Alcohol dependence is one of the health problems that can exist in the professional sphere. It is estimated that 20% of working people have occasional episodes of alcoholism. On the occasion of Dry January, the program “Les Rendez-vous de la Qualité de Vie au Travail” hosted Luc Wise, president of The Good Company, a communications and advertising company. His view on the phenomenon of addictions, including that to alcohol, in the business world.
- Dry January consists of abstinence or at least moderate consumption of alcohol throughout the month of January.
- It is estimated that 20% of working people in France occasionally have episodes of alcoholism.
- For the boss of The Good Company, Dry January made it possible to “lift the taboo and create debate” on alcohol addiction.
For around fifteen years, the month of January has become a meeting to which 17 million French people say they are ready to respond, that of Dry January, an initiative imported from Great Britain which aims to raise awareness about the consumption of alcohol by encouraging abstinence for a few weeks.
Although the event is enjoying growing success, it has never been supported by the public authorities even though alcohol abuse is said to be responsible for tens of thousands of deaths each year in France. “It is a toxic product that can cause serious harm and the recommendation of no more than two glasses per day is a threshold at which problems can become significant.”recalled Professor Amine Benyamina, president of the French Federation of Addictology, in a program recently broadcast on France-Inter.
Episodes of alcoholism among 20% of workers
But in the absence of a real national mobilization, this operation obviously finds its application in the professional world where alcohol is sometimes dangerously present: it is estimated that 20% of working people in France occasionally have episodes of alcoholism.
“It is a social problem but, when it comes to the consumption of alcohol in the professional environment, we must discuss festive use but also its anxiolitic effects”underlines in our program “Les Rendez-vous de la Qualité de vie au Travail” Luc Wise, president of The Good Company, a company that works in communication and advertising. A sector about which there is a sort of preconception that it is conducive to the development of certain addictions.
Prevention of addictive excesses
“There are addictive behaviors in our professions, it’s a reality, because our teams are young and we work in a very competitive environment with periods of very intense involvement. But there is also the image conveyed by the story-telling of the 90s symbolized by the famous “99 francs” by Frédéric Beigbeder who actually talks about a somewhat bygone period when pubers played on the bad-boy side!”tempers this boss who has initiated a prevention approach to addictive abuses in his company.
“We have developed an e-learning module on burn-out and addictions and set up references in which our employees can confide and be guided towards solutions”, explains Luc Wise.
“A porosity between private life and professional life”
And the famous Dry January, what does this manager of a company that wants to be “committed and responsible” think about it, particularly in terms of preserving health and quality of life at work? “I realized its beneficial effects in the long term, it allows us to convince ourselves that we can control our consumption, it made it possible to lift the taboo, to create debate. We moved from talking about the problem, the famous “One drink is fine, two glasses, hello damage”to the discourse on solutions.”
And Luc Wise also makes the link with a broader subject than the risk linked to alcohol, that of mental health in the professional world. “It’s a real problem among young people, if we don’t take stock of it, there will be cause for concern. We need young people in good shape!”. But for him, with the same view he has on Operation Dry January, “all this is part of life, in this area there is always a gap between private life and professional life, between medical and management; it is not so serious if we look for solutions…”.
