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View full libraryOur Guide to Supporting an Alcoholic Employee offers strategies to approach, assist, and guide employees dealing with alcohol-related challenges, fostering a supportive workplace.
Supporting an employee who may be struggling with alcohol is sensitive. As a manager, approach the situation with compassion, keep matters confidential, and balance support with clear expectations.
Spotting the signs
If you notice these patterns, take action early — do not wait until the situation escalates.
Step 1: First conversation (Week 1)
Need the complete Wellbeing process?
Explore the Wellbeing templates toolkitEmployers have a responsibility to support employees who are struggling with alcoholism. Here are some reasons why employers should support an alcoholic employee:
Legal obligations: Employers have legal obligations to provide a safe and healthy workplace. An employee who is struggling with alcoholism may pose a risk to themselves and others if they are under the influence while on the job. Supporting the employee in their recovery can help to mitigate these risks.
Employee retention: Alcoholism can lead to absenteeism, decreased productivity, and turnover. Supporting an alcoholic employee can help to improve their job performance, reduce absenteeism, and increase their loyalty to the company.
Humanitarian reasons: Alcoholism is a disease, and employees who are struggling with this disease deserve compassion and support. Providing support for employees who are struggling with alcoholism is the right thing to do from a humanitarian perspective.
Corporate social responsibility: Supporting employees who are struggling with alcoholism is part of a company's broader social responsibility to promote health and well-being in the workplace.
Employee morale: Providing support for an alcoholic employee can help to improve overall employee morale. It shows that the company cares about the well-being of its employees and is committed to providing a safe and healthy workplace.
In summary, supporting an alcoholic employee is the right thing to do from a legal, humanitarian, and social responsibility perspective. It can also benefit the company by improving employee retention, job performance, and morale.
Yes. This template has been designed for organisations of all sizes, including small businesses, charities and growing employers. It follows UK employment law best practice and can be adapted to suit your organisation.
Our templates are developed with UK employment legislation, Acas guidance and HR best practice in mind and are reviewed and updated as relevant requirements change. However, every employment situation is different, so the template should be adapted to the circumstances and checked against the employee's contract and your organisation's procedures before use.
Yes, we highlight the areas of the document that you need to update with your own details, and where you need to make decisions to suit your situation. This saves you time and ensures that you meet best practice.
Yes. Once purchased, you'll be able to download it instantly. Templates are provided in editable format (such as .doc or .xls) so you can customise them easily, and in PDF format for easy sharing.
If you're looking for broader support, we also offer toolkits and library bundles that include the Managers guide to supporting an employee with alcohol-related concerns, along with other HR templates and policies for fully managing your situation. These may be more cost-effective if you need deeper advice.
AI can produce a document quickly, but effective HR documentation needs to be more than well-written words. It needs to reflect relevant UK employment law, HR best practice, practical considerations and the circumstances in which it will be used. These resources have been professionally developed around that wider HR context, drawing on extensive practical experience, rather than simply generating a generic document from a prompt.
Darryl Horn, Chartered HR Director
Darryl is a Chartered HR professional with over 25 years' experience in senior HR and employee relations roles.
He has extensive practical experience of managing wellbeing processes and founded hrdocbox to provide businesses with practical, professionally developed HR resources grounded in UK employment law and best practice.
HRDocBox has been creating practical UK HR documents since 2009.
"Darryl provides support and advice with excellent judgement, and has a strong understanding of people, policies and UK employment legislation."
"He is someone I trust; consistent, dependable, and committed to doing things properly."
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