Can you drink at work?

[MayorDusty]

I was listening to something about parliament and the free booze and it got me thinking.
I'd be sacked and I don't work with machinery or driving. Most people I know wouldn't be allowed apart from one who works in a pub and then it's a two drink maximum.
What jobs/industries still allow alcohol consumption?
Can you drink and what's the job?

I work in the public sector (local govt) and we have a very strict no drinking policy during the working day. Even drinking at the Christmas lunch, (which we pay for ourselves) was a bit iffy...

There has been a massive culture shift in my industry / profession. It used to be down the pub from 12.00 on a Friday and not go back to the office. A drinks trolley used to come around around 4pm if you actually had work that had to be completed that day. Or we woul have team lunches in house, with free flowing booze or early finishes at say 3.30 / 4pm for internal presentations with wine and nibbles.

It was totally normal to go out for boozy client lunches any day of the week.

Not so much anymore!

I've had a glass of wine at a business lunch before and it was fine. My old boss and I would occasionally go to the pub for a mid-afternoon drink if we'd had a particularly shit meeting with an awful client we had. I've had monthly drinks in the office before where people grab a beer/wine and have a chat and then keep working.

Boozy lunches were very much a thing in my industry 20 years ago. Not anymore though. It’s against company policy these days.

City finance - no issues with drinking at work if a team lunch / informal lunch to the pub etc.
Most my friends in different professions have a drink trolley on a Friday afternoon

I do agree that it's less common than it was 15/20 years ago though.

Yes - professional services. Friday pub lunches are still an occasional thing.

All team away days / conferences include drinks after hours.

I worked in finance in different industries,
In one they got expenses for entertainment so they were allowed to drink,
If there were late business meeting in hotels we could have a few drinks with our meals

I work in child protection. Sure its obvious that we have no tolerance for drinking in work time!

I lived in a pub as a nipper and saw how many pints a dedicated steelworker could sink in 45minutes so I understand why the rules started 😃iI was a bit surprised that the HoC could still get lashed though, I thought it was finished in most professions now.

It would be gross misconduct for me.

It wouldn't occur to me to drink during working hours. Why can't it wait until getting home

@DressingGownofDoom because it’s not about the alcohol necessarily. In my job it’s just part of a long lunch - the focus of which is just hanging out with colleagues to let off some steam after say, a big deal has just closed.

drinking at home doesn’t have the same bonding effect!

Still a thing in finance in the City. You can have a glass of wine at a lunch, there might be a retirement do with bubbles, informal lunch with a client. Obviously you’re expected to do the work and not be pissed though!

I work in advertising so yeah, we do. Not quite as much as in the old days but it’s perfectly acceptable and often encouraged. I have drunk wine during work meetings or events twice this week alone!

In engineering. A pint on a Friday lunch time leaving do is considered absolutely fine before going back to the office. Worked in a couple of "big eng" company's and this has been the case in all of them. More than one is frowned upon though, and no one does because they all drive home after work.

I'm pretty sure bmw workers on the production line still have a beer allowance for their shift. Because in Bavaria beer is taxed as food or something, so workers there have a legal right to drink an amount of beer during working hours.

I would have a glass of wine at lunchtime occasionally if I had lunch out with friends or colleagues.
Mostly WFH now so actually feels really inappropriate! A sad glass of wine by myself isn't very appealing.

We are not allow drink in our work premises and technically per our contract bring alcohol onto the premises. I have had the odd work lunch where people who were not driving had a glass of wine with lunch but this was off the work premises and no clients coming in the afternoon.

As a few posters have said, my response 20 years ago would have been very different. We regularly had Friday pub lunches which lasted 2 hours, and then back to the office. But it's absolutely not permitted now.

My DH runs an engineering consultancy and they might occasionally go out for a Friday lunchtime drink if someone was leaving or whatever, but very rarely.

I used to be a nurse so absolutely not
My mum used to work for the Gas board in thev80,s and 90 s and I know they used yo go to a local pub for lunch and have a few drinks
I think the culture has changed though over the past 20 years it's really not acceptable to have a few drinks at lunch time in most work places now

Yes, yet another reason how rules for public sector workers in general don't seem to apply to MPs.

See also getting a pay rise and rules around expenses, gifts, awarding contracts for goods and services to friends and family.....

All banned in the public sector unless you're an MP. Infuriating. The ones who should be a shining example just break every rule that they hold everyone else to.

Every Friday we go out for lunch as a team and most people get a couple of pints or share a bottle of wine. They expect us to take responsibility for ourselves and if we can't do the job then that's on us.

In previous jobs, the occasional pub lunch (very occasional) with one drink would have been acceptable. Like a Christmas team meal, or celebrating a colleague's significant birthday, so not a regular thing at all. These days my job involves a lot of driving, so absolutely not!

I did have a short period shadowing the press office of the government department I worked for at the time, and they would bring round drinks on a Friday afternoon at the end of the day. However, this was definitely not a thing in the rest of the department - well, not in any of the teams I worked for, anyway. IME civil servants are not getting bladdered on the job... couldn't possibly comment on the politicians though.

The bars in the Houses of Parliament do seem crazy - it's helpful to have informal spaces where members can meet, have quiet chats, take guests and so on. But I don't see why these can't be serving just soft drinks, coffee or tea. The only exception IMO would be for drinks receptions, which is something charities and other organisations can organise with the help of a Peer or MP - these can be really useful events, and here I think a glass of wine being served is fine. But just having bars available at all hours is crazy.

The only time I've drank in a work place was a telemarketing office in Sydney. On Friday about 3pm everyone was told have a few beers/ wine, which I did and kick started the weekend!! But no where else. I think a glass or two of wine with lunch would make me sleepy in the afternoon!

Gross misconduct here too and probably lose my registration (social worker)
the hypocrisy really grates. I don’t think anyone should be making life changing decisions for someone else whether that’s an individual or half the population when they’ve been drinking!