Boozy Nights and Skipped Working Days

Alcohol drinking and skipped work days

Study of 13,500 Australian drinkers, conducted by the Flinders University in South Australia, says that the cost of boozy nights and hangovers is A$437 (US $344). This is the result of 2.6 million skipped working days.

Australians are known as big alcohol drinkers, this is why a hangover and a skipped working day is very typical for them. Spending nights in pubs drinking beer on the next morning one is very unwilling to go to work. Even if the reaction of alcohol is already in the past, workers are too slow in the work, less motivated and suffering from headaches. A great number of accidents at the workplace are the result of hangovers.

Alcohol and Other Drugs Council of Australia spokeswoman Donna Bull says "People might have returned with a very low BAC [blood alcohol content] or a BAC as 0.00, but for some hours after that, their reaction time is still slow, their coordination's impaired and so on."

"We tend to see a lot of illicit drugs getting a lot of media, they have been getting a lot of attention particularly in recent months, but certainly alcohol is the principal drug of concern," she said.

The study also says that light drinkers suffer less than heavy drinkers. So the light drinkers have less skipped working days. This mostly concerns young workers, who love to spend boozy evenings with friends. Light drinkers are defined as up to four drinks a day for men and two for women.

Australia has a reputation for being a nation of heavy drinkers coming in at number 14 for beer consumption per capita behind Germany, the United Kingdom and Belgium, says the World Health Organization.

Because of the holiday season this question is in the center of the discussions. Christmas parties during the working ours may cause difficulties for managers, that's why non-alcohol parties are encouraged.

Due to the statistics of the World Health Organization Australia is the 14th in the range of heavy drinkers' nation. Germany, the United Kingdom and Belgium are in that list before Australia. So this a serious reason to think about alcohol prices and the policies about having alcohol during the lunch time.