Author: Ian Betteridge
Date: 28/02/2008
Should businesses really take an interest in what their employees do out of hours?
According to a survey of 300 businesses by the Centre for Public Health at Liverpool John Moores University, one-third of employers believe they should take an interest in how much their employees drink, even outside working hours.
The employers quoted in the survey claim alcohol has an effect on health, and poor health means poor performance at work – so how much you drink is going to be of interest to them.
But the same could be said of many other things: how you eat, how much you exercise, and even how often you brush your teeth. Does the fact that all of these could affect your work allow an employer to "take an interest" in them?
Clearly, someone turning up at work drunk is going to be an issue for any business. But how far should companies push this? And at what point does taking an interest in what your employees do out of office hours cross over into being intrusive about their personal life?
Is this a step towards businesses simply acting as nannies for their employees? Has the "nanny state" been replaced by the "nanny company"?