It’s customary at Christmas, for businesses to celebrate the holiday season with an office party or social gathering, but how much is it costing your business?
Figures released by Norwich Union Healthcare, suggests that British businesses could be losing nearly £65million per year, with nearly one million workers taking sick leave due to over indulgence.
With the UK Home Office estimating the total annual costs to the economy of £7.3bn, this problem is not limited to the festive period and by way of response, DRiNKLiNK aims to create an information portal that aims to limit the affect of alcohol in the workplace.
Michail Tzouvelekis, Head of Corporate Relations, said: “DRiNKLiNK believes that no one should be negatively affected by someone else’s drinking and with the International Labour Organisation estimating alcohol related accidents at work reaching a staggering 40%, the corporate environment is a key market we aim to serve. Unsupported by a robust alcohol policy and implementation strategy, businesses are at significant risk.”
Scottish charity, DRiNKLiNK, was set up in 2012, to link those affected by someone else’s drinking to information services and others in similar situations. Alcohol Focus Scotland estimate that 50% of the population are indeed affected by another’s drinking in some way.
Michail continued to speak about the strategy to support the corporate arena: “The main channel for us to do this is through a website that will provide information to those looking to educate themselves about alcohol misuse and give them the tool kit needed to tackle the issue within their workplace. It’s also a great way for us to signpost those in need of assistance to the relevant support services, which are in abundance in Aberdeen.
“Alcohol misuse poses significant risk in the workplace and we are looking for organisations to support us to create a safe working environment for staff by giving us feedback on our website content.”
The charity is looking for three companies to hold a one-hour workshop on site between November 23-30. At the workshop the participating teams will be asked to feedback on the content and visual design of the site, feeding back on what information they want to be included.
Speaking of the motivation, Michail said: “The issues created in business by alcohol misuse are varied. Through the workshops we want to identify exactly what is important to businesses in Aberdeen.”
DRiNKLiNK is calling on interested businesses to sign up for the workshops at www.drinklink.org.
The workshops will be delivered in conjunction with the Aberdeen ADP. Discussing their involvement, Fraser Hoggan said: “The Alcohol & Drug Partnership are keen to support key initiatives that tackle alcohol across the whole population. Alcohol remains a significant public health challenge and DRiNKLiNK is providing innovative and exciting ways to help address this by increasing understanding and awareness of the complex issues involved.”