid courage” is used often because people who drink alcohol lose sense of fear and reduce their caution to a point which can result in a lack of safety. Even some of the safest situations become unsafe when alcohol is involved. Drinking before or during work can affect the safety of everyone within the company and for those who perform a task such as driving, working with people, or any hazardous chemicals other people can also be affected by one person’s decision to drink on the job or just before coming to work.
Some careers have more stringent alcohol limitations than others because certain professions have a larger impact on society and are more dangerous. For instance, airline pilots are not to consume alcohol within the 24 hour period prior to flying. Many public transportation jobs such as a taxi driver or bus driver are under similar alcohol limitations in order to reduce the effect of alcohol on work performance and to reduce the safety risk of others.
How Alcohol Negatively Impacts Work Performance
In addition to creating a safety hazard, alcohol also reduces an individual’s ability to properly perform many routine work tasks. As a result, co workers often try to pick up the slack of the alcoholic or work performance simply declines and things to not get done up to standard. People who drink alcohol regularly are more likely to miss work or to be late for work. Missed days result in no performance on the job at all and late days limit performance.
Injuries at Work Related to Alcohol
Evidence relating injuries at work to alcohol consumption is mixed but there is proof that certain work accidents have been related to the consumption of alcohol. Especially for those who work in transportation related fields or a field in which the worker must drive from point to point to provide a service work related injuries as a result of alcohol consumption are high. Additionally, such injuries also result in increased insurance costs to the employer and additional loss of productivity.
