Report Summary (for a copy of the full report, download the .pdf version below.)

Excessive alcohol use by employees and their family members has a substantial impact on the cost of doing business in the United States. Problems associated with alcohol use are not just confined to drinking during work hours. Excessive drinking boosts absenteeism, diminishes productivity, and contributes to skyrocketing health care costs.  

Analysis of recent government surveys related to substance use and the workplace reveals the true extent of hazardous alcohol use and the negative effect it has on the American workplace. A research team led by Eric Goplerud, Ph.D., the director of Ensuring Solutions to Alcohol Problems at The George Washington University Medical Center, has found that the burden of workplace alcohol problems is disproportionately distributed, with industries such as construction, hospitality, and manufacturing having higher than average rates of alcohol misuse and dependency.  

For example, according to the research team’s analysis, a hotel chain with 20,000 employees operating throughout the United States would accrue $8.9 million in alcohol-related health care costs and absenteeism in a single year.  

Only a handful of employees and family members with alcohol problems ever get help. Ensuring Solutions’ research finds that fewer than 10 percent of working people with serious alcohol problems receive any kind of treatment. Yet there is a relatively simple way to reduce alcohol-related costs. By working with health plans, health care providers, and employee assistance programs, employers can initiate a proven method to identify and help people who drink too much alcohol. This method—called screening and brief intervention or SBI—has been demonstrated to reduce problems associated with excessive alcohol use in a variety of settings, including hospitals, universities, and primary care. If the Virginia-based construction company were to implement a workplace SBI program that identified and provided brief treatment for half of the employees and family members with an alcohol problem (an identification rate similar to depression), savings in lowered health care costs and improved productivity would amount to $1.8 million.  

In the past, employers have played a significant role in promoting screening and treatment for illnesses like diabetes, heart disease, and depression—all of which were once significantly under-diagnosed. Alcohol problems have a similar impact on the quality of American life and the profitability of American business. Yet alcohol use disorders are significantly under-diagnosed. By promoting Workplace SBI, employers can improve productivity, reduce costs, and identify problems before they lead to tragic accidents or expensive health care interventions.