Crippling costs. Alcoholism in business

The problem of alcohol and other drug use on the reduced performance, morale and productivity of any organisations’ staff is well documented and indisputable in the developed countries.

But in the developing nations, Kenya included, the problem of alcoholism is not yet understood nor talked about as indeed the use of other drugs. The stigma and shame attached to alcoholism and other drugs is so great that most Kenyans prefer not to talk about it but rather keep it quiet hoping that it will miraculously go away.

But the effects on business or any other Organisation can be crippling if not adequately addressed. As long as your employee is chemically impaired you are giving full pay for half work.

If the Organisation thus has several employees who are heavy or compulsive drinkers this effect multiplies. Production goes way down while the wage outlay and costs of other benefits remains the same. Result your company starts losing money.

The safety standards go down, as accidents too are more likely to happen. With more accidents your insurance rating is likely to affected. This risk spreads to other employees, for a chemically impaired employee is not only a risk to himself, but to others around him/her especially if handling complicated equipment.

Overtime costs also start going up as other employees take up the slack for their ‘buddy’ so as ‘not to get him in trouble.’ Yet other employees in their effort to cover for their alcoholic colleague by taking on the extra work also end becoming disgruntled by the need for this.

Though they feel compelled to help out a friend they at the same time resent having to do so. They feel unfairly trapped and it is this feeling of helplessness that quickly spirals into resentment.

Costs also pile up as employees are sacked or die due to their disease after having gone through large amounts of money in the form of medical cover. For an alcoholic is constantly in and out of hospitals or has a spouse in for treatment due to increased domestic violence.

The result is that there is more cash outlay in advertising for and training a replacement with the resultant loss of time and production. Overall staff morale is also lowered making for a poorly run Organisation.

Companies and other organisations need to put in awareness programmes that educate their entire staff on alcohol and other drugs. These can be in the form of one-day workshops and need not be expensive.

From these workshops a core group of staff can be picked to set up Employee Assistance Programmes after being trained in how to spot chemically impaired employees.

The aim here would be to spot an employee with problems in good time so as to effect an intervention and get them help with their alcohol or other drug problem, before it got to the stage where they would have to be let go. This would not only help the employee but their dependents and it has been observed that this usually results in a loyal, hard working employee.

Equally important is that there are non alcohol or other drug using employees who however suffer from poor productivity due to the alcohol use of a spouse, child or other dependant, but who would also benefit from these programmes.

A wife for example who reports to work having had a major spat with her husband whom she left threatening suicide, or a son who had not come home and who did this often, could definitely not be expected concentrate on work.

Thus these programmes would equip all ones staff with the skills to handle these issues with minimum impact on their performance while providing the company with its own kind of crisis team for those who were in various stages of addiction.

And they are there for according to statistics one in 10 people are alcoholics so the chances of you company or Organisation being completely free are practically nil and when you add problem drinkers then they are nil.

The money spent on having these programmes is recovered within a year or less in improved productivity, less time off for petty reasons and less cases of indicipline and theft of company property. All in all a must investment for any Organisation.

David Ogot is a freelance journalist/producer with personal experience in alcoholism. He can be reached at goinghomedotcom@yahoo.com Website: www.goinghomekenya.org

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