Implementation and development of alcohol policies in the workplace

Abstract

This paper presents the findings of a comparative study of workplace alcohol policies at the local level in Leeds and Leicester in 1991 and 1992. The aim of the study was to identify the factors most likely to lead to the adoption of an alcohol policy by employers and to examine the process by which policies were designed, initiated and developed. In the first phase, the main factors associated with the adoption of formal written policies, such as employer characteristics and head office initiatives, were identified from the analysis of postal survey data. In the second phase, qualitative data from detailed interviews with employers drawn from the postal survey sample revealed two distinct alcohol policy types: those with a disciplinary focus and those with a health focus. The majority of policies were of the disciplinary type, but both types were applied highly inconsistently. In most cases, implementation strategies were poor and staff training was absent. The study also identified a number of transmission mechanisms through which alcohol policies were initiated.