"Do you take Amex?” Welcome to another episode in a very long series. It’s ‘Work Social at the Pub’, part one million.
Isn’t it all too familiar? The sticky floor, the card behind the bar, the increasingly risqué anecdotes shared to raise a momentary laugh.
In between the jokes, you check the time. You are distinctly aware of the fact that you have been here before, and will be here again.
The trouble is that some of your colleagues never have, and never will. More than a third (34%) of UK professionals actively avoid work socials because alcohol will be present, according to research published in 2024 by rental agency Easy Offices. For anyone concerned with retention, engagement, or inclusion at work, this is a glaring problem.
Maybe they’re trying for a baby. Maybe it’s a new year’s health kick. Maybe they abstain on religious grounds, or because they care for an elderly parent. They could be the child of an alcoholic. The fact is, it doesn’t matter why you’re not drinking: everyone deserves to feel to feel included at work.
Why things must change
“As an organisation, you might be inadvertently making someone choose between joining in with colleagues, or missing out altogether – just because they don’t want to be somewhere they feel uncomfortable,” says Susan Laurie, project manager and trainer at Alcohol Change UK, the charity behind Dry January.
“Over 80% of problems in the workplace caused by alcohol aren’t down to people like me, who have a dependence, or people turning up drunk,” she says. “It’s that presenteeism, the hangovers, and colleagues having to pick up the slack. There is an increasing awareness of those ripple effects, and the more subtle impacts.”
Employers might be reconsidering their responsibilities in the wake of October 2024’s new duties on preventing sexual harassment – “something definitely at the forefront of peoples’ minds,” according to Claire McLean, CEO of consultancy Realise HR – but a huge part of the growth in awareness comes from employees themselves. According to Alcohol Change UK’s estimates, 15.5 million Brits – equivalent to more than a quarter (28%) of the adult population – took part in the charity’s Dry January initiative this year.
“Now, you have around one in four people getting involved in Dry January. That’s a huge chunk of the workforce,” Laurie says.
“There are a lot of people at the top who aren’t aware of this shift in attitudes to alcohol. It’s happening slowly, but it’s definitely happening. Employers need to keep up.”
The pickle we’re in
The trouble is, drinking has become an easy answer for too many questions. Stressed? Unwind at the pub. Need to network? Host drinks at work. Not sure what to do for colleagues at Christmas? Festive drinks.
“I think a lot of the issue centres around the workplace culture, socialising and networking,” says Laurie. “If, traditionally, people are expected to go to the pub to network, if that is the way to ‘get on’ and talk to people they wouldn’t normally meet, then alcohol takes centre stage.”
Read more: How to navigate Christmas parties under the new Worker Protection Act
“Businesses are microcosms of our own society, and alcohol is embedded in the fabric of society,” explains Anna Donaghey, alcohol mindset coach and host of The Big Drink Rethink podcast. “[Going for drinks] can be seen as part of the job. Old-school cultures might call it ‘work hard, play hard’, but it’s an archaic view, where the stress comes thick and fast but very little is actually done to mitigate it.”
Under the influence
“Sometimes, the leadership team doesn’t appreciate the influence it has,” Donaghey says, explaining how senior leaders and managers alike set the tone for their organisations – simply by deciding to put money behind a bar. “There’s always a sense that ‘this is the person I need to impress, who will be writing my appraisal at the end of the day; I can’t afford not to go [to the pub]’.
“That’s where it becomes a diversity, equity and inclusion issue: if you’re feeling like you have to assimilate into something that you don’t want to do, just to be accepted. It’s certainly not an inclusive or welcoming culture.”
This is no excuse to blame leaders, of course. As McLean puts it, it’s a legacy issue; it’s a norm that leaders have known their whole working lives. The issue, really, is one of imagination.
“Most organisations want to celebrate or recognise their peoples’ achievements,” says McLean. “But now they are recognising that it’s not the way they want to do things. They’re asking themselves how they can transition to something more inclusive, and health and wellbeing focused.”
Pushing boundaries
Creativity is certainly not lacking at Wagamama, where John Conyers, the restaurant chain’s kaizen [‘continuous improvement’] culture lead, pushes a busy profile of events. Remarkably for the hospitality industry, alcohol is often nowhere to be seen.
“There are so many more exciting things to do than go to the pub,” he says, rattling off a list of events ranging from Kintsugi pottery – fixing broken china with delicate seams of precious metals – to running clubs, pre-work yoga, charity ‘lunch and learns’, pumpkin-carving and wreath-making just before Christmas. First in the series was the Kintsugi, which was explicitly billed as a non-alcoholic event.
“It was a little bit of a test,” he says, explaining that the team had wanted to understand how they could achieve strategic goals – like inclusion, retention, and engagement – through a more intentional approach to designing social events. The pottery was a massive success.
