Alcohol, Work and Productivity, Scientific Opinion of the Science Group of the European Alcohol and Health Forum, September 2011
“FOREWORD
Reducing
the negative impact of alcohol on the workplace is one of five
priorities picked out in the EU strategy to support Member States in
reducing alcohol related harm, and so the Science Group of the
European Alcohol and Health Forum (EAHF) was pleased to be asked to
give its opinion. The Science Group was aware that there are positive
opportunities afforded through work to address problems due to
harmful drinking even if they may not obviously impact on
productivity. Those in full-time employment – usually about
two-thirds of the population of working age - spend about one-third
to one half of their waking lives at work and are open to health and
wellbeing influences far more frequently than in, for example,
conventional healthcare settings. But we need to know if using those
opportunities, if employers were to do so, really works – both in
terms of economic productivity and health gain.
I am
really grateful to members of the Science Group for completing this
report and to the subgroup that led the work. There was a lead author
for each of the two parts, Professor Peter Anderson and Dr Marjana
Martinic, to whom the most credit is due. I am also grateful to the
expert reviewers and to those members of the Alcohol and Health Forum
who sent comments, most of which we have been able to address.
After
careful discussion, the Science Group decided to keep the two parts
of the report separate. While there may be an element of repetition,
nonetheless they represent two important but different perspectives
that the Science Group believes are complementary. Part II draws
particularly on the experience of the drinks industry in tackling
alcohol problems in the workplace. Of course workplace policies are
by no means needed only in the drinks industry. But this seemed a
particularly appropriate sector to examine for examples of policies
and practices, not only because of the importance of the sector in
setting an example to employers in general but also in the light of
the industry representation in the membership of the EAHF that
requested the opinion of the Science Group.
We have
sought both to highlight the evidence and to identify the gaps in
knowledge and evidence. It is clear that the evidence for the
existence of health, social and economic harm from alcohol in the
context of the workplace is much stronger than the evidence of how
opportunities and practices at work can be used to reduce this harm.
Like all good pieces of work it raises many further questions and it
is hoped that it will be the stimulus for researchers within the EU
and beyond. In particular there is clearly an urgent need to build
proper evaluation into future workplace initiatives. Evidence to date
suggests that initiatives through the workplace aimed at general
health and wellbeing may be as effective as those focussed
specifically on alcohol.
Where will
this report lead? Firstly we hope that members and observers of the
Alcohol and Health Forum will take note of the findings and take them
back to the organisations they represent, whether they be industry,
NGOs or governments. Secondly, and equally importantly, it will be a
source of reference and advice for a much wider constituency across
the countries of the EU and beyond. Our previous report examining the
impact of alcohol marketing
on young people has been an influential resource in just this way and
we believe this second report has the potential to change current
practice and show the way forward for future research.
The
enormous burden of individual harm (often to those around the problem
drinker as well as the drinker themselves) and aggregated lost
productivity that are highlighted in the report should make it clear
to all that inactivity is not an option and complacency will cost
lives. We owe it to the populations we serve to use every opportunity
that is founded in sound evidence to preserve and improve health and
this report should lay the foundations of applying this to the
workplace. But the workplace cannot be taken in isolation: just as
work affects health and wellbeing beyond the workplace, so do many
factors outside work, such as the price, availability and marketing
of alcohol, or access to social programs and general healthcare
reflect back on the health of the workforce. The Science Group
believes that the European Commission across its various directorates
has the potential to be a vital catalyst for good practice
in this two-way process.
Professor
Ian Gilmore
Chair,
Science Group”
Cheers
The
Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)
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