Identification of Alcoholics in the Workplace

Abstract

Workplace programs make the supervisor responsible for identifying alcoholics through their job performance. However, research indicates that those so identified are a small proportion of the alcoholic employed population and tend to be in the later stages of the disease. This is due in part to the relatively small number of alcoholics who demonstrate performance deterioration in the early stages. In addition, only a few members of the drinking population are responsible for the costs to the organization resulting from poor job performance. The identification rate differs for alcoholics depending on their sex and level in the organization and the supervisory style of their managers. Hiding symptoms and cover-up for others adds to the proportion remaining unidentified.

While identification through performance evaluation may be considered the only legitimate procedure in the workplace, it is not in fact identifying anywhere near the estimated number of alcoholics. The administrators and researchers in the employee assistance/occupational alcoholism field will have to decide whether to try innovative procedures that will broaden the scope of traditional programs. Such procedures may include cooperating with health promotion programs and identification through genetic and familial screening. While the current model identifies those most destructive to the organization, it bypasses a significant group of employees who are currently a danger to themselves or potentially a problem for the organization.