THE RELATIONSHIP OF DRINKING AND HANGOVERS TO WORKPLACE PROBLEMS - ANEMPIRICAL-STUDY

Objective: This article reports on the relationship between drinking p atterns and workplace problems in a manufacturing facility operated by a Fortune 500 industry. Method: The data come from a survey of 832 ho urly employees (88% male) and from ethnographic research in the plant. This study is distinctive because it examined a large random sample o f workers, rather than an impaired subpopulation. Moreover, the study is among the few that has asked employees how much they drank prior to and during working hours and how frequently they had been hungover at work. Respondents were also asked about their overall alcohol consump tion and their experience of various problems in the work place. Resul ts: Bivariate analyses indicated that overall drinking, heavy drinking outside of work, drinking at or just before work and coming to work h ungover were related to the overall number of work problems experience d by respondents, and to specific problems such as conflicts with supe rvisors and falling asleep on the job. Multivariate analyses revealed that workplace drinking and coming to work hungover predicted work-rel ated problems even when usual drinking patterns, heavy drinking and si gnificant job characteristics and background variables were controlled . Overall drinking and heavy drinking outside the workplace did not pr edict workplace problems in the multivariate analyses. The analyses sh ow that workplace problems were also related to age, gender, ethnicity , work shift and departments. Survey results are explicated with findi ngs from a plant ethnography. Conclusions: Although the relationships are modest, they support the hypothesis that work-related drinking and hangovers at work are related to problems within the workplace and ma y lead to lowered productivity and morale.