Alcohol Awareness Week

This year’s Alcohol Awareness Week takes place from 7-13 July 2025 on the theme of alcohol and work. As part of the week, we’ll be opening a conversation about the relationship between alcohol and work to help us better understand it and sharing some helpful tips and advice on changes we can make to improve things for us all.

Alcohol Awareness Week is an opportunity for charities, local authorities, GP surgeries, businesses and more to think and talk about the relationship between alcohol and work with their communities.

Find out how to get involved in your community

Alcohol Awareness Week 2025: Alcohol and work

Around 10 million of us are regularly drinking alcohol in ways that can harm our health and wellbeing. From headaches, hangovers and sleepless nights to lower productivity and symptoms like anxiety and depression worsening over time, alcohol affects us in so many ways.

But how many of us have stopped to think about the impact of the work we do on our risk from alcohol? With longer hours, more stress, the blurring of lines between work and home, and too many workplace cultures that place booze rather than people at the centre of things, there are so many ways work and alcohol are linked. This Alcohol Awareness Week, it’s time for us, and the places we work, to feel healthier, more productive and happier.

How does alcohol show up at work?

Whether it’s a bonding tool, a reward, Friday night drinks, or a networking event, alcohol is often made to feel like the main attraction, particularly at workplace socials, to the point where many of us are made to feel uncomfortable if we don’t drink – no matter our reason!

And when work stresses start to get on top of us, we can find ourselves using alcohol as a way to try to cope. Had a bad day? Have a drink. Feeling apprehensive? A drink will help. But the reality is drinking alcohol as a way to try to manage our stress and anxiety can worsen our symptoms and prevent us from performing well. And work-stress doesn’t only affect us as employees, we can feel it in the same way if we’re freelancing, volunteering, or studying at university.

A lack of motivation, increased irritability, and making more mistakes are some of the ways our drinking can affect us the next day. It can make it more difficult to complete tasks and may put pressure on our relationships with our colleagues, as well as our friendships, and families.

Moving in and out of work whether planned or unplanned can also affect us and the way we drink - from unemployment to retirement and parental leave to caring responsibilities. These transitions in life can feel monumental and can sometimes leave us feeling unsettled, bored, excluded, and lonely. This can cause us to drink more alcohol than we’d like which can lead to additional challenges with our physical and mental health, relationships, finances and so much more.

So, this Alcohol Awareness Week, we’re opening a conversation about the relationship between alcohol and work to help us understand it better, sharing some helpful tips and advice on the signs to watch out for, in ourselves and others, and some changes we can make to improve our health, productivity and happiness.

We’ll be looking at the benefits of creating healthier, safer and more respectful workplace cultures in all types of industries and sectors – from offices to factories, shift-work to front-line services – that are fully inclusive and work for us all, including those of us choosing to drink less or not at all - whether for health, religious, or personal reasons. And we’ll explore how this can lead to better physical and mental wellbeing, greater confidence and productivity, and improved employee motivation and safety.

We'll be sharing information on how to get involved in this year's campaign soon. So watch this space!

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Factsheets

Find out more about the impact of alcohol on your health by reading these fact sheets on everything from alcohol and mental health to parenting.
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Support for you

If you are struggling with your drinking, help is available and many people seek it every day. Find support that works for you.