The ‘Friday afternoon drink’ is popular. Most office workers, and also the boss, think it is normal. It has become a habit and without the Friday drink they cannot close the week.
It is as business as usual. But is it? Is it wise to drink a beer or a glass of wine at the office? There is no law that says that alcohol during working time is forbidden. Every company has to make its own rules. Next to beer at the office a lot of companies go on holiday abroad with the whole company. A holiday with colleagues seems to be better for the teamspirit and people feel more at home at the company you work at. You could spend a winter in Spain (translated to Dutch: overwinteren in Spanje) for example or a trip to Bali with the marketing department.
Experts say: ‘don’t do it’. Mostly the Friday afternoon is, according to employees, the best part of the week with the colleagues, but alcohol makes people less alert, it lowers the concentration. Some people can take unnecessary risks. Even at the end of the week.
Employers are responsible
On the other hand, we think it is normal to drink alcohol on Friday afternoon, after the working week. We leave our laptop bag 14 inch (translated to Dutch: laptoptas 14 inch) under our desk and have a beer or a glass of wine.
Before you know it is the norm that the employer takes the initiative to put a wine fridge in the canteen. Buth something goes wrong here. The one employee can stop after two classes, the other one doesn’t. When people go over some limits, there is a chance that after a while it gets out of hand. When employees go over there own limits, there is a possibility that employers fire the man or woman. That is hypocrite.
Alcohol and work are not a match
Experts admit that have a drink together with colleagues can enlarge the teamspirit, but there are too much cons. Therefore an employee should not allow to drink during working time, even on Friday afternoon. Alcohol and work are not a good match.
Experts give the advice to make a clear policy about that. A task for the boss at work. There must be a clear statement about the alcohol policy. A wine cabinet on the working floor is not a very good idea.