“I would advise others to do something similar: go in bold with that statement, engage the population that doesn’t drink. Do it at an accessible time, whether in work hours or just after, and say explicitly that you want everyone to feel welcome,” Conyers says.
Buoyed on by this success, the team dived into a flurry of activities, putting on yoga and running before work, and even offering a boxing class. The lesson, they found, was not just that people want non-alcoholic events but that everybody has their own tastes, preferences, and schedules, with lunchtimes being the firm’s sweet spot.
“Listening to the teams, we heard that not everyone wanted [exercise]. They were asking: ‘Is there something for me?’
“Overall, you have to build up this picture of all the different people you have. It’s not about saying ‘Here’s our event,’ it’s about asking the question: what could a Wagamama event look like? That answer will be different for everyone.”
While networking activities have typically involved alcohol as a ‘social lubricant,’ Donaghey adds, experiences like those at Wagamama can just as easily get people chatting. “Do things that people like and that they don’t feel awkward about in the first place,” she explains.
“Why make people walk nervously into a room to make small talk with others, when you could lay on something they actually enjoy, no false confidence required?”
How to start
It’s fair to say that many organisations in the UK today might struggle to make the cultural leap from nipping to the pub after work to artisanal Japanese crafts. “My first port of call would be to engage with those who have influence over the culture,” Donaghey suggests: your leadership.
“Workshop the kind of culture they want to create, and then engage with staff to find out the gap between the leadership team’s aspirations and the realities. Put in place a roadmap of how to change the business’ culture, from HR policies to what can be expensed, to support mechanisms, to wellness talks.”
Once you’re ready for events, just go for it, Conyers suggests, adding that while it’s more work to find interesting activities, the rewards are consequently much higher. “It should be more work. If it is, it’s better thought-out, and it will be all the more appreciated by the teams that didn’t want to just go to the pub after work,” he says.
“If you’re well-intentioned, people are quite forgiving – even if the execution doesn’t work out the first couple of times.”
An immediate and extremely helpful step is to make sure that non-alcoholic drinks are given equal prominence at drinks-related events. “Just having sparkling water and orange juice for the people who aren’t drinking is not acceptable anymore,” says Laurie. “It doesn’t have to be a big gesture, but everyone needs to feel valued and respected.”
Help those that need it
For some employees, a re-evaluation of their relationship with alcohol – perhaps as part of an organisation-wide anonymous cultural audit – might mean acknowledging that something is wrong. When that realisation comes, employees need help.
“There are so many elements where the workplace can help – from culture change to educating people about alcohol, training line managers, to having an alcohol policy that is actually there to back people up and support them,” says Laurie.
Read more: Why employment law should protect those with alcohol dependence
“For years and years, I knew that I was addicted to alcohol. But the last person I would talk to about it would be my boss,” adds Donaghey.
“There was no way I was going to put my hand up in a work environment and say I have a problem with alcohol – even though it was the most important thing I could have done. The culture didn’t support it.”
In such cases, where employees fear victimisation from colleagues or managers because of their issues with alcohol, a supportive alcohol policy can work wonders. “It’s a difficult conversation to have, and employees need to feel psychologically safe,” McLean says.
“By writing these policies and guidelines, HR can help people understand where the boundaries are, and what the company deems acceptable or not. But they need to be written through a desire to do the right thing by people, and support them in their own health and wellbeing journey.
“The culture HR creates subconsciously through its policies and processes sounds like a small thing, but it’s important,” Donaghey agrees. Whether formally supporting staff through an employee assistance programme, or just signposting services, it’s important that HR creates a speak-up culture, Laurie says.
“It’s all about sending a message: we understand, we’re here to help. If alcohol is part of wellbeing, people will feel safe to open up about alcohol. Problems thrive on secrecy and shame.” In the end, you can’t make people’s decisions for them – but giving people a true choice can benefit them.
“Remember, we’re not talking about banning alcohol,” Donaghey sums up. “We’re looking at building awareness, education and support throughout the business.
“It’s about providing people the wherewithal to make their own choices. To some, that will be drinking less. To others, not at all.”
Five tips for a healthier culture
Anna Donaghey, alcohol mindset coach, suggests:
1 Broaden out the nature of staff events; think team-building activities (escape rooms, ‘experiences’, etc), classes and workshops (cooking, pottery) or team volunteering.
2 If alcohol is going to be involved, make other options equally prominent, offer high-quality mocktails or create signature non-alcoholic drinks.
3 Rethink networking norms, for example, you could have ‘lunch and learn’ events, breakfast meetings, or coffee chats.
4 Ask your staff, team or clients what kind of activities they’d enjoy doing together.
5 Position all of the above as part of a deliberate strategy to be more inclusive, and foster genuine connection.
This article was published in the January/February 2025 edition of HR magazine.
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