rms of maintaining efficiency and productivity in the workplace. Thus, an employee's alcohol problem becomes a company problem whenever that employee's job performance undergoes an apparent decline as a result.6
At that time, the manager's responsibility includes intervening in the life of the alcoholic employee in order that the negative impact of the employee's performance on the company may be overcome. If a personnel manager does not take steps toward helping an alcoholic employee, that manager may be guilty of causing both a liability and a hazard to the company. In this regard, it has been noted that the manager is responsible for the "people's performance and their safety."7 If a manager knows that an employee has an alcohol problem, yet fails to take action toward correcting the situation, that manager is obviously responsible for whatever happens when the employee's problem reaches the point where it begins to affect the company as a whole. It is for this reason that the personnel manager's responsibility includes monitoring the job performance of all employees and detecting changes in behavior or working habits which may be attributable to the abuse of alcohol.
However, simply being able to detect an alcohol problem in a particular employee is not enough, unless the company also has a specific policy for dealing with such a problem. In fact, it has been claimed that the very first step in treating the problem of alcoholism on the job is that of creating "a comprehensive statement of the organization's policy" on the matter.8 It is generally agreed that the most effective approach to company policy on workplace alcoholism is one which includes a provision for some form of Employe
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