Doncaster people admit to sex and booze while working from home

There are growing worries for many employers that staff are drinking on the job while working from home - and one health and safety company has found that that 90% of workers will admit to drinking alcohol while on the clock.

Sex and drug use has also risen during lockdown, figures say.

According to Health and Safety software company Protecting.co.uk, the brings all sorts of problems such as worker health, the quality of work, as well as deeper ethical issues.

“The freedoms of working from home have allowed workers to behave in ways they wouldn’t dream of in the office,” says company spokesman Mark Hall. “Just because you are in your own home alcohol and substance abuse policies still apply.”

Drinking has always been a part of UK culture, with 29% of people saying they would go to the pub for after work drinks.

However, with huge numbers of the UK workforce having been on furlough or working from home this year, the opportunity to unwind in the pub with colleagues at the end of a long week has all but disappeared.

But this doesn’t mean people have stopped drinking, in fact it’s quite the opposite - 26% of people in UK saying they increased their alcohol consumption between March and June when pubs were closed during the first lockdown.

Now, a phone poll carried out by Protecting.co.uk finds that nine out of ten people have admitted to drinking while working in the comforts of their own homes this year.

“It ranges from just a glass for two with lunch, to getting through a whole bottle of wine a day,” says Hall, “but the health implications are clear.”

And drinking on the job isn’t the only naughty habit people have admitted. There was a 20% increase in adults seeking help from addiction services about substance abuse in April 2020, and a whopping 58% admitted to getting down and dirty by having sex during working hours.