An Industrial Alcohol Policy: The Characteristics of Worker Success

Characteristics associated with success of problem drinkers in workplace treatment settings remain obscure. The development of interventions in such settings tend to rely on generalizations from non-workplace treatment settings and untested assumptions. The present study seeks to ascertain the characteristics of success in a workplace setting. A company with an alcohol policy provided records of all individuals referred for treatment over a 4 year period (N = 48). Analysis of the data indicated that older, longer service employees were likely to be more successful in this company. It was also evident that self-referral was associated with ‘poor’ outcome. The significance of this result is discussed in relation to prognostic factors in the industrial setting and the relevance to future development of industrial alcohol policies.