Party Animals In The Workplace: What To Do When After Work Drinking Is A Part Of The Office Culture

(Monday, September 20, 2004) - Cocktails after work and four-hour business dinners with lots of wine: for many businessmen on Wall Street, this is how and when deals are closed. It's part of the corporate culture of many workplaces on Wall Street. "Then, you deal with the morning after syndrome," says Peter Handal, president and CEO of Dale Carnegie Training in New York. "You don't need a doctor or a health survey to tell you that drinking heavily the night before another long day at work will impair your performance." Drinking - whether a scotch and soda or a glass of white wine - is also a personal choice that is many times influenced by the dynamics at the table, whether that table is in the boardroom or at a bar or restaurant.

As a manager, you want to set an example for your employees. This can take the form of drinking lightly or even abstaining from alcohol during a meal. However, says Handal, "Sometimes peer pressure and the need to build rapport influences you to order a drink. In some cases, it's considered rude not to drink when everyone else at the table has ordered a cocktail. It can make you seem standoffish. Not every business colleague sympathizes with or understands a teetotaler."

The issues of drinking after work are also relevant for younger employees fresh from college. Partying is de rigeur for many students in college; it is a part of their social make-up. Often, their mentality is "I work hard therefore I party hard," says Handal. "These people may also fall hard, and stunt their professional growth."

Some advice for managers who find themselves supervising after-work party animals or working in an office where this is the norm:

Be patient but crack that whip. You're trying to impact the effects of after-work behavior. An employee can read that as invasive or inappropriate, but it's your job as a manager to set workplace standards and maximize productivity in a timely manner. The message you want to send is that extreme personal activities outside the office ultimately impact your work performance and future success. Reputations that took years to build can be compromised with a single faux pas. "These days, what you do outside of the office impacts your professional image," says Handal.
Use yourself as an example to point out the employee's own behavior. Share anecdotes of professional faux pas and successes. Talk about the night a co-worker drank so much he wreaked of alcohol during a business presentation the next day and damaged his reputation. It's a funny but cautionary story to be sure, says Handal, but it's also thought provoking and a reference point for self-evaluation.


About Dale Carnegie Training
Dale Carnegie Training (www.dalecarnegie.com) is a global management training company with experts in corporate management, workplace issues and leadership trends. The company provides leadership, sales and management training to over 400 of the Fortune 500 companies, training over 6 million adults worldwide.

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