Consumption of alcohol during the workday was the 18th most common grounds for dismissal in 2009 in the Czech Republic, but from March 2011 through to March 2012, booze was behind every fourth sacking, a survey conducted by the research and marketing firm Commservis shows.
“Although the incidence of alcoholism is not noticeably rising in the Czech Republic, an increasing number of employees are turning to alcohol to relieve stress and to seek relief from the strains of work, and financial and personal problems which have risen as a result of the current economic situation,” Eva Fruhwirtová, head of the research team at marketing company Commservis, which carried out the survey, told Czech Position.
Fruhwirtová says employers in the Czech Republic are also paying greater attention to the development of their employers, investing more in training, and expect greater responsibility from them in return.
The survey was conducted among a representative cross section of 71 public and private institutions and firms.
Under the Czech Labor Code employees are banned from consuming alcohol in the workplace and at any time during working hours. Whereas just a few years ago most employers accepted that one beer was an inseparable part of lunch for many of their subordinates, they are now increasingly enforcing the alcohol ban specified in the law and more frequently testing for alcohol.
The Labor Code also states that employees must not turn up to work under the influence, and in this regard Fruhwirtová points to increasing attention of employers to the aftermath of “anti-stress” drinking in the evening and its negative influence on work performance the following day.
Fruhwirtová also says that in the public sector, due to growing awareness of the potential legal consequences of a drunk employee failing to carry out responsibilities towards others — mentioning doctors as a prime example — bosses are increasingly looking out and clamping down on alcohol.
The leading grounds for redundancy or dismissal by the 71 Czech firms surveyed are:
- Organizational restructuring
- Insufficient work for employees
- Unexplained absence from work
- Working under the influence of alcohol
