Did you know that approximately 88,000 people (62,000 men and 26,000 women) die from alcohol-related causes every year? This makes alcohol the third leading preventable cause of death in the United States.
On average, one-third of an adult’s life will be spent at work.
This means that employers can be incredibly useful for identifying addicts who need to get sober. As an employer, you can play your part in preventing alcohol-abuse statistics from rising and getting worse each year. Here are some common signs of alcoholic behavior you can learn to recognize.
Sign 1: A Change in Personal Appearance
If you have an employee who started their career at your business as an assertive, self-confident, well-dress person and doesn’t seem that way anymore, this could be the first sign of alcoholic behavior.
You may notice changes in this employee’s appearance. Their work attire will most likely become less thought-out and more ‘ratty’ looking.
You will most likely get the vibe that this person has simply ‘given up’ on looking good for work.
Sign 2: A Change in Behavior
This one may not be as obvious to you, as a high-level executive or a boss, but people close to this employee will have noticed significant changes in their behavior.
They will have become more argumentative with their co-workers. Also, they will show extreme defensive behavior when it comes to their reactions and relationships within the work environment.
One major sign of a change in behavior is a worker who starts to neglect their food. It will be noticed that they are no longer eating at lunch breaks, and they’re forgetting to take meals when they would previously have done so.
Sign 3: A Change in Performance
The first visible performance change that you will start to notice is that the employee will battle to keep time. They may start regularly showing up to the office late.
Their performance will slowly start to deteriorate. Deadlines will be missed more frequently, their attention to detail will start to slip and mistakes will be more regular than usual. Alcoholic behavior will begin to cause slips in judgment as well.
Sign 4: A Change in Sick Days
As the alcoholic behavior worsens, the affected employee will begin to take more and more time off from work, with no ‘reasonable’ reasons why.
They may be reporting recurring hospitalization during a short period of time, such as over a few weeks.
When this stage hits, it could be time to consider the intervention phase. An inpatient rehab such as Indiana Inpatient Rehab is a great place for a business to consider placing employees with alcoholic problems.
Alcoholic Behavior
The thing about alcoholic behavior is that it is possible to confuse these symptoms with something else that an employee may be going through, such as a divorce or other personal problems.
Alcoholic behavior will manifest over many weeks and months, and will simply not improve on its own.
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